Textile interview questions and university viva questions test the same four things: whether you can define a term exactly (count, draft, twist multiplier, cover factor, liquor ratio, AQL), give the reason behind a process (why warp is sized, why polyester is dyed at about 130 °C, why salt goes into a reactive dye bath), put the steps of a process in order (blowroom to ring frame, singeing to mercerising, pattern to cutting), and work one short calculation in front of the panel. Answer in that order: the definition in one sentence, the reason in the next, then an example or a number, and stop. This page gives short answers to the questions most often asked of textile engineering, textile technology and diploma students, grouped by syllabus subject. Each answer links to the page on this site where the topic is revised in full, and seven numerical questions are worked in the site’s own calculators, so you can change the figures and practise.
Last verified: 18 October 2026. The questions are written by us; they are not taken from any university’s past papers or from a published question bank. More revision notes, formula pages and worked calculations are gathered on the study page.
Interview and viva topics at a glance
| Subject | What they ask | The page to revise |
|---|---|---|
| Fibres | Classification, moisture regain, why wool felts, mercerising, viscose vs modal vs lyocell, the burn test | types of textile fibres; cotton fibre; wool fibre |
| Yarn manufacture (spinning) | Process sequence, count systems, draft, twist multiplier, carded vs combed, blending, S and Z twist | yarn spinning formulas; fibre blending in spinning |
| Fabric manufacture: weaving | Primary motions, shuttle vs shuttleless, tappet, dobby and Jacquard, why warp is sized, crimp, cover factor | weaving calculations; shuttle vs shuttleless looms; Jacquard weaving |
| Fabric manufacture: knitting | Weft vs warp knitting, knit, tuck and float, courses and wales, jersey, rib and interlock | weft vs warp knitting; knit structures |
| Wet processing | Pretreatment order, which dye for which fibre, salt and alkali in reactive dyeing, polyester at 130 °C, liquor ratio, printing styles | fibre morphology and dye uptake; the EU Textiles BREF |
| Garments and apparel | Process order, grading, marker efficiency, stitch classes, SAM | pattern making and grading; types of stitches |
| Testing and quality | Conditioning, colour fastness, strip vs grab, AQL, Cpk vs Ppk | textile testing standards; Cpk vs Ppk |
| Numerical questions | Count conversion, TPI, ring frame and loom production, dye recipe, marker efficiency, AQL plan | The seven calculators linked below |
| Role questions | Merchandiser, QA, spinning production, dyehouse, weaving | textile jobs and careers |
Fibres
How are textile fibres classified?
By origin. Natural fibres are plant (cellulose) fibres such as cotton, flax and jute, animal (protein) fibres such as wool, hair and silk, and the mineral fibre asbestos. Manufactured fibres are made from a natural polymer (viscose, lyocell, acetate), from a synthetic polymer (polyester, nylon, acrylic) or from an inorganic material (glass, carbon); the generic names follow ISO 6938 and ISO 2076. Revise: types of textile fibres.
What is moisture regain? Give values for common fibres.
Regain is the water a fibre holds as a percentage of its oven-dry mass; moisture content is the same water as a percentage of the total mass. Trade uses agreed commercial regains: in the Indian Standard IS 13157 they are 7.0% for raw cotton and cotton yarn, 13.6% for wool, 11.0% for viscose rayon and silk, 4.5% for nylon and 0.4% for polyester. Revise: types of textile fibres.
Why does wool shrink and felt?
Because of its scales. They point towards the fibre tip, so friction is higher moving tip-first than root-first, and when wet wool is squeezed and released the fibres creep root-first and lock together; warmth, soap or alkali and agitation speed it up, and the shrinkage does not reverse. This felting shrinkage is different from relaxation shrinkage, which any fabric shows once on its first wetting. Revise: wool fibre.
What is mercerisation and why is it done?
Treating cotton under tension with concentrated sodium hydroxide. The fibre swells, its cross-section rounds out, its crystal form changes from cellulose I to cellulose II and its crystallinity falls, which raises lustre, strength and dye uptake. Revise: fibre morphology and dye uptake and cotton fibre.
What is the difference between viscose, modal and lyocell?
All three are regenerated cellulose. EU law defines viscose as made by the viscose process, modal by a modified viscose process giving high breaking force and high wet modulus, and lyocell by dissolving the cellulose in an organic solvent and spinning it without forming a chemical derivative. In the United States all three are rayon. Revise: rayon and viscose.
