Textile manufacturing terminology - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

For terms specifically related to sewing, see Glossary of sewing terms.

For terms specifically related to dyeing, see Glossary of dyeing terms
Glossary of dyeing terms
Dyeing is the craft of imparting colors to textiles in loose fiber, yarn, cloth or garment form by treatment with a dye. Archaeologists have found evidence of textile dyeing with natural dyes dating back to the Neolithic period. In China, dyeing with plants, barks and insects has been traced back...

.

The manufacture of textile

Textile

A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...

s is one of the oldest of human technologies

Technology

Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...

. To make textiles, the first requirement is a source of fibre

Fiber

Fiber is a class of materials that are continuous filaments or are in discrete elongated pieces, similar to lengths of thread.They are very important in the biology of both plants and animals, for holding tissues together....

from which a yarn

Yarn

Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, suitable for use in the production of textiles, sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery and ropemaking. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern manufactured sewing threads may be finished with wax or...

can be made, primarily by spinning

Spinning (textiles)

Spinning is a major industry. It is part of the textile manufacturing process where three types of fibre are converted into yarn, then fabric, then textiles. The textiles are then fabricated into clothes or other artifacts. There are three industrial processes available to spin yarn, and a...

. (Both fibre and fiber are used in this article.) The yarn is processed by knitting

Knitting

Knitting is a method by which thread or yarn may be turned into cloth or other fine crafts. Knitted fabric consists of consecutive rows of loops, called stitches. As each row progresses, a new loop is pulled through an existing loop. The active stitches are held on a needle until another loop can...

or weaving

Weaving

Weaving is a method of fabric production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. The other methods are knitting, lace making and felting. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling...

, which turns yarn into cloth. The machine

Machine

A machine manages power to accomplish a task, examples include, a mechanical system, a computing system, an electronic system, and a molecular machine. In common usage, the meaning is that of a device having parts that perform or assist in performing any type of work...

used for weaving is the loom

Loom

A loom is a device used to weave cloth. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads...

. For decoration, the process of colouring yarn or the finished material is dyeing

Dyeing

Dyeing is the process of adding color to textile products like fibers, yarns, and fabrics. Dyeing is normally done in a special solution containing dyes and particular chemical material. After dyeing, dye molecules have uncut Chemical bond with fiber molecules. The temperature and time controlling...

. For more information of the various steps, see textile manufacturing

Textile manufacturing

Textile manufacturing is a major industry. It is based in the conversion of three types of fibre into yarn, then fabric, then textiles. These are then fabricated into clothes or other artifacts. Cotton remains the most important natural fibre, so is treated in depth...

A

Absorbency

A measure of how much water

Water

Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...

a fabric

Textile

can absorb.

Acetate

An acetate is a derivative of acetic acid. This term includes salts and esters, as well as the anion found in solution. Most of the approximately 5 billion kilograms of acetic acid produced annually in industry are used in the production of acetates, which usually take the form of polymers. In...

is a synthetic fiber

Synthetic fiber

Synthetic fibers are the result of extensive research by scientists to improve on naturally occurring animal and plant fibers. In general, synthetic fibers are created by forcing, usually through extrusion, fiber forming materials through holes into the air, forming a thread...

Acrylic

Acrylic fiber

Acrylic fibers are synthetic fibers made from a polymer with an average molecular weight of ~100,000, about 1900 monomer units. To be called acrylic in the U.S, the polymer must contain at least 85% acrylonitrile monomer. Typical comonomers are vinyl acetate or methyl acrylate...

is a synthetic

Synthetic fiber

polymer

Polymer

A polymer is a large molecule composed of repeating structural units. These subunits are typically connected by covalent chemical bonds...

fiber

Fiber

that contains at least 85% acrylonitrile

Acrylonitrile

Acrylonitrile is the chemical compound with the formula C3H3N. This pungent-smelling colorless liquid often appears yellow due to impurities. It is an important monomer for the manufacture of useful plastics. In terms of its molecular structure, it consists of a vinyl group linked to a nitrile...

Aida cloth

Aida cloth is an open weave, even-weave fabric traditionally used for cross-stitch embroidery. This cotton fabric has a natural mesh that facilitates cross-stitching and enough natural stiffness that the crafter does not need to use an embroidery hoop....

is a coarse open-weave fabric

Textile

traditionally used for cross-stitch

Cross-stitch

Cross-stitch is a popular form of counted-thread embroidery in which X-shaped stitches in a tiled, raster-like pattern are used to form a picture. Cross-stitch is often executed on easily countable evenweave fabric called aida cloth. The stitcher counts the threads in each direction so that the...

Alnage

Alnage, or aulnage is the official supervision of the shape and quality of manufactured woollen cloth.It was first ordered in the reign of Richard I that "woollen cloths, wherever they are made, shall be of the same width, to wit, of two ells within the lists, and of the same goodness in the...

is the official supervision of the shape and quality of manufactured woolen

Woolen

Woolen or woollen is a type of yarn made from carded wool. Woolen yarn is soft, light, stretchy, and full of air. It is thus a good insulator, and makes a good knitting yarn...

cloth.

Alpaca

An alpaca is a domesticated species of South American camelid. It resembles a small llama in appearance.Alpacas are kept in herds that graze on the level heights of the Andes of southern Peru, northern Bolivia, Ecuador, and northern Chile at an altitude of to above sea level, throughout the year...

is a name given to two distinct things. It is primarily a term applied to the wool

Wool

Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....

of the Peruvian alpaca. It is, however, more broadly applied to a style of fabric originally made from alpaca fiber but now frequently made from a similar type of fiber.

