Thin Places Research Articles

Development of dual-core spun yarn using different fiber as a core by hamel twisting (elasto twist) technique and its impact on the denim fabric performance

Textile industries constantly explore innovative methods to increase fabric and yarn properties meeting multiple consumer demands and yarns (dual core) especially those incorporating an elastic core have obtained concentration for their potential in producing fabrics with improved stretch and recovery properties. This study focuses on the manufacturing of yarns (double core) using Hamel Twisting (Elasto twist) techniques utilizing core materials wrapped with 'S' and 'Z' directions such as polytrimethylene terephthalate/polyethylene terephthalate (T400®), PBT (Polybutylene terephthalate), PES (Polyester) and elastane (Lycra®). The yarns are manufactured utilizing an adjusted spinning technique (ring) and the work focuses on core materials wrapped with 'S' and 'Z' direction to the dual-core spun yarns using the Hamel Twisting (Elasto twist) method and also includes the manufacturing of denim fabrics (3/1 ‘Z’ twill) utilizing the developed yarn as weft. The article presents a comprehensive analysis of yarn properties, including unevenness, strength, neps (+200), elongation, thick place (+50), hairiness, and thin place (−50), and subsequently evaluates the fabric properties, such as weight (dry and washed), elasticity %, tensile strength, growth %, tearing strength, stiffness, and shrinkage. The statistical analysis utilizes Two-way ANOVA to examine the significant variations in fabric and yarn characteristics among several core components and their wrapped directions. The findings present an understanding of the performance of yarns (double core) manufactured through the elasto twist method, offering precious insights for applications in multiple textile products, including denim fabrics.

IMAGE PROCESSING APPROACH FOR FOREIGN MATERIAL DETECTION IN COTTON BUNDLE

The image processing philosophy is mainly determined by the complexity of the image and provides the necessary information to be derived from the image. In the textile industry, the image processing technique focuses on the determination of the geometric properties of the fibers such as cross-sectional shape, diameter, length, fineness, and curl while the studies on the yarn characteristics mostly focus on the determination of yarn hairiness, yarn unevenness and yarn defects (thick place, thin place and neps). In this study, previous studies about image processing approaches that are applied for fiber characteristics were investigated. A case study was conducted to automatically determine the visible foreign matter in the waste cotton bundle that can be used for recycled cotton yarn production. It was revealed that the image processing methods can be successfully applied for foreign fiber and matter detection in cotton bundle. As a result, it is emphasized that the waste cotton properties can be specified with a sensitive and accurate approach via image processing technique, objective and numerical determination can be obtained instead of visual evaluation based on experience.

Earth Care and Recovery in Kerri ní Dochartaigh’s Thin Places (2021)

Thin Places (2021) is a piece of work which defies categorization. It is partly a memoir filled with traumatic personal events, partly a reflection on loss in all its manifest forms (physical, familial, linguistic, environmental), and partly an uplifting plea for allowing the exploration of our natural surroundings to function as a meaningful form of care. Kerri ní Dochartaigh uses the materiality of the sentient beings that surround us, and deep care for our ecosystem, as a means of recovery. Earth care as self-care. Ní Dochartaigh is concerned with both the materiality and the immateriality of objects of care and manages to incorporate both through her interest in “the liminal space between things”, to borrow the title of an article by Timothy Morton (2014). The narrator foregrounds her mental health difficulties brought on by a violent and traumatic childhood in Northern Ireland yet also places the focus on the ways in which Ireland’s natural habitat, its material reality and its immaterial Celtic portals, “hold us” (2022: 228) in unsuspected care relationships. In the process, “[a]rt happens […] in the liminal space(s) between things, in conversations between metal and sky, humans and metal, era and era, heaven and earth” (Morton 2014: 270-1). A poignant process of recovery is recounted, highlighting firstly the refusal of care before slowly moving towards co-constituted acts of care: as ní Dochartaigh gradually recovers her lost mother tongue, and pays attention to the beauty of her natural surroundings, as she begins to care for both, she also starts to feel cared for. The sensory experience of loss, gain, and care in Thin Places is predicated upon several ecologies and resonates strongly with Joan Tronto’s definition of care as ultimately “a species activity that includes everything that we do to maintain, continue, and repair our ‘world’ so that we can live in it as well as possible. That world includes our bodies, our selves (sic.), and our environment, all of which we seek to interweave in a complex, life-sustaining web” (1993: 103; original emphasis). Kerri ní Dochartaigh celebrates, in the most understated manner, the full complexity of this “life-sustaining web” and this article proposes to unpack all of the above elements to show how her very singular aesthetics places the emphasis on the coloniality of loss and the restorative power of stories.