How do you tell polyester from cotton by burning?
Polyester is hard to ignite, melts and burns with a sooty flame, tends to go out when the flame is removed and leaves a hard bead. Cotton burns steadily, smells like burning leaves and leaves a soft ash that crumbles. A burn test cannot give a blend ratio. Revise: polyester.
Yarn manufacture (spinning)
What is the sequence of processes in cotton ring spinning?
Bale laydown and mixing, then the blowroom (opening and cleaning), carding into a sliver, combing for finer yarns, drawing, the speed frame (roving), the ring frame, and winding onto cones. Rotor (open-end) spinning spins straight from sliver, without roving, and is used for coarser counts. Revise: cotton fibre and yarn spinning formulas.
What are direct and indirect count systems?
An indirect count gives length per unit mass, so a bigger number is a finer yarn: Ne is the number of 840-yard hanks in a pound and Nm the kilometres in a kilogram. A direct count gives mass per unit length, so a bigger number is coarser: tex is grams per 1,000 metres, decitex per 10,000 metres and denier per 9,000 metres. Tex = 590.5 ÷ Ne = denier ÷ 9. Revise: yarn spinning formulas.
What is draft? What is the difference between actual and mechanical draft?
Draft is how many times a strand is drawn out: feed linear density ÷ delivered linear density, or delivery roller surface speed ÷ feed roller surface speed. Mechanical draft comes from the gearing; actual draft is higher where the machine removes waste: actual = mechanical × 100 ÷ (100 − waste %). Revise: yarn spinning formulas.
Why is twist specified as a twist multiplier and not as TPI?
Because a finer yarn needs more turns per inch for the same hardness. TPI = TM × √Ne, so one multiplier describes the same twist across a whole count range; the tex equivalent is α tex ≈ 957 × TM. Revise: yarn spinning formulas; numerical 2 below.
What is the difference between carded and combed yarn?
Combing follows carding and removes short fibres and lays the rest parallel, so a combed yarn is smoother, more even and suited to finer counts; a carded yarn skips it and is cheaper. Revise: cotton fibre, and the combing note in spinning and weaving.
Where are fibres blended, and how is the blend ratio set?
At the bale laydown and blowroom (by metering each component by mass, which gives the most even blend), at the draw frame (by feeding a set number of slivers of each fibre, the usual route for polyester/cotton), or at the ring frame by feeding two rovings. Revise: fibre blending in spinning.
What are S twist and Z twist?
The direction of twist. Hold the yarn upright: if the fibres slope like the middle bar of an S, it is S twist; like the middle bar of a Z, Z twist. Plying normally reverses the singles twist. Revise: spinning and weaving.
Fabric manufacture: weaving
What are the primary motions of a loom?
Shedding opens the warp into two layers, picking passes the weft through the shed, and beating up pushes the new pick against the cloth already woven. The secondary motions, let-off and take-up, release warp from the beam and wind cloth on at the rate the pick density needs. Revise: fabric construction methods.
What is the difference between a shuttle loom and a shuttleless loom?
How the weft crosses. A shuttle carries a pirn of weft across and back, so the weft is one unbroken thread with a closed selvedge; a shuttleless loom sends a measured length by projectile, rapier, air or water jet from a cone and cuts it, so the edges are tucked in, leno-bound or fused. Without the shuttle the loom runs far faster: Picanol’s first shuttle loom ran at about 140 picks a minute, its current air-jet at up to 1,350. Revise: shuttle vs shuttleless looms.
Tappet, dobby or Jacquard: what is the difference?
Tappet and dobby shedding lift heald shafts, so every end on a shaft rises with it; tappets are cams, good for plain and simple weaves, and a dobby selects shafts pick by pick for small figures such as honeycomb. A Jacquard lifts ends individually by hooks and harness cords, which is what figured cloth such as damask and brocade needs. Revise: Jacquard weaving and dobby loom.
Why is the warp sized?
To lubricate and protect the warp yarn during weaving, where it rubs against the healds and reed at every pick. Size is applied after warping, mostly starch, starch derivatives, CMC or synthetic sizes such as PVA, and is removed again by desizing before dyeing (EU Textiles BREF, 2023, section 2.5.1.2). Revise: weaving calculations.
What is the difference between crimp and take-up?
Both measure the extra length a yarn takes as it bends over and under the other set. Crimp divides it by the fabric length and take-up by the yarn length, so 106 cm of yarn in 100 cm of cloth is 6% crimp and 5.66% take-up. Revise: weaving calculations.
