|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Fabric
Terms Glossary |
| absorbency |
The ability of a fabric to take in moisture. Absorbency
is an important property, which effects many other characteristics such
as skin comfort, static build-up, shrinkage, stain removal, water
repellency, and wrinkle recovery. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| acetate |
A manufactured fiber formed by compound of cellulose,
refined from cotton linters and/or wood pulp, and acedic acid that has
been extruded through a spinneret and then hardened. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| acrylic |
A manufactured fiber derived from polyacrylonitrile.
Its major properties include a soft, wool-like hand, machine washable
and dryable, excellent color retention. Solution-dyed versions have
excellent resistance to sunlight and chlorine degradation. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| all-over design |
A fabric or wallpaper motif that has no obvious
directional emphasis. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| barré |
An imperfection, characterized by a ridge or mark
running in the crosswise or lengthwise directions of the fabric. Barrés
can be caused by tension variations in the knitting process, poor
quality yarns, problems during the finishing process. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| batiste |
A medium-weight, plain weave fabric, usually made of
cotton or cotton blends. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| blend |
A term applied to a yarn or a fabric that is made up of
more than one fiber. In blended yarns, two or more different types of
staple fibers are twisted or spun together to form the yarn. Fabric
term. |
| |
|
| boucle |
A knit or woven fabric made from a rough, curly,
knotted boucle yarn. The fabric has a looped, knotted surface and is
often used in sportswear and coats. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| broadcloth |
A plain weave tightly woven fabric, characterized by a
slight ridge effect in one direction, usually the filling. Fabric term.
|
| |
|
| brocade |
A heavy, jacquard-type fabric with an all-over raised
pattern or floral design. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| burlap |
A loosely constructed, heavy weight, plain weave fabric
used as a carpet backing, and as inexpensive packaging for sacks of
grain or rice. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| burn-out |
A brocade-like pattern effect created on the fabric
through the application of a chemical, instead of color, during the
burn-out printing process. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| calendering |
A process for finishing fabrics in which such special
effects as high luster, glazing, embossing, and moiré are produced.
Fabric term. |
| |
|
| carding |
A process which eliminates fibers too short for
inclusion in the spun yarn. The process also removes dirt and foreign
matter still remaining in the fiber mass, and arranges the fibers into a
very thin layer. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| cellulose |
A material derived from the cell walls of certain
plants. Cellulose is used in the production of many vegetable fibers, as
well as being the major raw material component used in the production of
the manufactured fibers of acetate, rayon, and triacetate. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| challis |
A lightweight, soft plain weave fabric with a slightly
brushed surface. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| chiffon |
A plain woven lightweight, extremely sheer, airy, and
soft silk fabric, containing highly twisted filament yarns. Fabric term.
|
| |
|
| chintz |
A plain-weave fabric, which has been glazed to produce
a polished look. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| colorfastness |
A term used to describe a dyed fabric's ability to
resist fading due to washing, exposure to sunlight, and other
environmental conditions. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| combing |
The combing process is an additional step beyond
carding. In this process the fibers are arranged in a highly parallel
form, and additional short fibers are removed, producing high quality
yarns with excellent strength, fineness, and uniformity. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| cotton |
A unicellular, natural fiber that grows in the seed pod
of the cotton plant. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| damask |
A glossy jacquard fabric, usually made from linen,
cotton, rayon, silk, or blends. The patterns are flat and reversible.
Fabric term. |
| |
|
| denier |
A system of measuring the weight of a continuous
filament fiber. In the United States, this measurement is used to number
all manufactured fibers (both filament and staple), and silk, but
excluding glass fiber. The lower the number, the finer the fiber; the
higher the number, the heavier the fiber. Numerically, a denier is the
equivalent to the weight in grams of 9,000 meters of continuous filament
fiber. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| denim |
A twill weave cotton-like fabric made with different
colored yarns in the warp and the weft. Due to the twill construction,
one color predominates on the fabric surface. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| directional print |
Fabric with a printed pattern that has a definite "up"
and "down" design. Care must be taken to match the direction when
piecing. Fabric term.
|
| |
|
| double knit |
A weft knit fabric in which two layers of loops are
formed that cannot be separated. A double knit machine, which has two
complete sets of needles, is required for this construction. Fabric
term. |
| |
|
| double weave |
A woven fabric construction made by interlacing two or
more sets of warp yarns with two or more sets of filling yarns. Fabric
term. |
| |
|
| drill |
A twill weave cotton used for interlining or flatling
clothing. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| duck |
A tightly woven, heavy, plain-weave, bottom-weight
fabric with a hard, durable finish. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| durable press |
A treatment applied to the fabric in the finishing
process in which it maintains a smooth attractive appearance, resists
wrinkling, and retains creases or pleats during laundering. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| eyelet |
A type of fabric which contains patterned cut-outs,
around which stitching or embroidery may be applied in order to prevent
the fabric from raveling. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| faille |
A glossy, soft, finely-ribbed silk-like woven fabric
made from cotton, silk, or manufactured fibers. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| felt |
1. A non-woven fabric made from wool, hair, or fur, and
sometimes in combination with certain manufactured fibers, where the
fibers are locked together in a process utilizing heat, moisture, and
pressure to form a compact material. Fabric term. 2. The process of
producing fabric from raw wool by rubbing, adding moisture, and
shrinking wool fibers together. |
| |
|
| flannel |
A medium-weight, plain or twill weave fabric that is
made from cotton, a cotton blend, or wool. The fabric has a very soft
hand, brushed on both sides to lift the fiber ends out of the base
fabric and create a soft, fuzzy surface. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| flannelette |
A medium-weight, plain weave fabric with a soft hand,
usually made from cotton. The fabric is usually brushed only on one
side, and is lighter weight than flannel. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| flax |
The plant from which cellulosic linen fiber is
obtained. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| foulard |
A lightweight twill-weave fabric, made from filament
yarns like silk, acetate, polyester, with a small all-over print pattern
on a solid background. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| gabardine |
A tightly woven, twilled, worsted fabric with a slight
diagonal line on the right side. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| greige |
An unfinished fabric, just removed from a knitting
machine or a loom. Also called grey goods. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| hand |
The way the fabric feels when it is touched. Terms like
softness, crispness, dryness, silkiness are all terms that describe the
hand of the fabric. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| heather |
A yarn that is spun using pre-dyed fibers. These fibers
are blended together to give a particular look. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| hemp |
A coarse, durable bast fiber obtained from the inner
bark of the hemp plant. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| herringbone |
A variation on the twill weave construction in which
the twill is reversed, or broken, at regular intervals, producing a
zig-zag effect. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| houndstooth check |
A variation on the twill weave construction in which a
broken check effect is produced by a variation in the pattern of
interlacing yarns, utilizing at least two different colored yarns.