A novel approach to produce neppy yarn in vortex spinning technology

A novel, cost-effective method for producing neppy yarn using the vortex spinning process was presented in this research. The vortex and ring spinning processes were utilized to produce 26/1 Ne neppy yarn from viscose rayon as a host fiber and polyester as a neppy fiber in three different ratios (98/2, 97/3, and 96/4). It was explored that neppy yarn produced by the vortex spinning system is aesthetically more appealing as it has very low hairiness, fewer coefficient of variation (CV%), and minimal thick and thin places compared to ring-spun neppy yarn. However, the count strength product (CSP) of the vortex-spun neppy yarn is comparatively lower than that of the ring-spun neppy yarn. The close engagement of the neppy fibers to the mother yarn in a vortex spinning system increased the neppy yarn’s aesthetic beauty and strengthened its endurance was a significant discovery of this study. The hairiness value of neppy yarns was measured numerically and evaluated statistically with one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and found significant differences between the two-spinning system. The adoption of the vortex spinning technique presents novel approaches for manufacturing neppy yarn, with potential advantages for the textile industry such as enhanced yarn quality, greater productivity, fewer machinery requirements, and ultimate cost-effectiveness.

The effect of cordura fiber integration on the yarn quality properties of wool and wool/lycra yarn

Cordura fiber, which has high performance against tearing and abrasion, can be used to improve the tear strength and abrasion resistance of low-weight wool/lycra fabrics that can be suitable for daily wear. Thin wool fabric is very comfortable to wear, but lighter fabrics are more prone to appearance problems, since they are less able to resist the forces responsible for the distortions. This study aims to investigate the effect of cordura fiber integration on the yarn quality properties of wool and wool/Lycra yarn. Cordura fiber was integrated into wool and wool/Lycra yarn structure with different fiber percentages and were tested according to related the standard methods to evaluate yarn quality properties such as breaking force, breaking length (RKM), elongation at break, unevenness (CV%), yarn imperfection (thick, thin places and neps) and hairiness.

Investigation of the dyeability and various performance properties of fabrics produced from flax and hemp fibres and their blends with cotton in comparison with cotton

AbstractIn this study, it is aimed to provide alternative fibres to cotton with enhanced comfort level, environmentally friendly and colour‐enriched in the cellulosic knitted fabric field. For this purpose, in addition to 100% cotton, 100% linen, 100% hemp yarns, knitted fabrics were produced from 70% cotton/30% linen and 70% cotton/30% hemp yarns. First of all, the properties of yarns such as tenacity, elongation at break, yarn unevenness, thin places, thick places and neps were examined comparatively. Then, pique fabrics were produced from these yarns and dyed with a reactive dye to a selected colour. Afterwards, physical (weight, wale/course density), mechanical (bursting strength, pilling, abrasion resistance) and comfort (air permeability and water vapour permeability) properties of all fabric samples, both in raw form and after dyeing and finishing processes, were compared. Furthermore, dyeing properties (colour, dye‐uptake, dyeing levelness, fastness) of fabric samples were also investigated. The dye uptake (%) values of the yarns decrease in the order of cotton > cotton/hemp > cotton/linen > hemp > linen. However, fastness values of dyed fabrics were nearly identical. Physical and mechanical properties of fabrics were very similar, while the air permeability of the fabrics decrease in the order of hemp > linen > cotton/hemp > cotton/linen > cotton. As a result of the study, it has been possible to produce knitted fabrics with superior performance characteristics (dyeability, comfort, etc.) from yarns produced via blending natural cellulosic fibres (flax and hemp) with certain proportions of cotton fibres, which contribute to sustainable production.

