they are worsted

These yams are produced by carding, dry-combing, French drawing, arid worsted mule spinning. Short, fine wools generally of the inferior qualities are used. The yarns are free from oil and so are easily cleaned and can be dyed in brighter and more even shades than is possible with oil-spun yarns. They are used for knit goods and dress materials.

(See knitting). All yarns used for knitting are termed hosiery yarns in Leicester, but in America only yarns actually used for knitted footwear come under this term. These yarns are much softer than required for weaving. Miscellaneous Yarns - Goat wools, such as llama and alpaca are employed in spinning. yarns for the knitting trade. Vicuna and camel yarns are used to a limited extent. Ramie yarn is specially employed for knitting gas mantle fabrics. Soft spun flax yams have been used for making underwear fabric. Chenille and other manufactured threads are used to a small extent in warp knitting. Composite yarns, such as union yarns - spun from a mixture of wool and cotton fibres; cordon yarns - cotton and worsted singles, doubled together; wool and rayon or spun silk, cotton and rayon or spun silk are largely used to produce self or two-colour effects. Fancy yarns, such as slub yams, voiles, and curled and loop yarns are also employed. Hosiery Yarns (Cotton) include condenser, hosiery, condenser lisle thread, mercerised and sewing cottons. Condenser yarns are spun in coarse counts from low-grade cotton, Indian and American. They are carded, condensed and mule spun, and possess little twist. Hosiery cotton yarns vary considerably in counts and qualities, practically all varieties of Indian, American and Egyptian being used in varying proportions to obtain suitable mixture for quality and price. Cheaper yarns are carded and mule spun. American and Egyptian cotton yarns are combed mainly with the object of removing seed particles. High-class Egyptian and Sea Islands cotton yarns are super-combed. The chief features of a hosiery cotton yam should be: (1) Regularity; (2) cleanliness; (3) fullness. Regularity prevents the making of cloudy fabric, showing thick and thin places. Cleanliness is essential, as the seed particles clog the eyelet hole in the yam guides and cause breakages. Fullness is desirable to cover the loop interstices. Elasticity and pliability are quite as essential as tensile strength. Yams are usually soft spun and if two-fold soft doubled, average twists in two-fold being 2/10's 6¹/₂T., 2/20's 8¹/₂T., 2/30's 10T., 2/40's 16T., 2/80's 20T. Softer twist less 25 to 30 per cent of average (T= turns per inch). Lisle thread is a comparatively hard-twisted and doubly-gassed thread in which there are no projecting fibres. It is always of a two-fold character, and the doubling twist varies from 24 to 34 turns per inch in 2/60's. It is used largely in the manufacture of ladies' hose tops and feet and for lace hosiery. Mercerised yams are used largely in the fancy trade, a comparatively soft twist again being employed. Sewing cottons for seaming, linking and making-up are specially prepared in two to six cord open and reverse twist. Woollen and Worsted Yarns include lamb's wool, wheeling, skein yarns, gala yams (woollens), worsted, crossbreds, fingering, cashmere, dry spun botany (see under each name). Worsted and crossbred yarns of various qualities are used. These yams are spun softly with " hosiery twist." The drawing may be open, cone or French, and the spinning may take place on cap, ring or flyer frames. The chief essentials of hosiery yarn are softness of fibre, fullness, minimum of twist consistent with the requisite tensile strength, regularity, pliability and elasticity. Cashmere Yarns, as used in the knitted goods industry, are spun from short, loose and weak wools as well as from better qualities by French drawing and mule spinning. A small proportion of real cashmere is used for outer garments. In recent years nylon yarns have been largely employed.

A silk fabric with cords across the piece as in a poplin. The cords are of wool, cotton or silk. If all silk, known as Bengaline de Soie. A cotton bengaline is made of all cotton, with a 2/60's warp and 6's or 8's weft. A 32's fine weft is used as well. Mercerised finish (picking is one coarse, one fine). The weave is plain, and coarse yarn is used for ribs, and space between each rib has a finer weft. The real cloth has a silk warp and worsted weft - 13/15 denier to 20/22 denier warp, 2/40's worsted for fine picks, with a thick cabled worsted yarn for cords. They are sometimes figured, as seen in the illustration, which is woven with a plain cord ground. The yarns are all botany worsted, viz., 2/76's-warp and 56's weft, 45-in. cloth from 50-in. warp. The variety known as Bengaline Marquise has a spun silk warp and worsted weft

A reversible, plain weave, union carpet made of worsted and cotton yarns. They are very heavy and firmly constructed. The warp is arranged 1-end 2/30's cotton (as binder), 1-end of coarse cotton (as wadding), 1-end 2/30's cotton binder, set 18 to 20-ends per inch. The wefts are 1 pick 2/5's crossbred worsted, 1 pick 8 skeins, bi-fibred yam and 1 pick 2/5's worsted, 24 picks per inch.

