NCERT Solutions Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes How Things Are Made

F R E E S T U D Y M AT E R I A L F O R E V E R Y S T U D E N T

CLASS 5 · THE WORLD AROUND US

NCERT Solutions

Chapter 8: Clothes—How Things
are Made

NCERT Textbook — Our Wondrous World

BOOK PAGES SECTIONS QUESTIONS MEDIUM

131 – 144 15 27 English

Solutions, notes, sample papers & more at 41 pages

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

CLASS 5 · THE WORLD AROUND US · OUR WONDROUS WORLD

NCERT Solutions — Chapter 8: Clothes—How Things are
Made
Chapter 8 of Our Wondrous World closes Unit 4, Things Around Us. It opens with a bird — the baya weaver,
who wove hanging nests long before people ever wove cloth — and then follows cloth all the way from a boll
of cotton to the shirt you are wearing. The chapter covers weaving, looms and handloom traditions, thread
and spinning, natural and synthetic fibres, the life cycle of the silkworm, stitching with a needle, the
embroideries of India and reusing old cloth. It carries 8 Activities, one Discuss box, two Think boxes, two
inline questions with ruled blanks, an Exhibition task and the closing Let us reflect set of 7 items. There is no
separate exercise at the end — the questions are spread right through the chapter.

TEXTBOOK BOOK PAGES

Our Wondrous World (Class 5) 131 – 144

SECTIONS QUESTIONS

15 27

MEDIUM

English

In-text Questions — Page 131

Page 1 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Patterns with Threads

Q1 What do you see in the picture below?

The picture printed at the top of page 131.

I see a small bird and two hanging nests made of grass. The nests hang from a plant with big
green leaves.
Look at the picture on page 131 carefully and write what you notice.

WHAT I LOOK AT WHAT I SEE

The bird A small bird with a bright yellow head and cap, a brown back and a strong short beak. It
is sitting on the left, holding a long strand in its beak.

The first nest A long nest, wider at the top and narrowing at the bottom, hanging straight down from a
branch.

The second nest A rounder, rougher nest hanging beside it, with loose ends of grass sticking out.

What the nests are Hundreds of thin strands of dry grass, going across one another — over and under, over
made of and under.

Where they hang From the stems of a leafy plant, high above the ground, swinging free.

Page 2 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why this picture opens the chapter: The nest is not glued and it is not tied in one
knot. Each strand of grass has been passed over one strand and under the next,
again and again, until the strands hold each other. That is exactly what weaving
means. So the chapter begins by showing you a woven thing made by a bird, before
it shows you a woven thing made by people.

Look for yourself: Hanging baya nests are easy to spot on a babool or palm tree
near fields, and near water. Look up in the months after the rains. You will often see
several nests on one tree, because many males build close together.

Q2 Did you know we have a hidden artist around us who has been weaving long before
humans ever did?

Yes — the hidden artist is the baya weaverbird. The book tells us about it on page 132. Birds
and insects were weaving, stitching and gluing long before people learnt to make cloth.
What the male baya does, step by step:

1. He tears long thin strips of grass with his beak.
2. He carries one strip at a time to a branch.
3. He winds the first few strips round the branch to make a ring to stand on.
4. Then he weaves — he pushes a strip over one strand and under the next, and pulls it tight.
5. He repeats this hundreds of times, until the nest becomes a strong hanging pouch.
6. The finished nest swings from the branch and is safe from animals that cannot climb out that
far.

The book also tells us something interesting about who weaves well:

WHO IS WEAVING WHAT THE NEST LOOKS LIKE

An expert baya Very fine and neat, tightly woven

A young bird, still learning Rather rough and loose

Why it matters: Even a bird has to practise before its weaving becomes good. It is
exactly the same for a person learning to weave cloth, or learning to stitch. Skill is
not magic. It comes from doing the same careful thing many, many times.

Page 3 of 41

as e
a g l
Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
Other hidden artists: the spider spins a web of silk. The tailorbird stitches a leaf.

m l a se
The honeybee builds wax rooms. The weaver ant glues leaves together with silk
o g for a very
.c young ones. Nature has been making things out ofathread
m
from its own
a e
stime.
ag l
long

co m
em . ag
as
Discuss — Page 133
Patterns with Threads — woven things around us
a g l

m
DISCUSS

co
e m.
om
cthey?
Have you seen products woven out of natural material at home or elsewhere? What
g l as
. a
Q1

sem
are

la
agANSWER
a s
com agl
Yes. Many things in an Indian home are woven from natural material — mats, baskets,
.
em Here is a list to help you.
ropes, cots, fans, brooms and winnowing trays.
a s
agl
Talk about the ones you have actually seen.

om
WOVEN THING WHAT IT IS WOVEN FROM WHERE YOU SEE IT

. c
a s emon the floor to sit or
com
Chatai (mat) Palm leaf, date-palm leaf, madur

gl on
Spread

m. a
grass, reeds sleep

aseBasket or tokri
agl
Bamboo strips, cane, palm leaf In the kitchen, in the market,
on a farm

se m
com g l a
. a
Charpai or khaat Coconut coir rope, jute rope, cotton The woven cot in the courtyard

m
ase
niwar tape

Doormat agl Coconut fibre (coir) At the door of the house

Hand fan (pankha) Palm leaf, bamboo
co m
.
Used on a hot afternoon

m
seUsed to clean rice, wheat and
m l a
.co ag dal
Soop (winnowing tray) Bamboo, cane

a s em
agl Jute bag, gunny sack Jute
c
For carrying grain and

m .
e
vegetables

m a s
Cloth — saree, gamchha, towel,
e m . co
Cotton, silk, wool Everything we wear
agl
as
uniform

a g l

co m
m .
m as e
.co


a g l Page 4 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The photographs printed in Activity 1 on page 133 show four such things: three baskets of
woven palm strips, a small green-and-yellow woven basket with a handle, a flat woven fan-
shaped piece, and a green ball of palm leaf woven in a hand.

What all of them have in common: None of them is cut out of one big sheet. Every
one is made from thin strips that pass over and under one another. That is why they
are strong and yet bend easily — the strips hold each other in place.

For your discussion: ask each other, “Which of these is made in our own village or
town, and who makes it?” In many places one family or one community has been
making that thing for generations, and they know the material better than anybody
else.

Activity 1 — Page 133
Patterns with Threads — weaving a paper mat

ACTIVITY

Q1 1. Take 5 – 6 strips of blue paper and tape them at the top of a surface. 2. Take
another set of yellow paper strips and weave them through — over, under, over,
under. 3. Keep repeating until you get a mat.

What you will get: a flat mat with a blue-and-yellow checked pattern, exactly like the last
picture on page 133. The strips are not glued to each other anywhere — yet if you lift the mat, it
holds together and does not fall apart.
How to do it:

1. Cut 5 or 6 strips of blue paper. Make them all about 2 cm wide and 20 cm long.
2. Lay them side by side on the desk, straight up and down, with a small gap between them.
3. Stick a strip of tape across the top ends so they cannot move.
4. Cut the same number of yellow strips, the same width.
5. Take the first yellow strip. Pass it over blue strip 1, under blue strip 2, over blue strip 3,
under blue strip 4, and so on. Push it right up to the tape.
6. Take the second yellow strip. Start the other way round — under blue strip 1, over blue strip
2, under blue strip 3. Push it up close to the first one.
7. Keep going, changing the start every time, until all the yellow strips are used. Tape the loose
ends at the sides.

Page 5 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

tape

Blue strips stay still Yellow strips weave across

Where a blue square shows, the blue strip is on top. Where a yellow square shows, the yellow strip is
on top. Over, under, over, under.

Why the mat holds together: Each yellow strip is trapped — it is held down by one
blue strip and held up by the next. The blue strips are trapped in the same way.
Nothing can slide out without pushing all the others aside. In the book's words,
when the threads are carefully crossed over and under each other, they form a
unified fabric — one single piece.