Fabric manufacture: knitting
What is the difference between weft knitting and warp knitting?
In weft knitting one yarn is fed across the needles and each needle pulls a loop from it in turn, so a course is made by one yarn running across the fabric; in warp knitting a sheet of yarns from beams feeds every needle its own yarn, and each yarn zigzags along the length. Weft knits stretch more and can ladder; warp knits are flatter and ladder-resistant. Revise: weft vs warp knitting.
What are knit, tuck and float stitches?
A knit stitch is made when a needle takes a new loop and knocks the old one over. In a tuck the needle takes the new yarn but keeps its old loop; in a float, or miss, the needle does not take the new yarn and the yarn floats past behind it. Revise: knit structures.
What are courses and wales? How do jersey, rib and interlock differ?
A course is a row of loops across the fabric and a wale is a column along it. Single jersey is knitted on one needle bed and curls and runs when cut; rib uses two beds set between each other and stretches most across the width, which is why it is used for cuffs and neckbands; interlock is two 1×1 ribs knitted into each other, smooth on both faces and the thickest of the three from the same yarn. Revise: knit structures.
Wet processing: pretreatment, dyeing, printing and finishing
What are the pretreatment steps for a woven cotton fabric?
The EU Textiles BREF (section 2.6.1) lists singeing (burning off protruding fibres), desizing (removing the warp size, usually the first wet step and only for woven fabric; starch is broken down mostly with amylase enzymes), scouring (removing waxes, pectins and fats with alkali and surfactants), bleaching (most often with hydrogen peroxide) and mercerising. Revise: fibre morphology and dye uptake for what mercerising does to the fibre.
Which dye class is used for which fibre?
Cellulose (cotton, viscose, linen): reactive, direct, vat, sulphur and azoic dyes, with reactive dyes about a third of all dye used on cellulose. Wool: acid, chrome, metal-complex and reactive dyes; polyamide (nylon): acid, metal-complex, disperse and reactive. Polyester: disperse dyes; acrylic: cationic (basic) and disperse dyes. (Textiles BREF, sections 2.7.3 to 2.7.6.) Revise: fibre morphology and dye uptake.
Why are salt and alkali added in reactive dyeing?
Salt improves exhaustion, pushing dye from the bath onto the cotton; the BREF’s table runs from about 10–30 g/L for pale shades of high-affinity dyes to 80–100 g/L for deep shades of low-affinity ones. Alkali (soda ash, caustic soda or bicarbonate) then brings fixation, the reaction that bonds the dye to the fibre. Alkali also hydrolyses the dye, so in padding the dye and alkali are kept apart until the last moment, and the unfixed, hydrolysed dye is washed off after dyeing (Textiles BREF, section 2.7.3.1). Practise the dosing in numerical 5 below.
Why is polyester dyed at about 130 °C?
Polyester is tightly packed and water-repellent, and disperse dye gets in only through free volume that opens above its glass transition, about 70–80 °C; uptake that is good enough needs about 130 °C, under pressure. The BREF gives 125–135 °C at pH 4–5 with acetic acid. Dark shades are then reduction-cleared for fastness. Revise: fibre morphology and dye uptake.
What is liquor ratio, and why does it matter?
The ratio of dry material to dye liquor: 1:10 means 10 litres of water for 1 kg of textile. It sets the water, energy and chemicals a dyeing uses, and it changes exhaustion: the BREF gives E = K ÷ (K + L), so a longer liquor leaves more dye in the bath, most of all with low-affinity dyes (section 2.7.2.1). Revise: numerical 5 below.
What is the difference between direct, discharge and resist printing?
In direct printing the dye is printed straight onto white or lightly dyed fabric. In discharge printing the fabric is dyed first and a printed paste destroys that dye in the pattern, leaving white (white discharge) or a new colour that resists the reducing agent (coloured discharge). In resist printing a paste is printed first to stop a later dye from fixing where it lies (Textiles BREF, section 2.8).
Garments and apparel
What is the sequence of garment manufacturing?
Design and specification, pattern making in the base size, a fit sample, grading into the other sizes, pattern checking, the marker, spreading and cutting, sewing, then finishing (trimming, pressing), inspection and packing. Grading follows approval of the base-size sample, or its fit faults are copied into every size. Revise: pattern making and grading; a full worked line is on bra manufacturing.
