Hand Spinning Cotton: Is it Really That Hard?

Hand spinning cotton isn’t hard, but it requires a few adjustments to your tools and techniques if you’re used to spinning wool. Hand spinners around the world are totally in love with this useful, soft fiber, so don’t be afraid to build your skills and spin cotton!

Is cotton hard to spin?

Chances are, if you are an American or European hand spinner, you didn’t learn to spin cotton first -you learned to spin wool. Many spinners will tell you that cotton is hard to spin, but I think that’s unfair, and it prevents new spinners from expanding their skills quickly. Spinning cotton is a bit different from spinning wool. It presents specific challenges, but the basics are still the same. Cotton isn’t hard to spin!

How is cotton different from wool?

History

Cotton is a plant fiber, cultivated for centuries across Asia, Africa, Mexico, and South America. Unlike sheep, the cotton plant requires a warm climate to grow.

Over the centuries, cotton farmers have developed many varieties of cotton, with different characteristics. These include qualities like different staple lengths, degree of luster, and several different natural colors, including white, cream, beige, tan, and green. Farmers developed cotton with the end goal of creating a fiber that is easy to process, spin, dye, and create textiles for humans. Yay!

Basic Characteristics

• Comfortable fabric: Cotton is a very fine fiber, which means we can use it to spin and weave soft fabrics that are comfortable against the skin. Due to this fineness, cotton is softer than the softest wool.
• Cool and soft: Unlike wool, cotton feels cool to the touch and is very absorbent. Wool is great at repelling water, but cotton will absorb it very quickly. As an example, a cotton undershirt will soak up sweat the minute it appears on the skin, preventing the uncomfortable feeling of sweat trickling down your back. (Shudder.)
• Easy care: Unlike wool, cotton does not felt or bloom. Wash it, agitate it, throw it in the dryer, and the fibers will remain more or less the same shape and size. (However, I personally would recommend hand washing anything that is handmade, even if it is cotton, to prevent wear and tear.)
• Lack of elasticity: Unlike wool, cotton has little to no elasticity, meaning, it has a limp, drapey structure. This is definitely a benefit of wool, because elasticity is what keeps wool socks from sagging. No one wants saggy socks. But it’s not a bad thing for cotton to have no elasticity. Just be sure you use it for the right type of garment or project: something that drapes and doesn’t need to hold its shape, such as a shawl, loose t-shirt, or headscarf.
• Short staple length: Compared to wool, cotton has a short staple length. A staple length is the length of one individual fiber. Most cotton is from .5 inches to 1.5 inches in length (1.25cm to 3.8cm.) This is the most important thing to consider when learning to hand spin cotton.

How it’s Spun

• Choosing a technique: As a fiber with a shorter staple length, cotton requires more twist, and careful drafting to hold together. To meet these requirements while you spin, you will need fast twist, and light “take up” or tension on your forming yarn to prevent breaking as you spin. The most common technique used to hand spin cotton is the long draw technique. This technique continually adds twist as the fibers are being drawn out.

Best Tools for Easily Hand Spinning Cotton

1. A tahkli: The tahkli is is a traditional metal supported spindle from India. It is small and light, and the metallic bottom tip is pointy and spins very fast. The support from the floor or bowl keeps unnecessary tension from breaking your forming yarn.
2. Any supported spindle: Instead of a tahkli, you could use any other supported spindle with similar results, as long as it spins very fast.
3. A charka: The charka is a spinning wheel developed in India, specifically made for spinning cotton.
4. A spinning wheel: Most spinning wheels will spin cotton, just make sure yours is set up with as little tension as possible, and that you are able to treadle very fast. An electric spinning wheel could be a good option too. Here is an excellent blog post about spinning cotton with a spinning wheel.
5. Note: Drop spindles are not recommended for spinning cotton. The weight of the spindle dangling in the air adds excess tension to the forming yarn, making breakage very likely. It can be done, but will likely be a frustrating experience.

What kind of cotton should I buy for hand spinning?

• Cotton Sliver: Cotton requires different processing methods from wool, which results in different products. To my knowledge, there is no such thing as cotton roving, or cotton combed top. Most cotton marketed to hand spinners is cotton sliver. Sliver is a soft rope of fiber that is similar to roving. Cotton sliver is smooth and ready to spin. It’s perfect for beginners. I have some beautiful naturally dyed cotton sliver in my shop, purchase it here. I also sell white and natural colored cotton sliver here. Here in Louisiana, the Acadiana Fibershed sells Acadian Brown Cotton sliver on their website.
• Blended Batts and Rolags: Cotton is amazing blended with other fibers in batt or rolag form. I personally love to create art batts with cotton and wool, or cotton and angora. A blend of cotton and wool is a great way to dip your toes in to spinning cotton, if you already know how to spin wool. My cotton blend batts and rolags sell out quickly, so check out the shop to see if any are available.
• Ginned: For the most unprocessed product, look for “ginned cotton.” “Ginned” means that the seeds have been removed. This type of cotton product will need to be carded before it can be hand spun. I sell Louisiana grown ginned cotton, when I can get it.

I hope this blog post has helped ease your anxiety about spinning cotton. It’s a wonderful, soft, useful fiber, as humans have known for thousands of years. Give your fingers something new to learn! And remember to enjoy the journey.

Watch me spinning cotton in the video below!