Getting the pattern right: If two yellow strips start the same way, you will see
stripes instead of checks. So remember the rule — every new strip starts opposite to
the one above it.

Q2 4. Can you use this method to make a basket?

Yes, you can. A basket is only a woven mat whose sides have been folded up and woven
together. The weaving is exactly the same — over, under, over, under.

Page 6 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

How to turn your mat into a basket:

1. Weave a mat as in Activity 1, but leave the ends of all the strips long — do not cut them
short.
2. Put a small box or a katori upside down in the middle of the mat. This will be your shape.
3. Fold all the strips up along the edges of the box. Now they stand up like a fence.
4. Take a fresh long strip. Weave it round and round the standing strips — over one, under the
next.
5. Add more strips going round, one above the other, until the wall is as high as you want.
6. Fold the top ends over inwards and tuck each one into the weave, or paste them down to
make a neat rim.
7. Lift out the box. The basket keeps its shape.

Why it works: A mat and a basket are made in the very same way. The only
difference is that in a basket the strips do not stay flat — they turn a corner and go
up. This is exactly how a bamboo tokri, a cane basket and the palm-leaf baskets in
the photograph on page 133 are made.

Try this: Use paper strips of two colours and keep the over-under order correct even
on the wall of the basket. You will get a checked pattern going round the basket, just
like the green-and-yellow basket in the book's photograph.

Q3 Try using materials other than paper, such as strings, ropes, ribbons or reeds.

Every one of these can be woven, and each gives a different kind of mat. The method never
changes — one set of strands stays still, the other set goes over and under.
How to weave with string or rope:

1. Take a small wooden frame, or the lid of a shoe box with notches cut along the two shorter
edges.
2. Wind a strong string round and round the frame, from notch to notch, to make the still set of
threads. Keep it tight.
3. Now take a woollen thread or a ribbon of another colour.
4. Pass it over one string and under the next, all the way across.
5. Come back the other way, starting opposite to how you finished.
6. Push each row down close to the one before it. Keep going till the frame is full.
7. Cut the strings at the back and knot them in pairs. Lift out your small woven mat or coaster.

Page 7 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

MATERIAL HOW IT BEHAVES GOOD FOR MAKING

Paper strips Stiff, easy to hold, tears if pulled hard A practice mat, a greeting card

Wool or cotton string Soft and bendy, needs a frame to hold it A coaster, a small rug, a wall
tight hanging

Rope or coir Thick and rough, very strong A doormat, the base of a stool

Ribbon Smooth and shiny, slides about A pretty bookmark, a decoration

Reeds, palm leaf, Bend well when fresh, become stiff on A chatai, a basket, a fan
grass drying

What you learn by changing the material: The pattern stays the same but the mat
changes completely. A rope mat is rough and can be walked on. A wool mat is soft
and warm. So a weaver chooses the material by asking one question — what is this
cloth going to be used for?

Tip: Slippery materials like ribbon keep sliding out. Tape both ends down, or use a
frame, and push each row up tight against the last one.

Think — Page 134
Patterns with Threads — woven things in the classroom

THINK

Q1 What can you find in your classroom that is woven? If we weave with threads
instead of paper strips, it becomes cloth.

Many things in the classroom are woven — and the biggest one is what everybody is
wearing. Every uniform in the room is woven cloth.

Page 8 of 41

as e
a g l
Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
WOVEN THING IN THE CLASSROOM HOW YOU CAN TELL IT IS WOVEN

m as e
.co
Our uniforms — shirt, kurta, salwar, dupatta,
a g l
Look closely at the edge and you see tiny threads

m
ase
socks crossing

gl school bag and its straps
aThe The strap is a woven band, and you can see the criss-
cross

m strips of grass or thick cotton threads going across
coWide
The chatai or durrie we sit on
e m . ag
g l as
The duster or cleaning cloth
a Threads crossing, and loose threads at the torn edge

com
The cane or plastic seat of a chair Strips passing over and under in a clear pattern

Threads or thin strips woven sideem
.
om
The curtain and the window blind
l a s by side

. c a g
m bag or gunny sack in the corner
Theejute
s
a
agl
Thick jute threads, easy to see with the naked eye

The rope of the school bell, the flag of India Rope is twisted and woven; the flag is woven cloth

om a s
e
. c
m but weaving done with threads instead of agl
s
The idea in one line: Cloth is nothing
a thin that from far away the cloth looks like one
paper strips. The threads are lso
ag
smooth sheet. Go close, and the same over-under pattern is there — the pattern the
baya bird uses, the pattern you used in Activity 1.
co m
m .
o m l a se
.c do not guess: Some things in the room are not woven a g — a plastic sheet, a
m
Look,

aserubber mat, a paper chart. If you cannot see any threads crossing, even up close, it is
agl probably not woven. That is a fair test.

se m
com g l a
m . a
Activity 2 — Page 134 gl ase
a
Patterns with Threads — looking closely at cloth

co m
.
ACTIVITY

se m
o m l a
g by using zoom on a mobile
m .c Look at a piece of cloth through a magnifying glassaor
se
Q1
a
agl
phone camera. It could be a shirt or something you are wearing. Can you see the
amazing criss-cross pattern?
.c
s e m
m a
m . co agl
l a se
agexactly like the paper mat you wove in Activity 1, only much, much
Yes. You will see rows of threads going one way and rows going across them, passing over
and under each other —
smaller.

com
m .
m ase
.co


a g l Page 9 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

How to do it:

1. Choose a plain, light-coloured cloth. A cotton shirt or a handkerchief is best.
2. Stretch it flat and hold it in good light — near a window is ideal.
3. Hold the magnifying glass a little above the cloth. Move it slowly up and down until the
picture becomes sharp.
4. If you are using a phone, put the camera close and zoom in slowly.
5. Now look for two things: threads going up and down, and threads going across.

WHAT I LOOKED WHAT I SAW THROUGH THE MAGNIFYING GLASS
AT

Plain cotton shirt A neat criss-cross grid, like a tiny chess board. Tiny squares of thread, all the same
size.

A thick towel The criss-cross is there, but with soft loops standing up all over it.

A woollen sweater Not squares — rows of little loops joined into one another. A sweater is knitted, not
woven.

A jute or gunny bag The threads are so thick you can see the over-under pattern without any glass.

A cut edge of the Loose threads hang out — proof that the cloth is made of separate threads.
cloth

Why the pattern is so hard to see: The threads in cloth are very thin — much
thinner than the paper strips you used. A magnifying glass makes them look bigger,
and then the truth is plain: cloth is not one solid sheet at all. It is hundreds of
separate threads holding one another in place.

Check it yourself: Pull one thread out from the cut edge of an old piece of cloth. The
cloth stays whole, but a thin line appears where that thread used to be. Now you can
see clearly where each thread was sitting.

Activity 3 — Page 135

Page 10 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Thread — making yarn from cotton

ACTIVITY

Q1 • Take a ball of cotton and gently pull it out to make a strand. • Now, try twisting the
strand slowly with your fingers. Notice how it becomes stronger as you pull it in a
spin. • Take a pencil. Now, wind your cotton strand onto your pencil, by twisting and
adding more cotton to your ball.

What you will notice: the loose cotton pulls out into a weak, fluffy strand that breaks at the
smallest tug. But as you twist it between your fingers, it becomes thinner, tighter and much
stronger. Soon you can hang the ball of cotton from it without it snapping. You have made
thread.
How to do it:

1. Take a small ball of clean cotton wool. Loosen it by pulling it apart gently.
2. Hold the ball in your left hand. With your right hand, pinch a few fibres and pull slowly. A
soft, thin strand comes away — do not tug, or it will break.
3. Now roll that strand between your thumb and finger, always in the same direction. This is the
twist.
4. Keep pulling a little and twisting a little, again and again. The strand gets longer and
stronger.
5. Tie the free end to a pencil. Turn the pencil so the twist keeps going, and let the thread wind
onto it.
6. Whenever the thread grows thin, pull a few more fibres out of the ball and twist them in. The
new fibres join the old ones.