What is grading in pattern making?
Turning the approved base-size pattern into the other sizes by moving each grade point across and along by set amounts, the grade rules, worked out from the buyer’s size chart. Grading changes the size, not the shape. No international standard sets grade rules. Revise: pattern making and grading.
What are the six stitch classes?
ISO 4915 numbers stitch types in classes: 100 chainstitch, 200 stitches that began as hand stitches, 300 lockstitch, 400 multi-thread chainstitch, 500 overedge and 600 covering stitch. The 301 lockstitch is the most common but stretches little; 500 is the overlock; 600-class seams are flat and stretchy, for knitwear. Revise: types of stitches.
What is SAM (or SMV)?
The standard allowed minutes for one operation on one garment: observed time × performance rating, plus allowances for personal needs, fatigue and machine or bundle handling. Line efficiency is the minutes earned (pieces × SAM) as a percentage of the minutes the operators attended. Practise both in the SAM calculator.
Testing and quality
Why are samples conditioned before testing, and in what atmosphere?
Because moisture changes a fibre’s weight, strength and dimensions, so results from different days and laboratories only compare if the specimens hold the same moisture. ISO 139 sets the standard atmosphere, 20 °C and 65% relative humidity, with an alternative of 23 °C and 50% that may be used if the parties agree (ISO 139). Revise: textile testing standards.
How is colour fastness tested and graded?
The specimen is put through a set treatment, such as washing to ISO 105-C06, rubbing to ISO 105-X12 or xenon light to ISO 105-B02, and two things are graded: the change in its colour and the staining of undyed fabric tested with it. Each is graded against a grey scale from 5 (no change or staining) to 1 (the most), with half-steps such as 3–4. Revise: textile testing standards.
What is the difference between the strip test and the grab test?
Both measure fabric tensile strength. In the strip test (ISO 13934-1, ASTM D5035) the full width of the specimen is gripped; in the grab test (ISO 13934-2, ASTM D5034) only the centre is gripped, so neighbouring yarns help, and there is no simple conversion between the two results. Revise: textile testing standards.
What is AQL?
The acceptance quality limit of ISO 2859-1: the worst average quality a buyer will tolerate over a continuing series of lots. It is not a defect rate promised for any one lot. The lot size and inspection level give a code letter and a sample size, and the AQL then gives the acceptance and rejection numbers; numerical 7 below works one plan.
What is the difference between Cpk and Ppk?
Same formula, different standard deviation. Cpk uses the spread within small subgroups of readings taken close together; Ppk uses the standard deviation of every reading, so if a spreadsheet runs STDEV over all the readings it is giving Ppk, whatever the column says. Revise: Cpk vs Ppk, worked in the process capability calculator.
Numerical viva questions, solved in the site’s calculators
Each link below opens the calculator with the question’s figures entered. Change one input and see what moves: that is the examiner’s next question.
| Question | Working | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Express a 150 denier polyester filament in tex, decitex and Ne. | tex = 150 ÷ 9; dtex = tex × 10; Ne = 590.5 ÷ tex | 16.67 tex, 166.67 dtex, 35.43 Ne |
| 2. What TPI does a 24s Ne warp yarn need at a twist multiplier of 4.2? | TPI = 4.2 × √24 = 4.2 × 4.899; TPM = TPI ÷ 0.0254 | 20.58 TPI (810.07 TPM) |
| 3. A ring frame of 1,200 spindles spins 24s at 20.58 TPI and 16,500 rpm, 92% efficiency. Output per 8-hour shift? | lb per spindle per hour = 60 × 16,500 ÷ (36 × 840 × 20.58 × 24); × 0.4536 × 0.92 × 1,200 × 8 | 27.66 g per spindle hour; 33.19 kg/h; 265.53 kg per shift; front roller 20.36 m/min |
| 4. A loom runs at 650 rpm and 88% efficiency on a cloth of 64 picks per inch. Metres per 8-hour shift? | picks per hour = 650 × 60 × 0.88; m/h = picks per hour ÷ 64 × 0.0254 | 34,320 picks an hour; 13.62 m/h; 108.97 m per shift |
| 5. Dye 400 kg of cotton knit at 1:8, 2% owf reactive dye, 50 g/L salt and 20 g/L soda ash. How much of each? | bath = 400 × 8; dye = 400 × 2 ÷ 100; salt = bath × 50 ÷ 1000; soda = bath × 20 ÷ 1000 | 3,200 L of bath; 8.00 kg dye; 160 kg salt; 64 kg soda ash |
| 6. Four garments of 1.35 m² of pattern each fit a marker 4.6 m long and 1.5 m wide. Marker efficiency? | (1.35 × 4) ÷ (4.6 × 1.5) × 100 | 78.26%, so 21.74% waste; 1.15 m of fabric per garment |
| 7. A lot of 1,500 shirts is inspected at General Level II, AQL 2.5, and 6 major defects are found. Pass or fail? | 1,201–3,200 pieces is code letter K: sample 125, accept on 7, reject on 8 | Pass, with one defect to spare; observed rate 4.80% |
Run each one
- Question 1: count converter, set to 150 denier.
