TRAM SILK

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.

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.

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 tram silk yarn made by twisting to the right from 12 to 16 raw silk threads. Used as an embroidery yarn or for cords.

The French term for raw silk yarns run together without twist. It is reeled from cocoons and used either as it is or when converted into tram or organzine by throwing. ———————— A term applied to the filaments produced by silkworms in the form of cocoons. The term also applies to the threads produced by reeling the filaments from a number of cocoons together. Each filament (bave) consists of two fibres (brins) joined together by gum and the length varies from about 500 to over 1,200 yards. Various counts ranging from 8/10 denier to 20/22 denier are reeled, 13/15 denier is the most usual and this is produced by reeling from five cocoons. It has no twist. There are nine different qualities of Bombyx Mori silk in commerce, whether from Japan, China, Italy or India. They are: - Bons Cocoons, Cocoons Pointus, Cocoons Foibles, Cocoons Doubles, Cocoons Satines Goufflons. Cocoons Ouverts. Cocoons Chiques, Cocoons Taches, Dragles.

Raw silk from Syria suitable for tram; also made into silk braid.

The term in Bengal for tram thrown silk reeled from the cocoons of the mulberry-fed silkworm of Bengal. The warp silk is Tana.

The French term for raw silk yarns run together without twist. It is reeled from cocoons and used either as it is or when converted into tram or organzine by throwing.

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.

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

Coarse tram yarn used for hosiery.

A medium heavy silk dress fabric closely woven in the 10-shaft warp satin weave and piece-dyed. The warp is grege and weft is tram silk. It is not so heavy as the duchesse mousseline. Used for dresses and linings. Imitations are made with cotton warp (see also Satin des Indes, Satin Alcyonne)

A tram silk of good quality much in use about a hundred years ago in Prance, in the manufacture of velvets.

A brocaded fabric, satin ground, woven from tinsel warp and tram silk weft. Other qualities have cotton or rayon weft. Used for dance frocks, shoes, furnishing, etc. Often the tinsel is used as weft as well as warp.