STAGE WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE HOW STRONG IT IS

The ball of cotton A soft white cloud Falls apart at a touch

Pulled out, not twisted A fat, fluffy strand Breaks with the smallest pull

Twisted a little Thinner, a bit shiny Holds together, but still breaks

Twisted well Thin, tight and even Strong — it can carry the weight of the ball

Page 11 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why twisting makes it strong: Each cotton fibre is very short and very thin, so on
its own it can hold nothing. When you twist, the fibres wrap round one another and
grip. Now a pull is not carried by one fibre — it is shared by all of them together, and
they hold each other in place. The book gives this a name: this process of twisting
cotton fibres together to make thread or yarn is called spinning. Your pencil is doing
exactly the job a charkha does.

The whole journey — from a cotton plant to your shirt:

1. Cotton boll 2. Fibres 3. Spinning
the white fluff on thin, hair-like twist the fibres with
the cotton plant threads — short, weak fingers or a charkha

4. Yarn (thread) 5. Weaving 6. Cloth
long, strong and on a loom — threads the tailor stitches it
ready to be woven cross over and under into our clothes

Fibre → thread → cloth → clothes. Every shirt you own has been through all six steps.

The journey of cotton, from the plant to the clothes we wear.

Did you know? India was the first country in the world to grow cotton and make
cloth from it. Gandhi ji spun thread on a charkha himself, every day. Cloth spun and
woven by hand like this is called khadi, and it became a symbol of the freedom
struggle and of becoming atmanirbhar — able to provide for ourselves.

Activity 4 — Page 138

Page 12 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Natural and Synthetic Fibres

ACTIVITY

Q1 Look at some clothes, bags or other things you use every day. List some of the
materials that you have used. Are they made from natural or synthetic fibres? Then,
write one thing you like about it in the table below.

ITEM NATURAL SYNTHETIC WHAT I LIKE ABOUT IT?

First remember which fibre goes in which group. The book shows them on pages 136 and 137.

NATURAL FIBRES — FROM PLANTS AND ANIMALS SYNTHETIC FIBRES — MADE BY
PEOPLE

Bamboo, cotton, linen (from the flax plant), jute — from Rayon, nylon, polyester, terylene
plants
Wool (from sheep), silk (from the silk moth) — from
animals

Now look at your own things and fill the table. Put a tick in the correct column. Here is a filled
sample.

Page 13 of 41

as e
a g l
Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
ITEM NATURAL SYNTHETIC WHAT I LIKE ABOUT IT?

m l a se
.co summer. Ita
g
My cotton school shirt ✓ (cotton) — It lets air pass, so I do not feel hot in

se m washes easily.

g l a
aMy woollen sweater ✓ (wool) — It is soft and it keeps me really warm in
winter.

co m
My school bag —
m .
e polyester)
✓ (nylon / It is light, it does not tear, and rain does ag
g l as not soak through it.

My mother's silk saree ✓ (silk)
a — It is smooth and shiny. She wears it on

com
festival days.

.
m a s em heavy vegetables,
.co anotl plastic.
The jute bag we take ✓ (jute) — It is strong, it carries
and it is g
m
to the market

l a se
a g My raincoat — ✓ (polyester) Water rolls off it and it dries in a few
minutes.

m a s
.c—o agl
The rope on our ✓ (coconut coir It is thick and rough and does not
charpai / jute)
a s em break, even after years.

ag l
My socks ✓ (cotton) ✓ (a little nylon) The cotton soaks up sweat and the

om
nylon makes them stretch to fit.

. c
m is that you check
Your table will have your own things in it. Any true answer is correct — whatematters
s
m
coor ask an elder, instead of guessing. gl a
.
the label
a
a s em
agl How to tell one from the other: Ask where the material came from. If it grew on a
plant or came off an animal, it is a natural fibre. If it was made in a factory out of
se m
com g l a
. a
artificial material, it is a synthetic fibre. Notice the last row — many clothes today are
m
ase
a mixture of both, because that way we get the good points of each.

agl
m
Did you know? India is the largest producer of jute in the world. And kala (black)
cotton, grown in Gujarat, needs no chemicals and no extra water. Weavers there
. co
e m
m l as
.co
hand-spin it and weave it into a strong, eco-friendly cloth.
a g
se m
g l a
a c
m .
Activity 5 — Page 139
m a s e
em . co agl
g l as
a

co m
m .
m as e
.co


a g l Page 14 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Crafting with Needle and Thread — a leaf plate and spoon

ACTIVITY

Q1 In small groups, collect fresh leaves of palash, teak, jackfruit or similar broad
leaves. If leaves are not available, try using paper. Also, collect some small twigs
like toothpicks. Now, using the leaves or pieces of paper and the toothpicks, pin
them together to create a plate or a spoon.

What you will make: a round leaf plate (a pattal) and a small deep cup or spoon (a dona) — the
very things the pictures on page 139 show. The toothpicks work like little pins. They hold the
leaves together with no glue, no thread and no stitching machine.
How to make the plate:

1. Collect 6 to 8 fresh broad leaves — palash, teak or jackfruit. Fresh leaves bend without
cracking. Wash them and shake off the water.
2. Break the twigs into small pins, about 3 cm long. Keep the ends blunt.
3. Lay one leaf flat. Lay the next leaf so that it overlaps the first by about half.
4. Push a pin through both leaves at the overlap — in, then out, like a stitch. The two leaves are
now joined.
5. Keep adding leaves in a circle, pinning each new one to the last.
6. When the circle closes, pin the last leaf to the first one.
7. Press the plate flat under a heavy book for a few minutes. Trim the edge with scissors to
make it round.

How to make the spoon or dona:

1. Take one big leaf. Fold it into a cone, so the tip becomes the bottom.
2. Hold the fold in place and push a pin through the two layers near the top edge.
3. Add a second pin lower down if the cone opens up.
4. Test it with a little water. If the water drips out, add another leaf inside and pin it too.

Why the pin holds: The pin goes through both leaves and lies across their fibres. To
pull the leaves apart you would have to tear those fibres, and that takes a strong
pull. It is the same idea as a stitch — a needle takes thread through two pieces of
cloth, and the cloth cannot separate without tearing.

Why this is worth knowing: Leaf plates and donas have been used in India for
hundreds of years at meals, at temples and at fairs. They cost almost nothing, they
need no factory, and once used they rot away and feed the soil. A plastic plate does
none of these things. When it is torn, it is only rubbish.

Page 15 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Activity 6 — Page 139
Crafting with Needle and Thread — learning to stitch

ACTIVITY

Q1 Have you ever tried stitching? You will need a needle and thread to stitch a piece of
fabric together. Can you fix a tear or sew a button? Let us learn simple stitching.

Yes — a tear and a loose button are two repairs any Class 5 student can learn to do. You
need three things only: a needle, a thread of about an arm's length, and a pair of scissors.
First, get ready.

1. Cut a thread about as long as your arm. Longer thread only gets tangled.
2. Hold the needle up to the light. Push one end of the thread through the eye — the small
hole. Wetting the end of the thread makes it stiff and easier to push through.
3. Pull the thread through until a short tail hangs on one side.
4. Tie a knot at the long end, so the thread cannot slip out of the cloth.

To sew a button back on:

1. Find the place where the button was. There will be old thread marks there.
2. Bring the needle up from the back of the cloth at that spot.
3. Pass it through one hole of the button, then down through the hole opposite, and out at the
back.
4. Do this five or six times, through the same two holes.
5. If the button has four holes, do the same for the other pair.
6. Finish at the back. Make two small stitches on top of each other and pull the needle through
the loop to knot it. Cut the thread.