French woollen manufacturers make a fabric on jacquard looms in many coloured effects from fine worsted and woollen yarns that they term cashmere shawls. At the best they are only imitations. ———————— The natives of Kashmir and Tibet have made these shawls for centuries, and they are, perhaps, the finest textiles known. They are made on hand looms from hand spun yarns of Pashmina wool. Either plain or twill weave, one or more colours, in numerous gorgeous designs and often being embroidered. A doubled warp yarn and single weft is usual, the weft being wound on small sticks to use as shuttles. There are numerous varieties, of which the most esteemed are Doshalla, Kussaba, Jamewar and Ulwan. The fabric is also used for gowns and dress purposes (see kasabeh, jamawar). The ornaments of the shawls are denoted by different names, viz: - Pala - The whole of the embroidery at the two ends. Hashia - The border, one at each side. Zanjir (or Chain) - Runs above and also below the principal mass of the Pala and confines it. Dhour (or Running Ornament) - Situated to the inside in regard to the Hashia and the Zanjir enveloping the whole field. Kunjbutha - A cornet ornament of clustered flowers. Mitton - The field or ground within the borders. Matton - The decorated part of the field. Butha - Generic term for flowers, especially the cone-like ornaments (see butha)

General term for processes after winding concerned in preparing weaver's and knitter's warps. Methods of warping vary according to (1) the yarns employed (2) whether they are sized or not, and (3) at what state sizing takes place. There are at least seven methods of warp preparation, e.g., beam warping, direct warping, mill warping on vertical mills, section warping on horizontal mills and in cheeses on section blocks, Scotch dresser sizing, Scotch warp dressing, and Yorkshire warp dressing. Beam Warping is the system in general use for making grey cotton goods. The beam warper comprises a creel for the supply ends, which may be on double-flanged bobbins, cones or cheeses, and a beaming head which comprises mechanism for mounting and rotating a warper's beam and means for winding the yarn from the creel supply on to the beam under suitable tension. The number of ends and length of warp on a back or warper's beam is related to what is required in the weaver's beam. Assuming the weaver's beams were required to have 2928 ends, 24's warp, and 8 cuts of 96 yards each, the back beams for a set might have 2928: 6 = 488 ends, and 2 X 6 X 8 X 96 = 9216 yards. On the slasher sizing machine six back beams would be run together, thereby producing 12 weaver's beams each containing 2928 ends 768 yards long. Warp Beaming Speeds - With the old type of warp beaming machine taking supply from unrolling double-flanged bobbins, the warping speed would be about 70 yards per minute. In modern beam warpers taking supply overend from cones, the warping speed is up to 250 yards per minute. With beam barrels of 4¹/₂-in. dia., and up to 500 yards per minute with barrels of 10-in. dia. Warp and Weft Knitted Fabrics - Warp knitted fabrics in which extra yarn is introduced in the form of weft threads which are laid in between the warp threads and their needles for the purpose of adding extra weight and for patterning purposes. Warp Loom Tapes - Narrow knitted fabrics usually less than one inch wide used for trimming garments. They are knitted on circular latch needle machines, but the tapes are flat. Direct Warping - A method used in making warps for towels, fustians, and other fabrics in which the total number of ends can be accommodated in one creel, say not more than 1,000 ends. The threads are run from the creel direct to the weaver's beam on a machine similar to that used in section beam warping. Mill Warping - There are two distinctly different methods of mill warping. On the vertical mill, which may be anything up to 20 yards in circumference, the number of ends in the complete warp is obtained by repeating the runs the required number of times, e.g., with 200 bobbins in the creel, 4 runs would give a warp of 800 ends. The length of the warp is determined by the number of revolutions made by the mill for each run. The horizontal mill is much used in Yorkshire for making woollen and worsted warps It is used to a small extent for cotton warps and is largely used for making silk and rayon warps. The mill or swift is usually about 5 yards in circumference. Its distinctive feature is the making of warps in sections which are wound on the mill in overlapping manner. The creel capacity varies from 250 to 600 ends, and with 500 ends in the creel a warp of 5,000 ends would require ten sections. Section Warping for Coloured Goods - This is a system of making coloured striped warps from hank-dyed and bleached yarns. The bobbins are creeled to pattern, one or more complete patterns to each section. Each section is the full length of the warp and is run on a small section block keywayed to fit a key on the shaft of the subsequent beaming machine where the sections are placed side by side and run on the weaver's beam. Scotch Dresser Sizing - There are two systems of warp preparation known as Scotch dressing. 1. Dresser sizing used for sizing warps for linen damasks, etc. Back beams are first made and placed in two beam creels, one on each side of the headstock. The threads from several back beams are collected in one sheet of yarn, sized by passage through a size-box, brushed by a revolving brush, dried by hot air, and passed vertically upwards where both sheets of warp threads are united and pass on to the weaver's beam in a single sheet. Scotch Warp Dressing - The other method of Scotch dressing is used in the preparation of coloured striped warps, usually from warp-dyed and bleached yarn. It consists in splitting off from ball warps previously dyed or bleached and sized, the number of ends of each colour required in the finished warp. Each group is then wound on separate flanged warpers' beams. These beams are placed in a creel and the ends drawn through a reed according to pattern, and wound finally on to the weavers' beams. Yorkshire Warp Dressing - This is a system used mostly in the preparation of coloured striped warps. It is also invaluable in preparing warps dyed and sized in warp form to prevent shadiness in the cloth. Four warps with the same number of ends in each are dyed the same colour, and in sleying, one end from each warp is put in each dent of the reed. Any tendency to shadiness arising from irregularity in dyeing is thereby effectively eliminated. In striped work the required ends are split off if necessary from a larger ball warp, sleyed to pattern in the reed, and then run under controlled tension on to the weaver's beam. The dresser uses a brush as long as the width of the warp to brush out entangled places where the threads have adhered together with size. Yorkshire dressing provides perfect warps with every thread in its proper place on the weaver's beam, no crossed or missing threads, and a minimum of knots.