Comparative Analysis of Production Processes and Quality Parameters of Two Different Semi-Combed Yarns

ABSTRACT Semi-combed yarn represents a type of ring-spun yarn produced by modifying the typical carded and combed yarn manufacturing process. Carded yarn is inferior in quality, while combed yarns are not cost efficient. The semi-combed yarn has therefore emerged as an alternative to fully combed yarn to facilitate a reasonable quality-cost compromise. This paper reports two manufacturing techniques and associated features of the cotton ring-spun semi-combed yarn of the same count. One process involves sliver mixing in draw frame, and the other by reducing the noil extraction percentage in comber. The aim of this study is to run a comparative analysis of both the end products against themselves and their carded and combed counterparts to establish their acceptance in the industrial scale. Important quality parameters such as unevenness (U%), coefficient of variation (CVm%), thick place(+50%)/km, thin place(−50%)/km, neps(+200%)/km, hairiness (H), strength, elongation, CSP, and cost have been evaluated, analyzed, and compared among these products. In several cases, the quality of semi-combed yarn was comparable to fully combed yarns and better than carded yarns. This offers a cost-effective and sustainable alternative to combed yarn. Comparison shows that the noil extraction process offers less hairiness, and more sustainability and involves no extra operation to develop the yarn.

Double air suctioned carding process: A method for achieving improved quality ring-spun carded yarn

This study aims to maximize yarn realization by minimizing hard waste generation. A new method has been evaluated in a conventional carding machine for this purpose by adding extra air suction units immediately above the doffer and in the brush roller above the stripping roller. Various yarn samples were spun using the double air suction carding (DASC) method and the traditional carding process, and the yarn quality parameters were compared. The results indicated that the DASC yarn had considerable technical improvements in all yarn characteristics (U%, CVm%, thick place, thin place, neps, hairiness) and mechanical properties (breaking strength and elongation). The number of classimat faults in the DASC yarn has also significantly decreased. Even though the DASC technique produced more droppings-1, it generated less pneumafil and hard waste, resulting in improved yarn realization. This research also examined cost analysis, advantages, and limitations. Overall, the findings indicate that the newly introduced DASC yarn has the potential to be a superior product in terms of both quality and cost.

Archives as 'Thin Places': Resurrecting ghosts of Australia's earliest refugees through poetics of resistance

Drawing on the Irish notion of a ‘thin place’ (where the veil between us and the spirit world is so thin that we can sense those on the other side), this paper outlines an approach to archival research and creative practice which seeks to reawaken and give voice to the ghosts of some of Australia’s earliest refugees. This work uncovers new connections between the Great Irish Famine, a humanitarian crisis which halved Ireland’s population and the cyclical incarceration and abuse of young women in New South Wales in the 1860s and 1870s—to highlight a small but significant, yet largely unwritten, chapter in Irish-Australian history. Employing poetics of resistance incorporating elements of these young women’s outlawed native Irish language and culture, this work seeks to decolonise their memories and restore voice to those who suffered the brutal consequences of colonisation in both their native and adopted countries.