To fix a small tear:

1. Turn the cloth inside out and lay it flat.
2. Bring the two torn edges together so they just touch. Do not stretch them.
3. Start about 1 cm before the tear begins and make small running stitches along the join.
4. Go past the end of the tear by 1 cm as well, so the last stitch is on strong cloth.
5. Knot the thread at the back and cut it. Turn the cloth right side out.

Why the extra centimetre matters: If you stitch only where the cloth is already
torn, the very edge of the tear takes the whole pull and it will open again. Starting
on strong cloth spreads the pull over a wider area. That is why a tailor always begins
and ends a repair beyond the damage.

Page 16 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Safety first — the book's own warning: a needle is sharp. Never play with it, never
put it in your mouth, never leave it lying on a chair or on the floor. Push it into a
small piece of cloth or a cork when you are not using it, and count your needles at
the end. Do this activity with a teacher or an elder watching.

Think — Page 139
Crafting with Needle and Thread — stitching around us

THINK

Q1 1. Have you ever seen someone stitching at home or in your neighbourhood? What
were they making or fixing?

Yes. Stitching goes on around us all the time — at home, at the tailor's shop, at the cobbler's
stall and in every school bag repair.
Sample answer: “Yes, I have. My grandmother sits near the window in the afternoon and
stitches. Last week she sewed two buttons back on my school shirt and put a patch inside the
knee of my brother's trousers. There is also a tailor's shop near our bus stop. The tailor sits at a
machine and turns the wheel with his hand while the cloth moves under the needle. I have seen
him stitching a blouse, and taking in a shirt that had become loose.”

WHO WAS WHAT THEY USED WHAT THEY WERE MAKING OR
STITCHING FIXING

Mother or Needle and thread A button, a torn hem, a loose pocket, a bag
grandmother at home from an old saree

The tailor (darzi) Sewing machine, scissors, Shirts, kurtas, blouses, salwar-kameez, school
measuring tape, chalk uniforms; also shortening trousers

The cobbler (mochi) A thick curved needle and A torn chappal strap, the stitching of a shoe, a
strong waxed thread leather bag handle

A woman doing Needle, coloured thread, a Flowers on a dupatta, a cushion cover, a wall
embroidery hoop hanging

Someone making a Needle and thread, old cloth A godhadi or quilt joined from many small
quilt pieces pieces

The shopkeeper who A big needle and jute string Closing the mouth of a filled grain sack
sells sacks

Page 17 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

What to notice about the work: Every one of these people is doing skilled work.
The tailor must measure, cut and join so that the cloth fits a real body. The cobbler
must push a needle through leather. These are trades that take years to learn, and a
village or a town could not manage without them.

Q2 2. Look at your shirt or school bag. Can you find where the pieces have been
stitched together?

Yes — a shirt is not one piece of cloth. It is many pieces joined by lines of stitches. Each line
of stitching is called a seam. Run your finger along a seam and you can feel a small ridge.

WHERE TO LOOK ON A SHIRT WHAT HAS BEEN JOINED THERE

Along the sides, from the armpit down The front piece is joined to the back piece

Round the shoulder, at the top of the The sleeve is joined to the body
arm

Down the inside of each sleeve The sleeve cloth is joined to itself to make a tube

Round the neck The collar is joined on

Down the front edge and along the The cloth is folded and stitched so it will not fray — this is called a
bottom hem

At each button and buttonhole Small tight stitches hold the button and finish the hole

The pocket A separate small piece stitched on three sides, left open at the top

WHERE TO LOOK ON A SCHOOL WHAT HAS BEEN JOINED THERE
BAG

Where each strap meets the bag Stitched again and again in a square with a cross inside — because
this spot takes the whole weight

Round the zip The zip tape is stitched to the cloth on both sides

All the corners and edges The flat pieces are joined into a box shape, usually with a strong
band over the seam

The front pocket, the name tag, the Each one stitched on separately
handle at the top

Page 18 of 41

as e
a g l
Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
Why cloth is cut and then joined again: Our body is not flat, but cloth is. So a tailor

m l a se
cuts flat pieces of the right shape and stitches them together, and the flat cloth
o
becomes .ac shape that fits a person. Look at where the stitching a isgdoubled — the
m
seof the bag, the seat of the trousers, the armhole. Those are the places that
l a
g the most pull, so the tailor makes them strongest.
strap
atake
o m
e
. c
m every seam is easy to see, and you can ag
s
Try this: Turn an old shirt inside out. Now
count exactly how many pieces of
a g lacloth were used to make it. Most shirts are made
of eight to ten separate pieces.

co m
em.
Activity 7.c— omPage 140 g l as
m Needle and Thread — the running stitch
ewith a
a s
gl
Crafting
aACTIVITY
om a s
. c
em running stitch. 1. Take a piece of thread through a agl
Q1
a s
Let us begin by learning the basic
l of the thread. 2. Start from the back of the cloth. Bring
needle. Tie a knot at onegend
a
the needle up at Point A. 3. Push the needle down at Point B. 4. Bring it up at Point
C, then down at Point D. 5. Keep going—up, down, up, down—in a straight line. 6.
co m
m .
se
This is called a running stitch.

o m g l a
m .c a
se you will get: a neat dotted line of stitches, just like the picture on page 140 — a short

g l a
a What

se m
piece of thread showing on top, then a gap, then another short piece. Turn the cloth over and

com
you see the opposite: thread where the gaps were, and gaps where the thread showed. The
thread has been running in and out of .the g l a
e m cloth. a
g l as
a
How to do it:

1. Thread the needle and tie a knot at one end of the thread.

co m
.
2. Hold the cloth flat. Push the needle up from the back at Point A. Pull until the knot stops at

em
as
the back.
m l
.co a g
3. Push the needle down into the cloth at Point B, a little ahead of A. Pull the thread through.

s e m You now have your first stitch on top.
agla 4. Bring the needle up again at Point C, a little ahead of B.
.c
5. Push it down at Point D. That is your second stitch.
s e m
. c o m
6. Carry on the same way — up, down, up, down — keeping to a straight line.
a g la
s e m gap the same length. That is what makes it look neat.
7. Try to keep every stitch and every
a small stitches one on top of the other, and cut the thread.
agl
8. Finish at the back with two

com
m .
m ase
.co


a g l Page 19 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

A (up) D (down) thread on top

cloth

B (down) C (up)
thread hidden
underneath

The solid pieces are the thread you can see on top. The dotted curves are the same thread running
along under the cloth.

Why it is called a running stitch: Because the thread simply runs in and out of the
cloth without ever being knotted in the middle. It is the quickest stitch of all, and it is
the first stitch every tailor learns. All the fancier stitches are built on top of it.

To make it neat: Draw a faint pencil line on the cloth first and stitch along it. Keep
each stitch about as long as a grain of rice, and each gap the same. Do not pull the
thread tight — if you do, the cloth gathers up and puckers.

Activity 8 — Pages 140 – 141

Page 20 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Stitching Clothes Together

ACTIVITY

Q1 Stitching Clothes Together — Now, let us use this stitch to bring two pieces of cloth
together. 1. Collect small cloth pieces left over at a tailor's shop or some pieces of
old cloth. 2. Lay one piece of cloth flat on the table. Place the second piece of cloth
on top of it, slightly overlapping it. 3. Now, use a needle and thread to do a simple
running stitch to join them together.

they overlap here
cloth 1

cloth 2
running stitch

Two pieces of cloth laid one over the other, with a running stitch along the part where
they overlap.

What you will get: two separate pieces of cloth become one bigger piece. Lift it by one corner
and the whole thing comes up together. The line of stitching holds it, and you can see the neat
dotted line of thread along the join.
How to do it:

1. Ask at a tailor's shop for the scraps they throw away. Tailors usually give them happily. Or
use pieces of an old bedsheet or an old kurta.
2. Choose two pieces. Flat, plain cotton is easiest for a beginner.
3. Lay the first piece flat on the table and smooth it out.
4. Lay the second piece so that it covers about 2 cm of the first along one edge. This covered
part is the overlap.
5. Hold the overlap firmly, or pin it, so it cannot slip while you work.