- Question 2: twist multiplier calculator, set to 24s at TM 4.2.
- Question 3: ring frame production calculator, set to this frame. Twist is in the denominator, so more twist at the same speed means less yarn.
- Question 4: loom production calculator, set to this loom.
- Question 5: dyeing recipe calculator, set to this batch. Dye is dosed on fabric weight, salt and alkali on bath volume, so at 1:6 the salt falls by a quarter and the dye does not change. The inputs are round figures, not a recipe.
- Question 6: marker efficiency calculator, set to this marker.
- Question 7: AQL sampling plan calculator, set to this lot. The calculator holds the 1999 tables of ISO 2859-1; a third edition was published in January 2026, so confirm the edition your buyer names.
Textile interview questions by role
Campus panels usually add questions about the job on offer. The table lists what each role is asked most and where to revise; the jobs and careers page describes the roles themselves.
| Role | What they ask | Revise |
|---|---|---|
| Merchandiser | The time-and-action calendar, costing a garment from fabric consumption, lab dip and sample approvals, the AQL clause in an order | Numericals 5 to 7; textile jobs and careers |
| Quality controller or QA | Which test method for fastness, shrinkage and strength; reading a test report; drawing an AQL sample; Cpk and Ppk | textile testing standards; Cpk vs Ppk; numerical 7 |
| Spinning production or shift in-charge | Process sequence, count, draft, twist multiplier, production per spindle, efficiency and end breaks, blend ratio | yarn spinning formulas; fibre blending in spinning; numericals 1 to 3 |
| Weaving or preparatory | Loom motions, efficiency, picks per minute and metres per shift, reed count, size add-on | weaving calculations; shuttle vs shuttleless looms; numerical 4 |
| Dyehouse or colourist | Dye class for each fibre, reactive dyeing with salt and alkali, liquor ratio, right-first-time, fastness tests | fibre morphology and dye uptake; numerical 5 |
The HR round asks why you chose textiles and what you did on industrial training: name the department, the machine and a number you measured there.
Questions
What questions are asked in a textile interview?
Definitions, reasons, process sequences and one short sum, then questions about the role on offer. The table at the top of this page maps each subject to the page to revise.
What are the most common textile engineering viva questions?
In spinning: the process sequence, count conversion, draft and TPI from the twist multiplier. In weaving: the primary motions, shuttle vs shuttleless, sizing and crimp. In knitting: weft vs warp and knit, tuck and float. In wet processing: which dye for which fibre and why reactive dyeing needs salt and alkali. In testing: conditioning, colour fastness and AQL.
Textile MCQ: does winding speed depend on the cylinder, the tensioner or the slub cutter?
On a drum winder the package is driven by contact with the grooved drum, the “cylinder” of the question, so the drum’s surface speed sets the winding speed. The tensioner controls yarn tension and the slub cutter, or yarn clearer, removes faults; neither sets the speed. Winder output is worked on yarn spinning formulas.
Do textile interviews ask about salary?
HR rounds may. This page does not quote pay; the jobs and careers page gives official figures, each with its country and year, and says where none exist.
How this page is kept
Last verified: 18 October 2026. The answers summarise the site’s own revised pages, each linked where it is used, and those pages name their primary sources. Wet-processing facts come from the European Commission’s Best Available Techniques Reference Document for the Textiles Industry (JRC, 2023), cited by section. The standard atmosphere is from ISO 139, commercial regains from IS 13157, and the AQL plan from the tables of ISO 2859-1 that the site’s calculator holds. Every numerical answer was computed with the calculator’s own formula and checked on the calculator page through the link given. The questions are our own. More revision notes are on the study page. Found an error? Tell us through the contact page, naming the question and the source that disagrees.