Motherlines, thin places and somatic orientations: An embodied inquiry

In this article, I explore the role of ancestrally connected sites as places of somatic orientation and potentially as sites of embodied memory. Inspired by seeking connection with my Irish great-great-great grandmother, Jane O’Brian and her lineage, I travelled to Ireland as a North American woman, undertaking a circling journey to a land of my Motherlines. In this article, I explore touchstone moments on the land in Ireland, including my serendipitous stumble to the Hill of Tara in County Meath, Ireland. The article explores, in particular, the communication between my own body and particular places on earth, undergirded by other literature that explores human-land-based connection. I draw on the methodologies of embodied inquiry and autoethnography. Echoing and contrasting with the journeys of other writer–researchers who have engaged in their own ancestral journeys, I ask questions about land-based connections, and how these connections are challenged and remembered in the process of migration and uprooting. Acknowledging the possibility of nostalgic projection by diasporic returnees I touch on the potential pitfalls of such an exploration while weaving an autoethnographic and embodied inquiry which explores land-based connections as dynamic, multi-layered and a potential site of somatic re-orientation.

Organising for thin places during the COVID-19 pandemic

Organising for thin places during the COVID-19 pandemic

The Thin Place

The Thin Place

Sustainable yarn production using leftover fabric from apparel industries

A huge amount of waste was generated from the apparel industries. This study aims to develop the process of producing recycled yarn from apparel waste. The apparel leftover fabric was converted to fiber, and the fiber was mixed with virgin cotton in different ratios to produce sustainable 6/1 Ne rotor yarn. The produced yarn qualities viz. count strength product (CSP), elongation percentage, total quality index (TQI) and tenacity were decreased linearly, and opposite scenario observed for thick and thin places, neps, imperfection index (IPI) and hairiness (H) attributes with increasing the amount of waste addition with virgin cotton. The leftover fabric (LOF) can be utilized to develop a sustainable yarn and to zero waste management.

Letter from the Editor

Letter from the Editor

Music Reviews

Music Reviews Kathleen Roland-Silverstein (bio) Three of the publications reviewed here are the newest in a continuing windfall of works by women composers. These recent offerings, all published in 2022, include well known composers like Fanny Hensel Mendelssohn and Barbara Strozzi, but also others who have been neglected and who deserve to be better known, as is the case for twentieth century American composer Lola Williams. All are available from ClarNan Editions/Classical Vocal Reprints, which continues to be an invaluable resource for sheet music and pdf scores for musicians in all genres. But I begin with a review of the first set of songs, a truly special offering by American composer, Alan Louis Smith, whose remarkable and rich songs have been discussed in the Journal of Singing, and who was a recent interviewee in the journal's "Collab Corner." Smith, Alan Louis (b. 1955). Surfing the Thin Places: a Cycle of Five Songs for High Voice and Piano. Words and Music by Alan Louis Smith. E. C. Schirmer, 2022. "Surfing the Thin Places"; "Morning Glories"; "Gratitude (There are no words …)"; "To Tell a Life in a Line of Verse?"; "Joy! Welcome Home Joy!" or "What we like to hear when we return home." Alan Louis Smith's Ellis Island: A Song Cycle in Six Parts,1 Vignettes: Covered Wagon Woman,2 Five Psalms from Jonathan to David,3 and Vignettes: Letters from George to Evelyn,4 have been lauded and performed widely by such eminent artists as singers Stephanie Blythe and Christine Brewer, and pianists Craig Rutenberg, Warren Jones, and Roger Vignoles. As a fortunate mentee of Dr. Smith while in graduate school and as a young artist at Tanglewood Music Center, and as the fortunate singer for whom he wrote And With Such Boldness: A Set of Three Songs for Voice, Violin, and Piano,5 I am very familiar with the composer's prolific body of work and his remarkable ability to write for the voice. Collaborative pianist and colleague Margo Garrett interviewed Dr. Smith for the Journal of Singing "Collab Corner," where they talked together about how the composition process has aided him in his other roles as a performer and educator.6 He especially emphasized how the special relationships he has enjoyed with the singers for whom he writes have inspired him to create his songs. Surfing the Thin Places is one such creation; he wrote them for the husband and wife team, soprano Lucy Fitzgibbon and pianist Ryan McCollough. "In this latest commission, I thought I could write anything for Ryan, as he can play anything, just as Lucy can sing anything. So I asked what would feel good in Ryan's hands, what would feel good in Lucy's voice? So that is a part of what I do."7 And this is indeed what Alan does in every song he writes. Each is created with his remarkable acuity for the parameters of the voice (and the spirit) of the performer he has in mind. Surfing the Thin Places is no exception, offering a colorful and demanding palette for the sensitive singer and pianist. His compositional style is described thus in the interview: "Alan Smith, as a composer, is a harmonic sensualist. So you must use timing and color to create the most audible sensuality you can."8 Surfing the Thin Places is a tribute to his beloved mother, whom he describes as the first "wonderful soul" of his life, "who 'graduated' in April of 2018 at the age of ninety" (composer's notes), after suffering a stroke. The first two song texts begin with an incipit, a prompt that leads into the composer's own words for each song. He references Rilke in the second song. All these brief interpolated quotations and allusions serve to demonstrate his deep connection with the literature of song. The title song "Surfing the Thin Places" (E4–A5) is a rhapsodic, soaring paean of wonder and love, as the poem contrasts the stillness of his mother's body in her hospital bed to her spirit, which moves like a sea bird on the ocean waves. The title refers to a wonderful saying suggested by a...

