Chattopadhyay et al ID #01 2008 International Conference on Flax and Other Bast Plants (ISBN #978-0-9809664-0-4) 1 Value Added Knits From Ramie-Cotton Blended Yarns Spun Using Short Staple (Cotton) Spinning System

In India, many of the natural ligno-cellulosic fibres are considered as low value fibres useful only for manufacturing industrial ropes and fabrics for packaging. Ramie is one such natural ligno-cellulosic bast fibre obtained by decortication of bark from canes of the plant, followed by degumming of ramie fibres. The present paper reports an exploratory study on the possibility of utilizing Indian ramie fibre in blends with cotton using cotton spinning system. A two stage degumming method has been optimised. Ramie fibre could be blended with cotton to an extent of 35 % for spinning of acceptable yarn qualities for production of 24.6 and 14.7 tex (30s and 40s Ne) ring yarns. The knitting and garmenting trials of the blended yarns on commercial knitting machines were also found satisfactory