Rajshahi silk is the name given to the silk products made in Rajshahi, Bangladesh. It is famous because of its high-quality fabric used for clothing, especially for saris. In 2021, it was given Geographical indication status as a product of Bangladesh. A geographical indication is a name or sign used on products which corresponds to a specific geographical location or origin. (Source: Wikipedia)
On 16 February I got a chance to visit a silk manufacturing mill that makes silk thread and silk fabric. As Rajshahi Silk is tremendously famous all over the country. So that the silk mill visit was a great opportunity to know all about silk thread and the silk fabric production process.
In my one and half hours visit at Sopura Silk Mills Ltd. — the oldest and the largest silk factory in Bangladesh – I observed their silkworm production section, yarn section, woven fabric manufacturing section, dyeing, printing, and stitching section.
This mill has been working since 1979 and it’s a top silk supplier from Rajshahi. The factory starts its daily operation at 8: 00 AM that continues till 8:00 PM. However, their showroom starts products selling at 10 AM, and they close it at 8.00 PM.
Silkworm production section
Silk yarn is generated from the mulberry silkworm. The life cycle of mulberry silkworm ends in 45-55 days. This life cycle consists of an egg, silkworm, cocoon, pupa, and moth stage.
Egg: An egg is the first stage of the life cycle of silkworms. The egg stage lasts for 9-10 days. The egg is laid by a female moth after mating. A female moth lays 400-500 eggs at a time. Males die after mating and females die after laying eggs.
Silkworm: A hairy silkworm arises after the eggs crack within 6 or 7 days. The silkworms are released into the leaves of the mulberry leaves to consume a large amount of these leaves for around 29-30 days.
After eating the leaves of the mulberry tree for 29-30 days, the silkworm grows big.
Cocoon: If the silkworm is light yellow, they are ready to make yarn or cocoon. In this stage, the silkworm is released into the frame. Where they spin a protective cocoon around themself in 2 days. 400-500 meters long yarn is available from a cocoon!!
Pupa: In this stage, the cocoons are first dried in the sun to kill the silkworm. Then the cocoons are boiled to unwind the yarn from the cocoons. The silk thread is then bleached. The silk fiber is then spun into silk thread. Here single thread is twisted around the reelers.
Moth: Some silkworms are separated from their cocoon, silk yarn does not extract to change into an adult moth. Silkworm becomes moth after 7-8 days. The female moth lays eggs after mating and thus the life cycle of the silkworm begins again.
Thread extraction
First of all, the cocoon is dried in sunlight and boiled in water for 20- 25 minutes to soften and dissolve the gum that is holding the cocoon together. Each thread is then carefully reeled from the cocoon in individual long threads, which are the wound on a reel at the rolling machine. 9-10 cocoons end of the thread is twisted together to form one single thread.
When the silk threads have been washed and degummed, they will be bleached and dried before the dyeing process commences.
Spinning
The spinning process is nothing but making the thread into a bundle by reeling and twisting process where large yarn is prepared.
Shuttle
Sopura silk mill is generally made of woven fabric. For woven fabric warp and weft yarn are needed. In the weaving of cloth, a spindle-shaped device is used to carry the crosswise threads (weft) through the lengthwise threads (warp). The shuttle is filled with thread from the bobbin thread.
Warping
Warping is the process of arranging yarns in the long parallel to one another for further processing yarns are drawn from several cones to form an evenly spaced sheet and then wound onto a warp beam under the same tension. In the Sopura Silk Mill, bobbin is used instead of cones where threads are wound around a large reeler. At the Sopura Silk Mill, 280 bobbins were used in a creel to produce 46cm width fabric from a beam.
Fabric production section
A power loom machine is used to manufacture woven fabrics with the help of a shuttle and warp beam. From the warp beam, warp thread is supplied during the weaving of woven fabric and the shuttle supplies the weft threads. At Sopura silk mill total of 12 machines work from 8 AM to 8 PM.
Fabrics dyeing section
After making a white saree, the saree is dyed in a different color. After dyeing a saree or fabric that would be boiled to make it soften before printing.
Fabrics printing Section:
At the Sopura silk factory different types of printing method is used such as hand printing, screen printing, and block printing to produce different designs of the fabric. At hand, printing wax is used to make the design permanent.
Fabrics Stitching Section
In this section, the distinct garments are stitched by workers. Ladies and gents and baby wear such as saree, scarf, skirt, panjabi, shirt, tie, etc. are stitched in this section.
Sopura Showroom
At the Sopura Silk Showroom different kinds of products are sold. Not only silk garments but also various essentials people can buy there. Generally, they sold a different kind of-
- Women wear
- Gents wear
- Baby wear
- Bags
- Shoes
- Ornaments or jewelry
- Home decor collection
Major products are as follows
The major products they made in their factory are-
- Silk Saree (Block print, batik print, screen print, andy silk, chiffon silk, raw silk with hand print, half silk, muslin saree, hand stitch, silk saree with embroidery)
- Silk shawl, muffler
- Silk Panjabi (andy silk, balaka silk)
- Silk three-piece, scarf, gauze fabric
- Silk shirt
- Silk tie
Many clothes that are made with cotton Cotton fotua, panjabi, Seroyani, etc. that are sold by Sopura Silk Showrooms are ordered by them from different suppliers.
The visit was aimed to enhance the knowledge of the silk garments manufacturing process from the moth to the final product of garments. I understand how silk yarn is produced from silk moths, how to separate silk yarn from cocoons, the steps of fabric making, the dyeing process, the printing technique, and at last finishing of those garments before display in the showroom. As a textile engineering student, visiting the Sopura Silk Mill is a great opportunity to learn practically.
