TEXTILE YARNS

Yarn:

• Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, suitable for use in the production of textiles, sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery, and ropemaking.
• Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine.
•  Modern manufactured sewing threads may be finished with wax or other lubricants to withstand the stresses involved in sewing. 
• Embroidery threads are yarns specifically designed for hand or machine embroidery.
• The word yarn comes from Middle English, from the Old English gearn, akin to Old High German's garn yarn, Greek's chordē string, and Sanskrit's hira band. 

Materials:

• Yarn can be made from any number of natural or synthetic fibers. There are two main types of yarn: spun and filament.
• The most common plant fiber is cotton, which is typically spun into fine yarn for mechanical weaving or knitting into cloth.
• Cotton and polyester are the most commonly spun fibers in the world. Cotton is grown throughout the world, harvested, ginned, and prepared for yarn spinning. 
• Polyester is extruded from polymers derived from natural gas and oil. 
• Synthetic fibers are generally extruded in continuous strands of gel-state materials. These strands are drawn (stretched), annealed (hardened), and cured to obtain properties desirable for later processing.
• Synthetic fibers come in three basic forms: staple, tow, and filament. 
• Staple is cut fibers, generally sold in lengths up to 120mm. 
• Tow is a continuous "rope" of fibers consisting of many filaments loosely joined side-to-side. Filament is a continuous strand consisting of anything from 1 filament to many.
•  Synthetic fiber is most often measured in a weight per linear measurement basis, along with cut length.