SOFT WARPS

A term given to warps that are undersized. On undersized yarns the healds and reed rub the fibres into " runners " or small beads which fail to pass through the reed and cause an excessive number of thread breakages.

A serious fault in warps and consists of a number of threads being so soft that they continually break.

A term used by home trade buyers for a plain cloth made from twofold warp and single weft, good quality yarns. The cloth is used for pillow cases, underwear, etc. Widths 34¹/₂-in. to 36-in., 60 ends X 60 picks per inch, or 44 ends, one in a dent, and 72 picks; yarns 2/36's twist, 16's to 20's weft. The finished cloth is bleached and soft finished. All " double warps " are super qualities, giving strength and wear. The term does not mean two warps are used but simply a single warp of two-fold yarn.

A term which describes the small beads of fibre formed on badly-sized yarn by the action of the healds during weaving, and which prevent threads from passing through the reed, thus causing breakages (see soft warps)

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.

An overcoating cloth with one face sheared, heavily milled and nap-raised finish. It has a soft handle, and made of fine-grade wool as an imitation of beaver's fur. Now used for making hats, uniforms, etc. Two warps and two wefts are used of good quality wool. The weave is the 4-end sateen, two face and one back picks. A cloth woven 100-in, would be finished to about 56-in. wide. The finishing process is a special one, and the fabric shrunk considerably during finishing in both width and length. Many imitations have a cotton warp and shoddy weft.

A dress cloth of cotton warp and lustre worsted weft; about 2/80's cotton, 24's worsted. Generally of a plain weave, but jacquard designs are sometimes used. A soft calender finish is put on the cloth. Another style is used for linings with a stiff finish in several qualities; plain weave, such as 72 X 72 per inch, 2/100's cotton warp and single 26's mohair weft, as shown in illustration. Glace Brilliantines have coloured cotton warps and undyed mohair weft. Pekin stripe Brilliantines are the Pekin stripe with mohair weft. The dress varieties are made 50-in. grey and give about 44/45-in. finished. The lining cloth is in several widths.

These are silk yarns mainly used for warps. Care is taken not to give too much twist, since the twisting reduces the lustre. Organzine is produced by slightly twisting together several filaments, and then twisting two or more such singles together to form the required yarn. The first is Z twist, the doubling is S twist. The turns vary from 9 up to 30 per inch according to the fabrics the yarn is to be used for. Satins require a fairly soft twist of 10 to 11 turns, yarn for velvet about 15 to 20, and grenadines, voiles, etc., up to 30. Organzine was first produced in Italy and not till 1718 did English silk spinners make a silk strong enough for warp (see silk yarns)