Textile Glossary (pollackassociates.com)

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POLLACK
150 Varick Street 
New York NY 10013 
www.pollackassociates.com

TEXTILES GLOSSARY (FOURTH EDITION)

Abrasion: 1the wearing away of any part of a fabric by rubbing against another surface; 2industry standards for abrasion measured on a Wyzenbeek machine

Absorbency: the propensity of a fabric to take in and retain a liquid, usually water, in its pores and interstices

Acrylic: man-made, resin based fiber created to look like wool that has a soft hand, is resistant to wrinkles and sunlight, and can be easily dyed and washed

Bamboo: 1fibers from this plant are made into raw pulp which undergoes a viscose-like process; 2a rapidly renewable resource grown without pesticides or chemicals that is naturally antibacteria

Basket weave: a variation of plain weave in which two or more yarns are woven together in both warp and weft directions

Batik: traditional wax-resist dyeing technique

Bouclé: a novelty yarn characterized by rough loopy knots, often woven into a fabric with exaggerated surface texture

Burn-out fabric: a patterned fabric, made with two different fibers, whose effect is produced by destroying one of the fibers through a printing process which employs chemicals instead of color

Carding: preliminary process in spun yarn manufacture in which impurities and very short fiber pieces are removed and the remaining fibers are separated and smoothed into a thin web of condensed material

Chenille: a novelty yarn with a pile protruding on all sides

Clipping: cutting away the floating portions of supplementary yarns to allow the remaining loose-cut edges to be used as a part of the design

Color Blanket: a trial fabric wherein numerous options of color, yarn, etc., will be woven together in sequence

Colorway: a set of colors to be used in a design; multiple colorways are often given for one fabric

Cotton: 1natural fiber from the white fluffy fruit of the cotton plant; 2graded by length, brightness, color and purity; 3dyes well, is strong and soft to the touch, and cleans well because it absorbs water easily; 4untreated, it wrinkles and shrinks

Cotton boll: a seed pod that when ripe splits open exposing seeds covered in cotton fibers

Cradle to Cradle: set of design and manufacturing protocols that aims to reduce or eliminate ecologically harmful waste

Cross dyed: fabric composed of two or more different fibers with varying dye affinities dyed to achieve a multicolored effect in a single dye bath

Cut and loop pile: a combination of cut ends and loops of pile yarn creating a variety of surface textures

Cut pile: a pile cut during manufacture by means of cutting wires or by a reciprocating knife blade, as in double plush or dress velvet, or cut in a separate finishing operation, as in corduroy, velveteen, knitted velour or cut-pile tufted carpet

Damask: 1a group of jacquard-woven fabrics in which the pattern is created by contrasting satin weaves; 2originally a rich silk fabric with woven floral designs made in China and introduced into Europe through Damascus, from which it derives its name

Degumming: the process of removing the sericin (gum) from raw silk by boiling in a soap solution

Dobby loom: a type of loom on which small geometric patterns can be woven

Drape: 1a character of fabric indicative of flexibility and suppleness; 2the degree to which a fabric falls into graceful folds when hung or arranged in different positions

Dye: a colorant that chemically interacts with fibers

Elongation: 1ability of a fiber to be stretched, extended, or lengthened; 2provides “give”

Embossing: a technique usually involving pressure and/or heat that creates a three-dimensional surface pattern

Embroidery: an example of the decoration of fabric or leather ground with needle-worked accessory stitches made with thread, yarn, or other flexible materials

End use: the way a fabric will be applied by the consumer, for example as upholstery, drapery, or pillows

Felt: 1a woven fabric made of wool or a wool blend that is heavily fulled and shrunk so the yarns become closely interlocked, making it almost impossible to distinguish the weave; 2a nonwoven sheet of matted material made from wool, hair, fur or certain manufactured fibers

Fiber: the fundamental component that is used in the assembly of yarns, including cotton, wool, silk, nylon, and polyester

Filament fibers: long, continuous fiber strands of indefinite length, measured in yards or even miles

Filling: see weft

Flax: 1a slender annual plant that produces bast fiber (linen); 2oldest textile fiber known