Fabric term. |
| |
|
| jacquard |
Woven fabrics manufactured by using the Jacquard
attachment on the loom. This attachment provides versatility in designs
and permits individual control of each of the warp yarns. Brocade and
damask are types of jacquard woven fabrics. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| jersey fabric |
The consistent interlooping of yarns in the jersey
stitch to produces a fabric with a smooth, flat face, and a more
textured, but uniform back. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| lamé |
A woven fabric using flat silver or gold metal threads
to create either the design or the background in the fabric. Fabric
term. |
| |
|
| lawn |
A light, fine cloth made using carded or combed, linen
or cotton yarns. The fabric has a crease-resistant, crisp finish. Linen
lawn is synonymous with handkerchief linen. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| linen |
A fabric made from linen fibers obtained from inside
the woody stem of the flax plant. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| madras |
A lightweight plain weave cotton fabric with a striped,
plaid, or checked pattern. Fabric term. |
| |
| mercerization |
A process of treating a cotton yarn or fabric, in which
the fabric or yarn is immersed in a caustic soda solution and later
neutralized in acid. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| Moiré |
A corded fabric, usually made from silk or one of the
manufactured fibers, which has a distinctive water-marked wavy pattern
on the face of the fabric. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| organdy |
A crisp, sheer, lightweight plain weave fabric, with a
medium to high yarn count , made of silk, rayon, nylon, or polyester.
Fabric term.
|
| |
|
| oxford |
A fine, soft, lightweight woven cotton or blended with
manufactured fibers in a 2 x 1 basket weave variation of the plain weave
construction. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| panné velvet |
A type of lustrous, lightweight velvet fabric, usually
made of silk or a manufactured fiber, in which the pile has been
flattened in one direction. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| peau de soie |
A heavy twill weave drapeable satin fabric, made of
silk or a manufactured fiber. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| percale |
A medium weight, plain weave, low to medium count (180
to 250 threads per square inch) cotton-like fabric. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| pill |
A tangled ball of fibers that appears on the surface of
a fabric, as a result of wear or continued friction or rubbing on the
surface of the fabric. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| piqué |
A medium-weight fabric, either knit or woven, with
raised dobby designs including cords, wales, waffles, or patterns.
Fabric term. |
| |
|
| poplin |
A fabric made using a rib variation of the plain weave.
The construction is characterized by having a slight ridge effect in one
direction, usually the filling. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| rayon |
A manufactured fiber composed of regenerated cellulose,
derived from wood pulp, cotton linters, or other vegetable matter. The
two most commonly used production methods for rayon are the cuprammonium
process and the viscose process. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| shantung |
A medium-weight, plain weave fabric, characterized by a
ribbed effect, resulting from slubbed yarns used in the warp or filling
direction. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| sizing |
Fabric finish that provides crispness without
stiffness; a light starch finish. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| taffeta |
A lustrous, medium weight, plain weave fabric with a
slight ribbed appearance in the filling (crosswise) direction. Synthetic
or silk. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| tapestry |
A heavy, often hand-woven, ribbed fabric, featuring an
elaborate design depicting a historical or current pictorial display.
Fabric term.
|
| |
|
| ticking |
A tightly woven, very durable fabric, usually made of
cotton, and used for covering mattresses, box springs, pillows, and work
clothes. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| tulle |
A lightweight, extremely fine, machine-made netting,
usually with a hexagon shaped mesh effect. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| velour |
A medium weight, closely woven fabric with a thick
pile. It can be made using either a plain weave or a satin weave
construction. It resembles velvet, but has a lower cut pile. Fabric
term. |
| |
|
| velvet |
A medium weight cut-pile constructed fabric in which
the cut pile stands up very straight. It is woven using two sets of warp
yarns; the extra set creates the pile. Fabric term. |
| |
|
| velveteen |
A cotton cut-pile weave fabric, utilizing extra fill
yarn construction, with either a twill or a plain weave back. Fabric
term. |
| |
|
| viscose |
The most common type of rayon. It is produced in much
greater quantity than cuprammonium rayon, the other commercial type.
Fabric term. |
| |
|
| voile |
A crisp, lightweight, plain weave cotton-like fabric,
made with high twist yarns in a high yarn count construction. Fabric
term. |
| |
|
| wool |
Usually associated with fiber or fabric made from the
fleece of sheep or lamb. However, the term "wool" can also apply to all
animal hair fibers, including the hair of the Cashmere or Angora goat or
the specialty hair fibers of the camel, alpaca, llama, or vicuna. Fabric
term. |
| |
|
| worsted fabric |
A tightly woven fabric made by using only long staple,
combed wool or wool-blend yarns. The fabric has a hard, smooth surface.
Fabric term. |
|
|
|