Page 21 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

6. Thread the needle, knot the end, and make a line of running stitches along the middle of the
overlap — up, down, up, down, as in Activity 7.
7. Keep the stitches small and the line straight. Do not pull the thread tight.
8. At the end, make two stitches on top of each other at the back and cut the thread.
9. Now hold the join and pull gently. It should not open.

Why the pieces must overlap: If you put the two edges only just touching and
stitch through them, the thread has almost no cloth to hold on to and the join tears
open at once. With an overlap, each stitch passes through two full layers of cloth
well away from the raw edge. So the pull is shared by many threads of the cloth, not
by the few at the edge.

If the join keeps opening: make the overlap wider, make the stitches smaller and
closer together, or go back along the same line a second time filling in the gaps. Two
rows of stitching are twice as strong as one.

Q2 4. Add more pieces to create a table cloth, mat, coaster, cleaning cloth or any
material of your interest.

Keep joining piece to piece and a heap of scraps becomes something useful. The pictures
on page 141 show exactly this — hands joining small squares of printed cloth, and finished
pieces made of many bright squares.
How to plan it, step by step:

1. Decide first what you are making, and how big it should be. A coaster is about 10 cm square.
A table cloth is much bigger.
2. Sort your scraps by size. Cut them into squares of the same size — say 10 cm — so they fit
together neatly.
3. Lay the squares out on the floor in rows before stitching anything. Move them about until
you like the pattern of colours.
4. Stitch one full row first — square to square, along their edges, with a running stitch.
5. Make the other rows the same way.
6. Now stitch row to row until the whole sheet is joined.
7. Fold the outside edge over once and stitch it down. This is the hem — it stops the edges from
fraying.

Page 22 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

WHAT TO HOW MANY PIECES YOU NEED WHAT TO USE IT FOR
MAKE

Coaster 1 or 2 squares, and a spare square as a To put a hot glass on
second layer

Cleaning cloth 4 squares To wipe the table or the blackboard

Table mat 6 to 9 squares Under a plate at meal times

Small mat or 16 squares (4 rows of 4) To sit on
asan

Table cloth 25 or more squares To cover the class table on exhibition
day

Bag 2 big rectangles and 2 strips for the handles To carry books or vegetables

Why this is worth doing: These scraps were going to be thrown away. By joining
them you have made something new and useful without buying anything at all. That
is exactly the old Indian tradition the book describes on page 142 — making a
beautiful quilt by joining small pieces together.

Make it your own: Put the dark pieces and the light pieces one after the other, and
a pattern appears by itself. Or put your name in one corner with a few running
stitches in a different colour.

In-text Questions — Page 141
Stitching Clothes Together — thinking about stitches

Q1 Where else can we use running stitches in daily life?

The running stitch is used almost everywhere cloth has to be held together — for repairs,
for hems, for joining pieces, and for decoration.

Page 23 of 41

as e
a g l
Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
WHERE WE USE A RUNNING WHAT IT DOES THERE
STITCH
m ase
. c o a g l
Mending m
s e a torn shirt or a torn pocket Brings the two torn edges together and holds them

gla a hem at the bottom of trousers
aMaking Holds the folded edge down so it does not fray
or a skirt

co m
e m . ag
as
Joining cloth pieces into a quilt or Joins the squares, and also holds the layers together
godhadi
a g l
Kantha embroidery of Bengal, Odisha Rows of running stitches make the whole design — the same
and Tripura stitch you just learnt
co m
em.
m l as
.co
Tacking before machine stitching Holds two pieces in place loosely, so the tailor can check the fit

a g
em
before the machine sews them

a s
glPutting a drawstring channel in a
a pyjama or a bag
Makes a tunnel for the nada or the cord to run through

m a s
.co agl
Gathering cloth into folds for a frill

emShuts the open end
Stitch a line, then pull the thread — the cloth gathers up

a s
a
Closing a pillow cover, a mattress cover
or a grain sack
gl

co m
.
Sewing a name tag inside a school Fixes the tag on so it will not be lost

em
as
uniform
m l
.co
m one simple stitch is enough for so much: The running stitch is quick, it uses a g
a s eWhy
agl very little thread, and it can be undone easily if you make a mistake. Where great
strength is needed a tailor uses a machine stitch instead — but for everyday joining
se m
om of the work.
and mending, this one stitch does cmost g l a
. a
a s em
gl
Look at Kantha again:athe picture on page 142 shows a cream cloth with red
flowers and green leaves. Every one of those lines is a row of running stitches.
co m
Women in eastern India built a whole art out of the very first stitch a child learns.
m .
m as e
.co a g l
se m
g l a
a c
m .
m a s e
e m . co agl
g l as
a

co m
m .
m as e
.co


a g l Page 24 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q2 If one thread breaks in your stitching, what do you think will happen to the rest of
the stitches?

If the thread breaks, the stitches near the break will start coming loose one by one, and
the join will open there. The stitches away from the break may hold for a while — but only
until the loose thread is pulled further.
What happens, step by step:

1. The thread snaps at one place.
2. The two loose ends slip back into the cloth.
3. The stitch next to the break has nothing holding it, so it also comes out.
4. Then the next one comes out, and the next.
5. The cloth pieces separate along that part of the join.
6. If the whole line was sewn with one thread and no knot in the middle, the whole line can
unravel.

Why one thread matters so much: The stitches are not separate little things. They
are all made from one single thread going in and out. So they are all joined to each
other. Pull out one and the next one loosens. This is the same idea as the woven mat
in Activity 1 — take out one strip and the strips beside it become loose, because each
one was holding the others.

What a tailor does about it: A tailor knots the thread firmly at both ends of a seam,
and goes back and forth two or three times where the pull is greatest. Then even if
the thread breaks in the middle, the knots stop the rest of the stitching from running
out. If a hem of yours starts opening, stitch it up at once — a small repair today is
much easier than a big one next week.

Exhibition — Page 143

Page 25 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Exhibition

EXHIBITION

Q1 You have created a set of wonderful materials. Display your mats, stitched cloth
pieces and leaf cutlery. Add name tags and short notes explaining how you made
them. Invite other classmates or your parents to visit.

An exhibition is not only a display. It is a way of telling other people how a thing was
made. So the name tag and the short note matter as much as the object itself.
How to hold the exhibition:

1. Fix a day and a place — a corner of the classroom, or two desks pushed together, or the
verandah.
2. Collect everything the class made: the paper mats from Activity 1, the cotton thread wound
on pencils from Activity 3, the leaf plates and donas from Activity 5, and the stitched cloth
pieces from Activity 8.
3. Group them by what they teach — a Weaving corner, a Thread corner, a Stitching corner, a
Leaf craft corner.
4. Write a name tag for every object: the name of the object, who made it, and what it is made
of.
5. Write a short note for each corner saying how the things there were made, in four or five
lines.
6. Make an invitation card and give it to the other classes and to your parents.
7. Decide who will stand at each corner and explain. Take turns, so everybody gets to see the
rest of the exhibition too.
8. Keep a notebook at the door where visitors can write one line about what they liked.

Sample name tag and note:

Page 26 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

ON THE WHAT WE WROTE
TAG

Name of Woven paper mat
the object

Made by Meena and Arjun, Class 5-B

Made Six blue paper strips and six yellow paper strips
from

How we We taped the blue strips at the top so they could not move. Then we passed each yellow strip over
made it one blue strip and under the next, all the way across. Every new strip started the opposite way to
the one above it. That is how the checked pattern came. Nothing is glued — the strips hold each
other.