Greige: fabric that has received no preparation, dyeing or finishing treatment

Hand: 1a characteristic of fabric that is perceived by touching, squeezing, or rubbing; 2properties of hand: flexibility, compressibility, extensibility,

resilience, density, surface contour, surface friction, thermal character

Hydrophilic: having an affinity for water

Hydrophobic: tending to repel water

Jacquard loom: a type of loom used to produce elaborate designs having intricate weaves

Knit: 1general term for the process of inter- looping yarns either by hand or machine; 2the fabric made by this process

Knit yarn: yarn with an interesting surface created by inter-looping

Leno weave: a variation of plain weave in which pairs of warp threads are alternately twisted between each insertion of filling yarn to stabilize the yarn in an open construction

Linen: 1the oldest and best known fiber of the bast family, linen comes from the inner fiber of the flax plant stalk; 2feels and looks crisp

Loom: 1a device used to weave cloth; 2a device holding warp yarns in tension to allow the interlacing of filling yarns

Luster: 1the amount of light reflected from the surface of a fiber, yarn, or fabric; 2textiles that reflect a great deal of both specularly and diffusely reflected light are considered to have a high luster, those that do not reflect much light have low luster

Matelassé: a doublecloth with a quilted or padded texture resulting from stuffer yarns inserted between layers

Mohair: a long fiber from the hair of the angora goat that is spun into a soft, lustrous, luxurious yarn that is very durable

Moiré: a surface effect resembling a watermark or wood grain on fabric

Nonwoven: 1a textile structure produced by bonding or interlocking fibers, or both; 2accomplished by mechanical, chemical, thermal or solvent means and combinations thereof

Novelty yarn: a yarn with unusual or special effects such as nubs, flakes, loops, beads, or lumps

Nylon: a man-made fiber that is strong, durable, elastic, exhibits high static and pilling, and has low moisture retention

Ogee: a design motif resembling a modified oval with both concave and convex curves

Olefin: 1synthetic petroleum-based fiber that is durable, resilient, economical, and cleans well; 2also known as Polypropylene

Panné velvet: a pile fabric with a longer pile than normal velvet but shorter than plush, the pile is flattened or pressed down by means of heavy roller pressure in finishing, giving the fabric a high luster

Piece dyed: fabrics that are dyed after they have been woven or knitted

Pile: 1raised loops or other yarns or fibers deliberately emplaced to stand away from the surface of a fabric, forming all or part of the fabric surface; 2the length and thickness vary

Pilling: the tendency of a fabric, usually synthetic, to form little fuzzy balls in reaction to abrasion

Plain weave: 1a filling yarn crosses over a warp yarn and then under the next warp yarn, with each row alternating the “over” and “under” warp yarns; 2simplest and most important of the basic weaves, providing the greatest number of intersections in a given space; 3used in about 80% of all woven fabric filling yarns warp pile

Pleating: doubling a fabric over into folds and fixing them in place by sewing or pressing

Ply yarn: a yarn formed by twisting together two or more single yarns or strands in one operation

Pocket weave: a woven doublecloth in which the layers are joined only at pattern changes, space between the two layers of cloth are called pockets

Polyester: fiber made from petroleum, coal, air, and water that is high-strength, washable, and abrasion resistant, but subject to pilling, staining, and static electricity

Polyurethane: fiber with high strength, high elongation, and low moisture absorption used for nonwoven faux leathers and vinyls

Raffia: a long fiber harvested from the raffia palm used to make baskets, mats, hats, and fabrics

Rayon: 1soft silk-like man-made fiber that is produced from cellulose (wood chips) and chemicals; 2also known as viscose

Reeling: the process of unwinding raw silk from cocoons by placing them in hot water and unwinding the filaments onto a reel to form a single yarn without any twist

Satin weave: 1the face of the fabric is formed almost completely of warp or filling floats produced in the repeat of the weave, achieved by spacing the yarn interlacing points as evenly and widely as possible; 2produces a characteristic smooth surface, employing a great number of yarns in the set that forms the face

