twisted silk

Silk yarns are composed of a number of silk filaments twisted together, usually 8 to 12 to form a thread. The filaments have a natural coating of gum which gives strength and elasticity, but reduces lustre. The gum must be boiled off if lustre is wanted, which may be done either in the yarn state or when woven in cloth. Silk yarns are divided into two classes, " thrown silk" and " spun silk," the first being yarns that are made by the processes of reeling and throwing, and the second consisting of yarns spun from waste silk. Thrown Silk, or Net Silk comprises organzine and tram yarns, organzine being made from the most perfect cocoons and used for warps. Tram is made from the inferior cocoons and used as weft. All silk contains a proportion of natural gum, and the amount of gum removed give rise to the following terms: - Boiled-off Silk - Yarn which has had all the gum removed, and has the highest sheen (see Boiled-off). Hard Silk - Yarn that has not undergone any boiling-off process. Ecru Silk - Yarn boiled to remove about 3 per cent to 5 per cent of the gum by light washing in lukewarm water. Souple Silk - Yarn boiled to remove about one-sixth of the gum. Bengal Silk - See Bengal Silk. Berlin Silk - A silk yarn made for fancy hand work. It is produced by doubling from 4 to 8 twisted singles grege by a right-hand twist; then again doubling three of these with a left-hand twist. The thread is very round, smooth, and hard, also known as cordon-net. Blond Silk - A special silk yarn made by doubling three grege threads left-hand twist, then doubling three of these together with right-hand twist. Brights - Silk which has been entirely de-gummed in the skein and then dyed. Bourette, Bourrette Yarn - A low grade of silk yarn made from the waste produced by schappe spinning. Canton Silk - See Canton Silk. Chiffon Twist - Single raw silk threads, 50 or more turns per inch. Used for chiffons, crepe-de-chines, etc. Crepe-de-Chine - Hard twist tram silk, about 40 to 70 turns per inch. Made from 3 to 5 raw silk ends. Usually woven as weft. Crepe Georgette - Hard twist raw silk usually made from two threads 13/15 deniers, 50 or more turns, both right and left twist, used for crepe georgettes as warp and weft. Crepe Twist - This is tram silk hard twisted, having from 30 to 100 turns per inch. Used for making fabrics of a crepe character both all silk and mixtures. Cordonnet Silk - See Berlin Silk; also under Cordonnet. Eri Silk - A raw silk obtained from the wild silkworm " Attacus ricini." Flock Silk - A general term used to indicate silk yarns made from the outer uneven parts of the cocoon. Floss Silk - Used principally for embroidery purposes. It is a thrown silk and made by doubling two thick raw singles with right-hand twist together with a left-hand twist. Galette Silk - A coarse silk yarn made from waste. Grenadine Silk - Organzine silk with a large number of turns per inch. Jaspe Silk - Silk warps printed in the hank. Ombre Silk - Skein dyed yarn in a gradation of shades, which run in sequence of depth of colour, varying from five up to forty shades. Schappe Silk - A spun silk yarn which is made from silk degummed by the maceration process used on the Continent (see Schappe Silk). Soie Ondee - See Soie Ondee. Silk Yarns - In addition to the foregoing yarns see under the following terms for further silk yarns: - Cable, Cevennes, Chappe, Chine, Clochepeid, Crocheting, Crue (see Ecru), Cuite Cusier, Cusirino, Degummed, Docken, Doup-pion. Ecru, Embroidery, Etschingo, Filature, Filature a 1'Europeune, Filet, Florette, Fringe, Goffered, Grege, Gum Hainin, Hard, Kahing, Knitting, Lousy, Marabout, Maybasch, Melange, Mele, Mi-cuit, Minchcw, Nett, Noil, Organzine, Ouvrees, Oval, Pearlina, Pel, Pelo, Poie, Pure dye Silk, Raw (see Grege), Re-reels, Retorse, Senegal, Sewing, Simonita, Soft Singles, Soie Ondee, Souple, Spun, Steeped, Strafilato, Stumba, Thrown, Tors San File, Tram, Tramette, Tsatlees, Tussah, Twist, Washed, Zaguri.

This includes the various processes of winding, twisting, doubling and re-twisting raw silk. For weaving purposes several raw silk threads are united to form a new thread by doubling or twisting (throwing) together, each of the singles having been previously twisted in order to increase the strength and give roundness.

Hard-twisted silk yarn, made by twisting two or three raw silk threads together. Readily recognised by the wavy appearance caused by the high twist.

Loosely twisted silk yarn consisting of two or more threads, used for weft. The name is obtained from the French word "trame" which means "weft". It is a thrown silk, and has much less twist than organzine, is softer, more bulky, with more lustre. There are about 2 to 5 turns per inch, for with less twist there is more lustre, and weft is not required to be as strong as organzine warp.

A very hard twisted silk yam used for design outlining in hand-work.

A silk yarn used chiefly for trimmings, etc. It is a thrown silk, doubled and twisted similar to cordounet silk and very thick.

This yarn is composed of two or four strands twisted together slightly, dyed and then twisted again to give a very hard yarn. Dyed in the gum. Used for crepe cloths. The name was given to the yarn because of the very delicate strands used in its manufacture.

A raw silk yam made in China. Similar to China silk but inferior quality. Used for weft in crepe-de-Chine fabrics when hard twisted.

Half-twisted needlework silk thread, used during the first half of the 19th century for embroidery work on slippers, bags, and canvas pictures. It was the most brilliant silk obtainable at that time.

The term given to silk yarn which forms the basis for tinsel yarns. It has 8 to 10 threads of raw silk loosely twisted together.

Raw silk that has been doubled and twisted into yarns of various sizes in preparation for the loom. The principal classes of thrown silk are tram, organzine and singles.

A special silk yam made for braiding, crocheting, cords, trimmings, etc. Four to eight twisted grege singles are doubled together in a left hand twist and three of these doubled threads are again doubled with right-hand twist.

Definition by the Silk Association of America. Grenadine yarn is a yarn composed of more than one thread of which each individual thread has been twisted in the same direction, then doubled with a reverse twist, each twist having a minimum of approximately the following number of turns per inch, depending on the number of threads used: two threads, 13/15 denier or equivalent 32 turns per inch minimum; three threads, same denier, 30 turns minimum; four threads, same denier 28 turns minimum. When more than four threads are used, the number of turns will decrease in the above proportion.

Silk yarn more tightly twisted than Soie Mi-Serre. Also called crochet twist. Usually sold in skeins.

A very thick twisted sewing silk used in embroidery.

An embroidery silk thread consisting of singles doubled into threads and these doubles again doubled to form a strong thread. In the first doubling 2, 3, 4, or more singles may be twisted together.

Silk yarn harder twisted than tram but not so hard as organzine.

A yam made by two coarse raw singles being twisted first to the right, then to the left.

Consists of 8 or 10 cocoon threads of poor quality loosely twisted together. Schappe is often used. Principally used for velvets, ribbons, etc., and is a fairly important yarn. Also used as a core for gold tinsel.