What we Cloth is made in exactly the same way, only with threads instead of paper.
learnt

Why the explaining is the important part: Anybody can look at a mat. Only the
person who made it can say why the strips do not fall apart. When you explain your
work to a visitor, you find out how much you have really understood — and that is
the true test of the whole chapter.

A good idea: invite a local weaver, a tailor or a basket maker to your exhibition. Ask
them to bring one tool and show how it is used. Their work is the grown-up form of
everything you have made this week, and they will have things to tell you that no
book contains.

Let us reflect — Pages 143 – 144
Closing questions

LET US REFLECT

Q1 1. Have you ever reused or recycled an old piece of cloth? What did you or your
family make from it?

Yes. In most Indian homes an old piece of cloth is never simply thrown out — it is turned
into something else.

Page 27 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Sample answer: “Yes, we have. My mother's old cotton saree became two things. The good part
of it was cut and stitched into a godhadi — a soft quilt for my little sister, with three layers of old
cloth stitched together with long running stitches. The border was cut off and stitched into a
jhola that we take to the market. My old school shirts, once they became too small, were cut into
square cleaning cloths for the kitchen. My father's torn kurta went to the cobbler, who used a
piece of it as lining inside a bag he was repairing.”
Here are the usual ways old cloth is used again:

WHAT THE CLOTH WAS WHAT IT BECOMES

A shirt or frock that no longer fits Passed on to a younger brother, sister or neighbour who can wear it

An old saree A quilt (godhadi, kantha), a petticoat, a cloth bag, a curtain, a floor mat

A worn towel or bedsheet Kitchen cloths, dusters, floor-wiping cloths

Small scraps from a tailor's shop Quilt squares, coasters, doll clothes, a pouch, stuffing for a cushion

An old woollen sweater Unwound and the wool knitted again into socks, a cap or mittens

Torn jeans or thick cloth A pencil pouch, a bag, patches on the knees of other trousers

Very worn cloth Cleaning rags, a mop, a duster for the blackboard

Why this matters: Every piece of cloth carries a great deal of work inside it.
Somebody grew the cotton, somebody spun the thread, somebody wove it,
somebody stitched it. Using the cloth again means all that work goes on being
useful. It also means one less new thing has to be made, and one less thing goes
into the rubbish heap.

Q2 2. If one thread breaks in a stitched cloth or in a woven mat, what might happen?
Why is each thread important?

The cloth or the mat starts coming apart at that place — and it can keep opening further.
Each thread is important because every thread is holding the threads next to it in place.
In a woven mat:

1. One thread snaps.
2. The threads that were crossing it lose their grip and become loose.
3. A hole appears, and the loose threads begin to slip out.
4. If nothing is done, the hole grows bigger and the mat unravels.

Page 28 of 41

as e
a g l
Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

In stitched cloth:
co m
se m.
m a
1. The stitching thread snaps at one point.
2. The stitch c o
. beside it comes loose, then the next, then the next. a g l
3. The s m
e pieces of cloth separate along the seam.
l a two
agBecause the whole seam was made from one thread, the whole seam can open.
4.

. com
Why each thread is important: Cloth is not one solid sheet. It is many threads,
ag
a s em so every thread holds its neighbours and is
each passing over and under the others,
l the whole job — and not one thread is useless
held by them. Not one threadaisgdoing
either. Take one out and the ones beside it have nothing to grip. That is the whole

co m
m.
idea of weaving: strength comes from working together.

o m l a se
g of a seam
c do about it: Stitch up a small tear at once. Knot theaends
What .to
se m
g l a
properly. And notice how the same idea works in a family, in a class and in a village
a — no single person does everything, but if one person's part is missing, the work

m a s
agl
near them starts falling apart too.

m.co
l a se
a g
Q3 3. Visit a tailor's shop or a handloom store with an adult. What tools or machines
did you see being used there?
com
m .
m as e
.co a g l
a s emwith an adult, greet the person working there, and ask before you touch anything. Ask
gl two questions at every tool: “What is this called?” and “What do you use it for?” Write the
Go

a
answers down on the spot.
se m
com g l a
. a
Sample answer — my visit to the tailor's shop near our street
m
ase
agl

co m
m .
m as e
.co a g l
se m
g l a
a c
m .
m a s e
e m . co agl
g l as
a

co m
m .
m ase
.co


a g l Page 29 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

TOOL OR MACHINE WHAT IT IS USED FOR

Sewing machine The needle goes up and down very fast while the cloth is fed under it. It
stitches in a minute what a hand would take an hour to do.

Bobbin and bobbin case A small reel of thread that sits under the machine. A machine stitch needs two
threads — one from the top, one from the bobbin below.

Big scissors (kainchi) Cutting cloth. The tailor never uses these on paper, because paper blunts them.

Measuring tape (inch tape) Measuring the customer — chest, waist, length, shoulder, sleeve.

Tailor's chalk Marking the cutting lines on the cloth. The mark brushes off later.

Pins and pin cushion Holding two pieces together before they are stitched.

Needles and thimble Hand stitching; the thimble protects the finger that pushes the needle.

Reels of thread of many So the stitching matches the colour of the cloth.
colours

Iron and ironing table Pressing the seams flat, so the finished garment sits properly.

Paper patterns and a The pattern gives the shape to cut; the dummy is used to check the fit.
dummy (mannequin)

Sample answer — my visit to the handloom weaver

Page 30 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

TOOL OR PART OF WHAT IT IS USED FOR
THE LOOM

The loom (karghā) The big wooden frame on which the cloth is woven. It holds one whole set of threads
tight and straight.

Warp beam and the The long threads that run the length of the cloth. They are wound on a roller at the
warp threads back and stay still.

Shuttle A smooth boat-shaped piece of wood carrying a spool of thread. The weaver throws it
from side to side, so the thread crosses the warp — that is the weft.

Heddles and treadles Pressing a pedal lifts every second warp thread, opening a gap for the shuttle to fly
(foot pedals) through. This is how “over and under” happens hundreds of times a minute.

Reed or comb Pushed forward after each throw, to press the new thread tight against the cloth
already woven.

Cloth beam The roller in front, on which the finished cloth is wound as it grows.

Charkha or bobbin Winds thread onto the small spools that go inside the shuttle.
winder

The weaver's hands Both feet work the pedals and both hands throw the shuttle and pull the reed — all at
and feet the same time, all day.

What to notice above everything else: Neither of these is easy work. The weaver
keeps a rhythm going with hands and feet together for hours. The tailor must
measure a real person and cut cloth that cannot be joined back if the cut is wrong.
Both are skilled trades that take years to learn. Say thank you before you leave, and
if you can, buy something small.

Did you know? Handloom weaving uses no electricity at all. That is one reason it is
called eco-friendly and sustainable — and it gives work to over 45 lakh people in
India, most of them women and artisans in villages.

Q4 4. Find out what kind of weaving or stitching work is famous in your area or state.
Name it.

Almost every state of India is known for some cloth of its own. Ask an elder, ask a
shopkeeper who sells sarees, or look at what people wear on festival days in your town.

Page 31 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

How to find out:

1. Ask at home: “Is there any cloth or embroidery that our region is famous for?”
2. Ask in a cloth shop which local weave people ask for at wedding time.
3. Look at what your grandmother's best saree or your grandfather's shawl is called.
4. Write down the name, where it is made, and one thing that makes it special.