‘It Was Magical’: Intersections of Pilgrimage, Nature, Gender and Enchantment as a Potential Bridge to Environmental Action in the Anthropocene

Centring on embodiment, gendered eco-spiritual responses to nature, enchantment and environmental crises in the Anthropocene, this paper explores engagement with nature as a spiritual experience and resource through ‘Celtic’ Christian prayer walks in the Isle of Man. Web-based and printed materials for the walks are analysed for references to nature and environmental responsibility, and the complexities of personal, gendered and theological relation to nature and the environment are explored through participants’ accounts. The analysis is attentive to participants professing Christian faith and institutional affiliation as well as those without affiliation or faith, and to their gendered experience. Themes identified include nature-inspired ‘Celtic’ spirituality; personal relation to the non-human (the divine, nature and nature-as-divine); the landscape as a liminal ‘thin place’; and social and environmental responsibility. The paper concludes by signalling the potential for bridging between pilgrimage-centred enchantment and eco-spirituality in order to mobilise engagement with and for the environment in the Anthropocene, including environmental conservation activities, lobbying or protest. Whilst eschewing gendered stereotypes, empirical findings evidence gendered patterns of engagement and responses to different expressions of spirituality. Attention to these differences could facilitate the engaging and mobilising of different cohorts of pilgrims with environmental agendas, inspiring personal and collective environmental action.

Thin places of resistance: a caring response to refugees in rural American schools

ABSTRACT The refugee crisis is global in scope and the number of migrants is expected to rise for the foreseeable future. While politicians around the world engage in military action, diplomacy, and rhetoric to shape outcomes to respond to this crisis, local school and community leaders are on the frontlines of migrant-student and family integration and inclusion. In addition, dominant discourse in the U.S. has grown increasingly hostile towards immigrant and refugee populations. With this in mind, our research explores ways school district leaders act as advocates by shaping the practices, policies, and discourse related to refugee integration. We conducted a two-year, qualitative case study in the U.S. state of Vermont between 2018 and 2019. Data collection included in-depth interviews and observations of public meetings with the superintendents of two districts; email communication with the director of a refugee-serving non-profit organisation; and document analyses of publicly available materials related to refugee resettlement. Our study locates strategies contributing to what we call an “architecture of care”, engaged in by school leaders and community members. We highlight the power of small communities to serve as “thin places of resistance”, where community members work together to build welcoming places for newly arrived refugee children and families.

