SILK

Silk is the most beautiful and the strongest of the natural fibres. It is produced by the silkworms of the moth family Bombycidae, the most prolific of which is the Bombyx mori. The cultivation of the silkworm and the manufacture of silk originated in China about 2500 b.c., but Japan is now the world's chief exporter, producing more than twice as much as China, while Italy produces about half as much as China. The female Bombyx mori lays about 700 eggs of which about 35,000 are required to make one ounce. This will produce about 20,000 silkworms yielding 130-lb. to 140-lb. of cocoons from which about 12-lb. of raw silk can be reeled. This number of silkworms consumes about one ton of mulberry leaves. The average length of thread in a cocoon is 1500 yards, of which only 400 yards to 1000 yards can be reeled. The filaments exuded by the silkworm are double and 8 to 12 filaments are reeled together to make one thread (see Silk Fabrics)

إبريسَم \ silk. \ خَيْط حَرير \ silk: (pure silk) fine soft thread, made by a silkworm; (artificial silk) rayon; material made from such thread: silk dresses. \ قُمَاشٌ حَريريّ \ silk: (pure silk) fine soft thread, made by a silkworm; (artificial silk) rayon; material made from such thread: silk dresses.

[sɪlk] noun حَرير ثَوب حَريري

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.

The Silk Association of Great Britain and Ireland, Inc., has formulated the following definitions of " Silks ": - (1) Silk means the natural product of the silkworm, whether net, spun, or schappe silk. (2) Woven or knitted textiles and articles made therefrom. Silk goods may only be so called if they contain no other fibre than silk. They may be further qualified as pure silk goods if they contain no tin weighting and no added weight of any kind other than that which is an essential part of dyeing and finishing. (3) The word silk may be used for articles containing silk and other fibres provided it is clearly qualified, as for example, silk warp taffeta, silk warp poplin, silk pile velvet, silk mixture, silk union, etc. (4) Smallwares, certain smallwares containing silks in combination with other fibres (such as Paris bindings, gimps, eyeglass cords, etc.), have been by long established custom known as "silks." Only where there is a clear long established custom may they continue to be described as silk, otherwise the general principles set forth above will apply. The more generally known silk fabrics are as given below: - Armures - Barathea, Loisine, Natte, Ottoman, Roy ale. Repp. Figured Silks - Arras, Broche, Brocatelle, Brocades, Chevron, Chine warp prints. Cote-line, Damassin, Foulard, Lampas, Matelasse, Striped tabaret. Satins - Duchesse, Meteor, Mervelleux, Peau de Soie, Radyimar, Raadames, Radium, Satin mousseline. Satin messaline. Satin lus-mineaux. Satin charmeuse. Satin de Lyon, Satin chine. Satin lumiere, Soleil, Soie de Devil. Twills - Serge, Surah, Sarcenat. Velvet, or pile weaves - Terry velvet frese, Utrecht, Velours de nord. Velours de chiffon, Velours de sabre. Silk warp, wool weft - Bengaline, Cotele, Crepon, Irish poplin, Popeline, Poplinette, Sultane, Sicilienne, Velours Victoria, Veloa-tine. Silk warp, cotton weft - Moirette, Polonaise, Satins, Satinet, Striped linings. Taffetas, plain weaves - Bengaline de Soie, Epingle, Faille Francaise, Glace, Gros grain, Gros de Tours, Gros de Naples, Gros de Suez, Lustring, Pongee, Poult de Soie, Royale, Tabaret, Taffeta mousseline. Taffeta chiffon. Crepe de chine, Ninon, tulle, voile, Marquisette, Moire onde. Moire Faconne, Moire Francaise, Moire Antique.

Silk noils may be divided into two major divisions, i.e., Schappe noils, produced on the Continent, and English noils. The broad difference is that whereas the former are not free from the natural gum of the silkworm, the latter have the gum fully discharged. Owing to the difference of the processes of which they are the outcome, the English noil is whiter and longer than the schappe noil. The English noil in its turn is of two kinds "long" and "exhaust." The long noil is the simple by-product of the flat-dressing frame, and the exhaust (or short) noil has been recombed and is more " neppy " than the material from which it came. All silk noils, long or short, schappe or English, may be divided into " white " and " tussah " according as they are the produce of one kind of silk or the other. The white has many sub-divisions (" China " and " Italian," " Steam," etc.) and the tussah may be light or dark brown according as its origin is Chinese or Indian waste silk. These noils, after spinning, appear as noil yarns, which are useful among other purposes as striping yarn for cheap tweeds. They are also useful substitutes for " spun " silk at three to four times the price. Noils are used in the production of fancy effects by Continental spinners of the so-called " imitation " yarns. And in Yorkshire silk noils are periodically required by costume and dress tweed makers for procuring " knop " or snowflake effects in cheap woollens. For this purpose the " short " or " exhaust " noil is preferable to the " long " and in some circumstances the short or re-combed noil fetches a higher price than the intrinsically better noil containing the long fibre.

See Denier. Spun silk counts are based on the 840 yards hank, as in cotton, but in folded yarns the finished count is used, not the single count, with the number of component threads placed after the actual count resulting from the doubling. Thus 40/2 has 40 hanks of 840 yards in i-lb. and is composed of two threads of 80's single. Dram System - The weight of 1,000 yards in drams gives the counts, thus if 1,000 yards weighs 6 drams it is known as " 6-dram silk." This is known as the Manchester method of thrown silk counting. Another system is the number of yards per ounce, thus 25,000 organzine or tram yarn means 25,000 yards per ounce, and is that used in Yorkshire. The expression 12/14 as applied to silk yarn counts means that the yarn is not lighter than 12 denier, nor heavier than 14 denier, the average being 13

A plain weave silk fabric, used especially for embroidery work. Made in all widths up to 54-in. and the threads are formed by twisting silk around a cotton core.

Plain weave silk fabric dyed in all colours. Spun silk yarns are used and two-fold in the warp, single weft. Used for underwear and dresses.

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.

Waste silk resulting from the manufacture of Bourette silk.

There are several kinds of waste silk as follows: - Watt silk. Floss or Frissons, Rigotti, Wadding, Neri, Galettame, Basinetto, Cocons, Perves, Piques, Tarmate, Rugginose, Strussa, Fresonnets (see each term). Also other varieties are given under the terms: - China, Curlies, China wastes, Indian waste, Kunba, Nankin Buttons, Pun-jum waste, Sychuen waste, Shanghai waste, and Steam waste.

A fabric intended to imitate the fur of the beaver. It is a velvet cloth, cotton warp and silk weft. The pile is very close. Dyed a rich brown.

A Swiss fabric used by flour millers. It is used to sift any ground material. It is made in pieces or in covers to fit any machine or appliance. Only the best Italian silk yarn is used and the fabric is carefully woven on hand looms and the texture is most uniform. It is elastic and of exceptional strength. The weavers do the work in their own homes. Standard width is 40-in., but it is also made 24-in., 28-in., and 34-in. wide. Made in numerous qualities and all are plain weave. Principal brands are: Excelsior, Bodmer, Dupour, Wydler and Schindler.

An all-silk dress fabric woven with narrow line stripes from a two-colour warp and a weft of a different colour. Made in plain and twill weaves in many qualities.