Sample answer: “In our state, Punjab, the famous work is Phulkari. Phul means flower and kari
means work — so the name means flower work. Women embroider bright silk thread on a plain
cloth, usually from the back, so that the front fills up with red, yellow, pink and orange flowers
and geometric shapes. It is worn as a dupatta or an odhni, and a Phulkari is traditionally given
to a girl at her wedding. My grandmother has one that her mother made for her.”
Some famous weaving and stitching traditions of India — the chapter names several of these:

STATE OR REGION FAMOUS WEAVING OR STITCHING WORK

Tamil Nadu Kanjeevaram silk sarees (weaving); Toda embroidery of the Nilgiris

Kashmir Pashmina shawls (weaving); Kashmiri embroidery with its paisley design

Odisha and Gujarat Ikat weaving; Patola sarees from Patan, Gujarat

Uttar Pradesh Chikankari of Lucknow; Banarasi silk sarees of Varanasi

Rajasthan Banjara embroidery, Gota work, Bandhani tie-and-dye

Punjab Phulkari embroidery

West Bengal, Odisha, Tripura Kantha embroidery, made with rows of running stitches

Meghalaya Khneng embroidery

Gujarat (Kachchh) Kala cotton weaving, mirror-work embroidery

Assam and the North-East Muga and eri silk weaving, done on looms at home

Madhya Pradesh Chanderi and Maheshwari sarees

Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Pochampally ikat, Kalamkari

Bihar and Jharkhand Tussar silk weaving, Sujani embroidery

Maharashtra Paithani sarees; godhadi quilts made of old cloth

Kerala Kasavu — white cotton with a gold border

Page 32 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why every place has its own cloth: Weavers used whatever grew nearby — cotton
in the black soil regions, silk where mulberry grows, wool in the cold mountains.
Then each region added its own patterns and colours, and passed them down from
parent to child. So a cloth is not only a cloth. It tells you where it came from.

Q5 5. We should not throw the old clothes away. Why?

Because an old cloth is still useful, it cost a great deal of work to make, and throwing it
away only adds to waste.

Somebody else can still wear it. A shirt that has become small for you fits a younger child
perfectly. Passing clothes on is an old habit in Indian homes, and it costs nothing.
It can be made into something new. Old sarees become quilts. Old shirts become cleaning
cloths and bags. The book tells us of the old Indian tradition of joining small pieces of cloth
into beautiful quilts.
Making cloth takes a lot of work. Someone grew and picked the cotton, someone spun it
into thread, someone wove it on a loom, someone stitched it. Throwing the cloth away
throws away all of that work.
Making cloth takes a lot of water and land. A cotton crop needs land, water and months
of care. Using cloth for longer means less new cloth has to be made.
Cloth waste does not disappear. Cotton rots away slowly, but synthetic cloth like nylon and
polyester stays in the ground for years and years. A heap of thrown clothes is a heap that
stays.
Somebody needs it. Old but clean clothes given to a person who needs them are worth far
more than they are in a rubbish bin.

Give it away → someone wears it

Cut and stitch it → a quilt, a bag, a duster

Throw it away → nothing at all comes of it

The idea behind it: Every cloth carries the work of a farmer, a spinner, a weaver and
a tailor. To respect that work is to use the cloth as long as it can be used, and then to
make something else out of it. This is what our grandmothers did without anyone
teaching them the word — recycle.

Page 33 of 41

as e
a g l
Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
6. Below are the jumbled-up steps of the life cycle of a moth. Read and number
se
Q6

o m l a
them from 1 to 6 in the correct order. ( ) Adult moth comes out of the cocoon. ( )

m .c into tiny caterpillars. ( ) Silk moth lays eggs. ( ) Theagcycle begins again. ( )
Eggs hatch

l a se
Caterpillars eat mulberry leaves and grow big. ( ) Caterpillars spin cocoons around
a g themselves.

co m
m . ag

as e
l
Here is the correct order. The numbers go in the circles printed in your book.
a g
NUMBER THE STEP, AS PRINTED IN THE ORDER TO

co m
m.
BOOK WRITE

m as e 5
.co
Adult moth comes out of the cocoon.
g l
The moth breaks out of its silk case
a
se m
g l a Eggs hatch into tiny caterpillars. Small caterpillars come out of the 2

a eggs

m a s
.co agl
Silk moth lays eggs. The very beginning 1

a s emThe new moth lays eggs and it all
gl starts over
The cycle begins again. 6

a
m
Caterpillars eat mulberry leaves and They eat and eat and grow fast 3
grow big.
. co
em
c o m g l as
. a
Caterpillars spin cocoons around Each one wraps itself in silk thread 4

s e m
themselves.
a
agl Now read it in the right order:
se m
com g l a
.
1. Silk moth lays eggs.
m a
ase
2. Eggs hatch into tiny caterpillars.

a gl
3. Caterpillars eat mulberry leaves and grow big.
4. Caterpillars spin cocoons around themselves.
5. Adult moth comes out of the cocoon.
co m
m .
as e
6. The cycle begins again.
m l
m .co a g
l a se
ag
.c
s e m
m a
e m . co agl
g l as
a

co m
m .
m as e
.co


a g l Page 34 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

2 and 3. Caterpillar
eats mulberry leaves, grows big

1. Eggs Life cycle of 4. Cocoon
laid on a leaf the silkworm silk wrapped all round

6. The moth lays eggs and the cycle begins again.

5. Adult moth
comes out of the cocoon

The four stages go round and round. That is why it is called a cycle — it has no end.

How to work out the order for yourself: Ask which step must come before another.
Caterpillars cannot hatch before eggs are laid, so “lays eggs” must be first. A
caterpillar must grow before it can spin a cocoon. A moth can only come out of a
cocoon after the cocoon has been made. And the moth that comes out lays the next
eggs — so the last step joins back to the first. That is exactly what a life cycle means:
a pattern of growth and change that repeats.

Where the silk comes in: The silk we wear is the thread of step 4 — the cocoon. The
cocoons are put in hot water, the thread is gently pulled out, and it is spun into silk
yarn. One cocoon holds one very long, very fine, unbroken thread.

Page 35 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q7 7. Bring 5 – 6 pieces of different types of clothes from home or nearby tailors
(leftover scraps). Observe the material closely and complete the table. Ask an elder
or search in your book to find out whether it is made from cotton, wool, silk, jute,
polyester or nylon.

CLOTH HOW DOES IT THICK/THIN SHINY STRETCHY WHAT DO
PIECE FEEL? (YES/NO) (YES/NO) YOU
NO. (SMOOTH, THINK IT
ROUGH) IS MADE
OF?

1

2

3

4

5

How to test each piece:

1. Feel it. Close your eyes and rub it between your fingers. Is it smooth, rough, soft or
scratchy?
2. Hold it up to the light. If light passes through easily, it is thin. If not, it is thick.
3. Turn it in the light. Does it shine, or does the light just sink into it?
4. Pull it gently in two directions. Does it stretch and then come back, or does it stay as it is?
5. Ask an elder what the cloth is, and check the label if there is one. Then match it with the
fibres on pages 136 and 137.

Sample answer — my filled table

Page 36 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

CLOTH HOW DOES IT THICK/ SHINY STRETCHY WHAT DO
PIECE FEEL? (SMOOTH, THIN (YES/NO) (YES/NO) YOU THINK
NO. ROUGH) IT IS MADE
OF?

1 Soft and smooth, but Thin No No Cotton — a piece
not slippery of an old shirt

2 Very smooth and Thin Yes No Silk — a scrap of
slippery, cool to a saree border
touch

3 Soft but a little Thick No Yes Wool — a piece
scratchy, warm at of an old sweater
once

4 Rough and hairy, Thick No No Jute — a bit of a
prickles the hand gunny bag

5 Smooth and a little Thin Yes A little Polyester —
slippery, does not from a school
soak up water bag lining

6 Very smooth, almost Thin Yes Yes Nylon — a piece
like plastic, makes a of an old
rustling sound umbrella cloth

Your table will hold your own pieces, so your answers may be different. What matters is that every
column is filled after really touching and looking, not by guessing.
A quick guide to help you decide:

IF THE CLOTH IS… IT IS MOST LIKELY

Soft, dull, thin, soaks up water quickly, creases easily Cotton

Smooth, shiny, cool, very light Silk

Thick, fluffy, warm, a little stretchy Wool

Coarse, hairy, stiff, brownish Jute

Smooth and slightly shiny, does not crease, dries very fast Polyester

Very smooth and slippery, strong, rustles, water rolls off Nylon

Page 37 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why the tests work: How a cloth feels comes straight from the fibre it is made of.
Wool is warm because the woolly fibres trap air. Cotton soaks up sweat because the
fibres take in water. Nylon and polyester are made in a factory and do not take in
water at all, so they dry fast but feel hot to wear in summer. So the way a cloth
behaves tells you what it is made of — and it also tells you when to wear it.