Effect of the Imperfection of Open-End Yarn (Thin, Thick, and Nep Place) on Air Permeability of Plain Woven Fabric

Wearing clothes is an intermediate channel by exchange of air released from human bodies and environments to bring breathing stability and to control body temperature. Air permeability is an expression describing the properties of a fabric that permit the passage of air through the fabric’s interstices. It has been found that there are many factors that can affect the air permeability of a fabric comfort. Several early studies of air permeability of different materials showed that different factors affect air permeability and breathability of fabrics, and some of them are imperfections of yarns (thick, thin, and nep place) which are introduced on the surface of the fabric that originated from the appearance of the yarn. In this experiment, the yarn and fabric samples are collected from five different spinning mills which have an identical warp yarn linear density of 20 Ne regardless of the weft linear density, and the fabric was constructed from those selected yarns by using the thread set of 28 ends per centimeter and 20 picks per centimeter. The experiment was conducted by measuring the imperfection of each code of yarn on USTER statistics and air permeability of the fabric with respect to the thin, thick, and nep place/km of the yarn and fabric cover. The impacts of each factor were analyzed, and the relationships of each parameter were stated on the graph. The results were discussed by using the design of the experiment by quadratic and linear models to the response of air permeability and fabric cover, respectively, and the results showed that there is a direct impact of thin, thick, and neps of the yarn on the ability of the fabric to permeate air.

‘Walking into the rock … ’: Labyrinth experience as thin place and [spi]ritual direction

ABSTRACT This article offers findings from a small study of staff and student experiences in a tertiary educational context at Tabor Institute of Higher Education, South Australia. Participants were invited to complete three curated labyrinth walk and reflection activities over a period of three months as an extra-curricular opportunity for experiential spiritual practice. Analysis of the rich narrative data from participants’ experiences reveals the potential of the labyrinth ritual to enable transformative insights of significant depth and meaning to individuals. Three of the themes which emerged from the data are presented in this article. The first relates to a heightened sense of the dissolution of individual identity into a greater sense of connectivity or fusion with, and to, elements of nature, such as rock, water, and sand. The second speaks of deep emotional connection and processing of a pivotal, personal historical turn in spiritual awareness. The third relates to a movement into unusual peace, a sense of the living and fluid nature of time and space, and the agency of ritual practice as active and something that is ‘at work in the person’ rather than passive, with the person doing the work of the ritual. The researchers were struck by two phenomena in the process. Firstly, the poignant efficacy of non-didactic ritual for spiritual education and growth. Secondly, the interactive and dynamic relationship between the desire of the participants for deep experience, the actual practice of the labyrinth walk, and the importance of mindfulness and context-sensitive curation of the events.

Quality Evaluation of Ethiopian 100% Cotton Carded Ring Spun Yarn with Respect to USTER Standards

Yarn quality influences both fabric production processes efficiency and export market. One method used to gauge competitiveness of an industry is to study its product quality. The aim of this research work is to evaluate the quality of Ethiopian textile spinning mills’ 100% cotton carded ring spun yarns in terms of its evenness (coefficient of mass variation, CVm), imperfections (thick and thin places, neps), and tensile properties with USTER Statistics 2018. Five spinning mills (B3, A0, A2, A4, and K3) of 15N, 20Ne, 25Ne, 30Ne, 35Ne, and 40Ne nominal yarn counts have been selected for the study. The yarn evenness and imperfections were measured using USTER tester 5 and tensile using a STATIMAT tester. The USTER statistical results showed 20.3Ne (mill B3), 32Ne (mill A4), and 36.2Ne (mill A2) had better overall quality, respectively. It was observed that most selected spinning mills had low evenness, imperfections, yarn strength, and good yarn elongation. Tensile properties of A2 (32.85Ne and 36.2Ne) had fallen under 5% USTER statistics percentile which indicates excellent yarn strength. Generally, from studied mills, it was seen that 61.5% of cotton yarn CVm and thin places falls at above 95% and 15% of yarn tenacity falls at ≤5% of Uster statistical percentile.