Camel hair is shed by Bactrian (two-humped) camels in the spring. It is soft and very light. It is often used for weaving coats and other over garments, and sometimes used together with (sheep) wool.

Cashmere is a very fine fibre from the overcoat of the long-haired Kashmir goat (capra hirgus laniger, but currently regarded as a sub-species of the capra aegagrus hircus). It is much softer than normal wool, and it also isolates much better.

Cotton is a vegetable seed fibre consisting of ‘hairs’ attached to the cotton seed in its boll (protective capsule). Cotton comes from several plants of the Gossypium species (family Malvaceae). Cotton fibres are normally soft and fluffy and vary in length from 1.5 to 5 cm. The normal colour of cotton is light to dark cream, although it may be brown or green depending upon the plant variety, the weather and the soil conditions.

Dacron is an American trademark for polyester, a type of synthetic fibre. It was first marketed in the USA in 1951. By the beginning of the twenty-first century the trademark was used for a variety of polyester fibres and products, including an artificial sinew thread that is basically a waxed, polyester yarn.

Doupion(s) (Dupion) silk derives from two joined cocoons, or from double cocoons formed when two silkworms spin a communal cocoon. Doupion silk is similar in character to wild silk. This type of silk filament is used for making pongee and shantung silk.

A fibre is a single piece of material (wool, flax, cotton, silk, etc.), elongated or round in cross-section, which can be spun with other fibres to make a thread or yarn.

A filament is the term generally used for a continuous fibre, such as that of silk. WV

Filoselle is the portion of a silk cocoon that is not used for good quality silk cloth, because the filaments are damaged or broken. Filoselle is normally carded, spun and then plied to make silk yarns. Six-stranded filoselle silk embroidery thread became popular in the late nineteenth century for various types of embroidery.

Flax is an upright, annual plant of the genus Linum (family Linaceae). The most widespread version of flax is Linum usitatissimum, which is native to a vast area extending from the eastern Mediterranean to India. The plant is cultivated either for its seed (linseed) or for its fibres.

Floss is a short silk fibre or waste that cannot be reeled or spun.

Floss silk are the filaments from the soft, internal covering of a silkworm cocoon, and in particular from the places where the cocoon is not damaged by the caterpillar. Floss silk is normally classed as a continuous filament. The silk is unravelled off the cocoon, dyed and then made into hanks.

Hemp is a coarse, strong bast fibre obtained from the stem of plants of the family of the Cannabaceae, especially of the genus Cannabis, and in particular one of its species, Cannabis sativa. One of the traditional uses of Cannabis sativa is for making a thread to make hemp cloth.

Horsehair is sometimes used in needlepoint lace.

Indian hemp (Apocynum cannabinum) is a perennial plant that can be found throughout much of North America. It is a member of the plant species cannabinum, which also includes hemp. It was used by some northeastern Indian groups as a source of a short plant fibre.

Hair from a North American animal, the moose, has traditionally been used as a textile fibre and thread. In North America, moose hair was particularly used in the northeast of the continent. Moose are known as elk in Eurasia and have the species name of Alces alces. It is the largest member of the deer family.

Muga silk is a wild silk generally associated with the state of Assam, in northeast India. It is a very strong fibre with a pale brown or golden yellow colour. Its use was formerly reserved to royalty. It is often used in chikan work from Lucknow.

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