Hubby and I just bought a very nice, heavy blanket, made of bamboo. It doesn’t really feel like cotton, but it surely doesn’t feel like bamboo! We love the weight of it.
But last night, 7-year-old mudgirl asked how blankets can be made from bamboo and not feel like bamboo. I further confused her by saying you can make sheets out it, too! But I really don’t know the process.
Does anyone here know how this is done? If so, can you explain it in terms a second-grader (admittedly a very bright one ) can understand?
I’d imagine it’s made pretty much like linen. Linen is made from the stalk fibers of flax, but sure doesn’t feel like a bunch of plant stems. The fibers are beaten apart after the plants have been soaked for a certain amount of time, then the fibers are dried and spun.
I so totally did not know that! I never even thought to wonder where linen came from (I knew it was a natural fiber, but never thought "Hmmmm, is there a linen plant the same way there’s a cotton plant?)
Well, I’m just learnin’ new stuff all the time!
And thanks, GaryM, that’s just the kind of info I was looking for. My little one is by far the most curious of the three. I realize that’s going to make her a challenge as she gets older, but for now it’s lots of fun!
Flax is also the plant that linseed (as in linseed oil) comes from. The process of separating the fibers from the stem is called retting (a major point of information to inveterate crossword solvers…).
It is not made similar to linen (which I thought as well), but more like rayon. We sell bamboo yarn in our store and it is amazingly soft. Habu makes a lace-weight yarn that is like silk. See “No Sheep For You” for a good discussion of all non-sheep wool fibers used in knitting.
I think the big allure of bamboo based fabrics is that the plants are pretty much growing on their own and don’t require the cultivation and such that cotton does. Not primarily less proceesing of the plant into fibre, but less “farming”.