Careful: Many clothes today are a mixture of two fibres — cotton with a little
polyester, for example. If a piece feels like cotton but does not crease at all, it is
probably a mixture. Do not worry if you cannot be sure; write what you think and
then ask an elder.

Chapter at a glance
Weaving means crossing two sets of threads over and under each other. One set is
placed one way. The other set goes across it. Each strip goes over, then under, then over,
then under. When you keep doing this, the strips lock together and become one sheet. That
sheet may be a mat, a basket or a piece of cloth. Look at the picture on page 133 — five
blue paper strips and some yellow strips make a mat in exactly this way.
A bird was weaving before people were. The male baya, a weaverbird, builds a hanging
nest out of grass. He weaves the strands over and under so the nest is strong. The nest
hangs from a branch and is shaped like a pouch. An expert baya makes a very fine nest. A
young bird, still learning, makes a rough one. So even for a bird, weaving is a skill that has
to be practised.
People have woven natural materials for a very long time. Coconut fibre, palm reeds,
bamboo, grass, jute, cotton and silk are all woven into mats, baskets and sheets. If you
weave with threads instead of paper strips, you get cloth. Look at your shirt through a
magnifying glass and you will see the tiny criss-cross pattern.
Cloth is woven on a loom. A loom is the frame that holds one set of threads tight while the
weaver passes the other set across. People in India knew how to weave even 4,000 years
ago. Cloth woven by hand on a loom is called handloom fabric. India has some of the best
handloom weavers in the world. Every region has its own tradition — Kanjeevaram from
Tamil Nadu, Pashmina from Kashmir, Ikat from Odisha and Gujarat. Textile mills do the
same two jobs — spinning and weaving — but with big machines, and they make cloth in
very large quantities.
Weaving is work, not only art. The Indian handloom sector gives work to over 45 lakh
people, most of them women and artisans in villages. That makes it one of the largest
cottage industries in the world. Handloom weaving uses no electricity, so it is eco-friendly. It
also keeps old designs and skills alive. Indian muslin was once so fine that it was called
woven air — a whole saree could be pulled through a ring.

Page 38 of 41

as e
a g l
Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Thread is made by twisting fibres together. That is called spinning. A fibre is the thin,
co m
se m.
hair-like thread you get if you untwist a cotton strand. On its own a fibre is weak and short.

o m l a
g ji spun his own
.c wheel does this job — and so does a pencil, in Activity 3.aGandhi
Twist many of them together and you get a long, strong thread, also called yarn. A charkha

m
se and wove his own cloth. That cloth is called khadi, and it became a symbol of the
or spinning

g l a
thread
a freedom struggle and of becoming atmanirbhar — able to look after ourselves.
m
Fibres are of two kinds — natural and synthetic. Natural fibres come from plants and

. co ag
m
animals: bamboo, cotton, linen, wool and silk. Synthetic fibres are made by people from

l a se
artificial materials: rayon, nylon, polyester and terylene. We use both every day. India was
g cotton and make cloth from it, and India is the largest
the first country in the world toagrow
producer of jute in the world.

c o m
.
Silk comes from an insect. The silk moth lays eggs. The eggs hatch into caterpillars, which
eat mulberry leaves and grow. Each caterpillar then spins a cocoon of silkm
s e thread all around

. c
itself. The
a la out, and it is made
omcocoons are put in hot water, the silk thread is gently pulled
g
s e
intomthread for silk cloth. An adult moth comes out of the cocoon, lays eggs, and the whole
aglacycle starts again. That repeating pattern is called a life cycle.
A needle and thread join cloth, and also decorate it. The simplest stitch is the running

m a s
.co agl
stitch — up, down, up, down in a straight line. Another hidden artist does this too: the

se m
tailorbird pokes holes along the edge of a big leaf and sews it into a green sleeve with plant

g l a
fibre or spider silk, then pads it into a nest. In India, stitches also decorate. Chikankari
a
comes from Lucknow, Banjara and Gota from Rajasthan, Kantha from West Bengal, Odisha
and Tripura, Phulkari from Punjab, Toda from Tamil Nadu, Kashmiri from Kashmir and
Khneng from Meghalaya.
. c om
Old cloth is not thrown away. Clothes that no longer fit are passedeon
s mto a younger
m
co or sister, or to anyone who can use them. Elders turnaworn a
gl cloth into something
.
brother

a semnew. There is an old tradition in India of joining small pieces into a beautiful quilt. Cloth
agl costs a great deal of work — someone grew the cotton, someone spun it, someone wove it,
someone stitched it. Wasting it wastes all of that work. A Patola saree from Patan in Gujarat
se m
com
takes six months to a whole year to weave, just one saree.
g l a
m . a
ase
agl

co m
m .
m as e
.co a g l
se m
g l a
a c
m .
m a s e
e m . co agl
g l as
a

com
m .
m ase
.co


a g l Page 39 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Quick revision

WORD WHAT IT MEANS WHERE IT AN EVERYDAY EXAMPLE
APPEARS

Weaving Crossing two sets of strips or threads over Patterns with A chatai (mat), a cane
and under each other to make one sheet Threads, page 132 basket, your shirt

Fabric / cloth The sheet you get when threads are woven Patterns with A saree, a bedsheet, a
together Threads, page 132 school uniform

Loom The frame that holds the threads while the Traditions of A weaver's loom in a village
weaver crosses them Weaving, page 134 workshop

Handloom Cloth woven by hand on a loom, not by Traditions of A khadi kurta, a
machine Weaving, page 134 Kanjeevaram saree

Textile mill A factory that spins thread and weaves Page 135 Mill-made cloth sold by the
cloth with big machines metre in a shop

Thread or A long strong strand made by twisting Thread, page 135 The reel of thread in a
yarn fibres together tailor's shop

Fibre The thin, hair-like thread you get on Page 136 A single hair pulled off a
untwisting a strand piece of cotton wool

Spinning Twisting fibres together to make thread Page 136 Grandmother twisting
cotton on a charkha

Charkha The spinning wheel that spins thread from Page 136 The charkha in the picture
cotton on page 131

Khadi Hand-spun, hand-woven cloth; a symbol Do you know?, page A khadi jhola or kurta
of the freedom struggle 136

Natural fibre A fibre that comes from a plant or an Natural fibres, page Cotton, wool, silk, linen,
animal 136 bamboo, jute

Synthetic A fibre made by people from artificial Synthetic fibres, Nylon rope, a polyester
fibre materials page 137 shirt, a rayon dupatta

Cocoon The silk case a caterpillar spins around Page 136 Silk cocoons boiled to draw
itself out the thread

Life cycle The pattern of growth and change every Life Cycle of Egg → caterpillar → cocoon
living thing goes through Silkworm, page 137 → moth

Running A simple stitch that goes up, down, up, Activity 7, page 140 Tacking two pieces of cloth
stitch down in a straight line together

Page 40 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 8 Clothes—How Things are Made AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

WORD WHAT IT MEANS WHERE IT AN EVERYDAY EXAMPLE
APPEARS

Embroidery Stitches used to decorate cloth, not just to Stitch and Decorate, Phulkari on a dupatta,
join it page 141 Chikankari on a kurta

Bandhani Tie-and-dye — small parts of cloth are tied Page 141 margin A red-and-white bandhani
with thread and dyed odhni from Gujarat

Recycle Using an old thing again by making Recycle, page 142 A quilt made from small
something new from it pieces of old cloth

Page 41 of 41