Worsted serges and dress goods are said to be soap shrunk when they are scoured and milled up to the last in soap solutions. Usually the goods are milled one inch narrower than they are intended to finish and this inch is pulled out again in tentering. The finish is seen at its best upon the finer cloths and the fabrics are soft, of full handle, and bright in appearance. When properly done these cloths do not shrink.

A process of gassing or genapping worsted yarns which makes them smooth, clear and lustrous. They are flyer-spun worsted yarns and used for briads, etc.

Several dress fabrics are included in this term and the common characteristic is that they are woven in the Mayo twill weave. They are all of super qualities and made with botany weft in each case, but the warp may be silk, worsted or super doubled cotton yarns.

These are of two classes, plain and ribbed. The plain is formed from satin weaves which are doubled or trebled, giving a very close intersection of threads and producing very strong fabrics. The ribbed is made by adding a plain weave to a warp rib weave, the warp being arranged so that the ribs are alternately right and left-hand twist. The cloths are bleached and dyed for China and other Far Eastern markets. They are made all-cotton or all fine worsted yarns. Representative cloths are made: - Ribbed soleils are a form of ottoman, but have a smaller rib effect.

Super woollen yarns, made on the worsted principle, from high-class wools known as merinos. Wools are graded from 28's to 100's and the qualities above 60's are the merinos. They are full, soft and durable, and used for the best suitings and dress goods. The term botany is only applied to those yarns which are of 60's quality or over.

These are folded yarns used in the making of healds. They are required to be smooth and yet be capable of absorbing the varnish which is used. Generally Egyptian cotton threads are used ranging from 9 up to 16 or more folds. Genappe worsted threads are used for some fabrics. The thickness of the heald yam is varied according to the counts of warp and number of ends per inch of the fabric to be woven. Thus for a heavy fabric with coarse yarn and coarse reed 16/40's may be used compared with 16/80's for a light fabric made from fine yarns and reed. The following table gives a comparative standard for the cotton trade: -

A cloth made with stripes by using warp yarns of different twists; one stripe has left-hand and the next right-hand twisted yarn. When dyed a shadowy effect is produced. The left-hand twisted yarn is usually tinted in sizing with a loose colour to enable the operatives to distinguish it from the other twist. " Shadow Fabrics " is the name given to this type of fabric in the woollen trade. They are made in all weights and in checks as well as stripes. Suiting fabrics are very popular in browns, blues, greys and blacks. Fine worsted yarns are general. Checks are also made with right- and reverse-twist yarns in the weft.

Many fabrics are termed bird's-eye, both in cotton and wool. They are all of the small spot effect. In cotton there are many bird's-eye cloths, such as 29-in., 31-in., 56-in., 72 X 80 per inch, 40's/36's, from 6 to 12-shaft diamond spots. In worsted, generally 2 X 2 twill, and the warp 3 dark, 2 white, weft 2 or 3 dark, 1 white to give the fine spot effect.

These are long pile " velvet " carpets. The pile varies from ¹/₄-in. to ⁹/₁₆-in. in depth and the pile is 2/3/8's or 2/3/10's worsted yarn, with 9 pile wires per inch. They are 5-frame structures and are carpets of superior softness with great wearing durability.

In 1582 is mentioned "Then have they nether stocks or stockings, not of cloth though never so fine, but of Jarusey, worsted, cruel, silk, thread, and such like." They are actually stockings and used as continuations of the trunk-hose or upper stocks.

French term for woollen or worsted fabrics which are not subjected to fulling or shrinking after they are woven.

A wool fabric originally made for wear as suitings, dresses, etc., at Palm Beach, U.S.A. Plain weave, from light coloured yarn dyed wools, in 26-in. widths, 48 ends and 48 picks per inch, 40's worsted warp and weft. They are now also made with two-fold or single cotton warp and about 40/58 picks per inch, in both plain colours and stripes. The weft is either mohair or hard wool. A popular cloth is made 2 white 2 grey ends, in the warp of 2/32's cotton, and 24's lustre weft, 34 ends and 42 picks per inch. An all-cotton imitation is made, but is a very poor substitute.