Sericin: a natural, gummy coating on raw silk filaments that makes the silk harsh and stiff and imparts a dull luster

Shrink yarn: thermoplastic yarn that contracts or shrinks when exposed to heat

Silk: a protein harvested from the cocoons of silkworms that is naturally in filament form and when cleaned is fine, supple, lustrous, and exceptionally strong

Silkworms: 1larvae of moths (caterpillars) that produce a large amount of silk when constructing cocoons before changing to pupae; 2feed on the leaves of the white mulberry, certain other mulberry species, and the osage orange tree

Slit film yarn: 1film slit into narrow strips that may be used as flat monofilaments in spinning, weaving, or knitting; 2Metallic/Lurex yarns are made by this process

Slub yarn: a novelty yarn with alternating thick and thin areas

Solution dyed: 1manufactured filaments or staple fibers that are colored by incorporating pigments in the melt or polymer solution from which they are extruded; 2provides high levels of colorfastness

Spinneret: a thimble-like nozzle through which the spinning solution is forced to form fiber

Spinning: the process of producing a yarn from staple fibers, takes place in spinning mills

Staple fibers: 1short fibers, measured in centimeters or inches; 2natural fibers, except silk, are staple length and vary from 1.3 cm to 1 meter

Textile: a general term used to refer to fibers, yarns, or fabrics including woven, knitted, and nonwoven structures as well as lace and crocheted goods

Tissue picks: supplementary filling yarn or yarns which “float” along the back of fabric in bands, and are brought up in selected areas for added color detail on the face of a fabric

Trevira polyester: 1registered trademark owned by Hoechst-Celanese for specialized polyester fiber; 2Trevira CS is fire-retardant

Tussah silk: a strong, coarse, light-brown silk yarn or fabric made from cocoons of undomesticated silkworms with filaments that are more irregular and dull than cultivated silk and take dye poorly

Twill weave: 1the filling yarns pass over one or more and under one or more warp yarns in offset progression to create the appearance of diagonal lines; 2used to produce strong, durable, firm fabrics such as denim; 3has many variations, such as herringbone and bird’s eye

Twist yarn: a yarn created by twisting two differently colored yarns together

Two directional velvet: velvet with more than one pile direction, each of which reflects light differently, creating dark and light values

Velvet: 1a warp pile fabric with short, closely woven cut pile that gives the fabric a rich soft texture; 2first made of all silk, many major fibers are now used in this construction

Viscose: 1a man-made fiber processed from cellulous into a liquid and extruded into filament that is easily dyed and lustrous; 2used in fabrics with a soft hand that drape well

Voided velvet: 1a velvet with a pile raised only in selected areas; 2designs are created by weaving the pile yarns into the flat weave of the ground

Warp: 1the set of yarn elements running lengthwise on a loom and in woven fabrics on the bolt; 2in place before the weft yarns are woven over and under it

Warp Print: a printing method in which only the warp yarns are printed with a design before the fabric is woven. A hazy, grayed effect is produced

Weft: 1the set of yarn elements in a woven fabric that runs horizontally, crossing and interlacing with the warp; 2also known as filling

Weight: how heavy the fabric is, generally measured in ounces per square or linear yard

Wool: 1fiber derived from the fleece of sheep; 2in some instances may refer to the fibers from the hair of the alpaca, camel, llama, and vicuña; 3resilient and may be blended with natural or man-made fibers

Woolen yarn: a coarse, short staple wool or wool-like yarn that has not been combed

Worsted yarn: a tightly spun, long staple, fine wool or wool-like yarn that is smooth and straight

Woven: 1general term for the process of inter- lacing yarns either by hand or machine; 2the fabric made by this process

Wrapped yarn: constructed by wrapping a binder yarn around a bundle of parallel fibers with little or no twist

Yarn: a continuous strand of textile fibers that my be composed of endless filaments or shorter fibers twisted or otherwise held together

Yarn dyed: 1fabric woven or knitted with yarns that have been dyed prior to fabrication of the cloth; 2commonly used to produce striped, plaid, or jacquard color effect