Angora

Angora wool

Angora wool or Angora fibre refers to the downy coat produced by the Angora rabbit. While their names are similar, Angora fibre is distinct from mohair, which comes from the Angora goat. Angora is known for its softness, thin fibres, and what knitters refer to as a halo...

refers to the hair of the Angora rabbit

Angora rabbit

The Angora rabbit is a variety of domestic rabbit bred for its long, soft wool. The Angora is one of the oldest types of domestic rabbit, originating in Ankara , Turkey, along with the Angora cat and Angora goat. The rabbits were popular pets with French royalty in the mid 18th century, and spread...

, or the fabric

Textile

made from Angora rabbit fur. (Fabric made from angora goat

Angora goat

The Angora goat is a breed of domestic goat that originated in Ankara , Turkey and its surrounding region in central Anatolia...

is mohair

Mohair

Mohair usually refers to a silk-like fabric or yarn made from the hair of the Angora goat. The word "mohair" was adopted into English before 1570 from the Arabic: mukhayyar, a type of haircloth, literally 'choice', from khayyara, 'he chose'. Mohair fiber is approximately 25-45 microns in...

Appliqué

Applique

In its broadest sense, an appliqué is a smaller ornament or device applied to another surface. In the context of ceramics, for example, an appliqué is a separate piece of clay added to the primary work, generally for the purpose of decoration...

is a sewing

Sewing

Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era...

technique in which fabric

Textile

shapes, lace

Lace

Lace is an openwork fabric, patterned with open holes in the work, made by machine or by hand. The holes can be formed via removal of threads or cloth from a previously woven fabric, but more often open spaces are created as part of the lace fabric. Lace-making is an ancient craft. True lace was...

or trim

Trim (sewing)

Trim or trimming in clothing and home decorating is applied ornament, such as gimp, passementerie, ribbon, ruffles, or, as a verb, to apply such ornament....

, are sewn onto a foundation fabric to create designs.

Aramid

Aramid fibers are a class of heat-resistant and strong synthetic fibers. They are used in aerospace and military applications, for ballistic rated body armor fabric and ballistic composites, in bicycle tires, and as an asbestos substitute. The name is a portmanteau of "aromatic polyamide"...

fiber

Fiber

is a fire-resistant and strong synthetic fiber

Synthetic fiber

Argyle

An argyle

Argyle (pattern)

The argyle pattern is made of diamonds or lozenges. The word is sometimes used to refer to an individual diamond in the design but more commonly refers to the overall pattern. Most argyle layouts contain layers of overlapping motifs, adding a sense of three-dimensionality, movement, and texture...

pattern is one containing diamonds in a sort of diagonal checkerboard pattern.

B

Backstrap loom

Backstrap looms, as the name implies, are tied around the weaver's waist on one end and around a stationary object such as a tree, post, or door on the other. Tension can be adjusted simply by leaning back. Backstrap looms are very portable, since they can simply be rolled up and carried.

Baize

Baize is a coarse woollen cloth, sometimes called felt in American English based on a similarity in appearance.-Usage:...

is a coarse woollen or cotton

Cotton

Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....

cloth, often coloured red or green.

Ballistic nylon

Ballistic nylon is a thick, tough, synthetic nylon fabric used for a variety of applications. Ballistic nylon was originally developed by the DuPont corporation as a material for flak jackets to be worn by World War II airmen...

is a thick, tough synthetic fabric used for a variety of applications.

Batik

Batik is a cloth that traditionally uses a manual wax-resist dyeing technique. Batik or fabrics with the traditional batik patterns are found in Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, China, Azerbaijan, India, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal, and Singapore.Javanese traditional batik, especially from...

is an Indonesian traditional word and refers to a generic wax

Wax

thumb|right|[[Cetyl palmitate]], a typical wax ester.Wax refers to a class of chemical compounds that are plastic near ambient temperatures. Characteristically, they melt above 45 °C to give a low viscosity liquid. Waxes are insoluble in water but soluble in organic, nonpolar solvents...

-resist dye

Dye

A dye is a colored substance that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is being applied. The dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution, and requires a mordant to improve the fastness of the dye on the fiber....

ing technique used on fabric

Textile

Bedford-Cord

Combination of two kinds of Weave, Namely Plain and Drill.

Bias

The bias

Bias (textile)

The bias or cross-grain direction of a piece of woven fabric, usually referred to simply as "the bias" or "the cross-grain", is at 45 degrees to its warp and weft threads. Every piece of woven fabric has two biases, perpendicular to each other...

direction of a piece of woven fabric, usually referred to simply as "the bias", is at 45 degrees to its warp

Warp (weaving)

In weaving cloth, the warp is the set of lengthwise yarns that are held in tension on a frame or loom. The yarn that is inserted over-and-under the warp threads is called the weft, woof, or filler. Each individual warp thread in a fabric is called a warp end or end. Warp means "that which is thrown...

and weft

Weft

In weaving, weft or woof is the yarn which is drawn through the warp yarns to create cloth. In North America, it is sometimes referred to as the "fill" or the "filling yarn"....

threads. Every piece of woven fabric has two biases, perpendicular

Perpendicular

In geometry, two lines or planes are considered perpendicular to each other if they form congruent adjacent angles . The term may be used as a noun or adjective...

to each other.

Binding

In sewing

Sewing

Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era...

, binding

Binding (sewing)

In sewing, binding is used as both a noun and a verb to refer to finishing a seam or hem of a garment, usually by rolling or pressing then stitching on an edging or trim ....

is used as both a noun and a verb to refer to finishing a seam or hem

Hem

To hem a piece of cloth is to sew a cut edge in such a way as to prevent unraveling of the fabric.There are many different styles of hems of varying complexities. The most common hem...

of a garment, usually by rolling or pressing then stitching on an edging or trim.

Blend

A Blend

Blend

In linguistics, a blend is a word formed from parts of two or more other words. These parts are sometimes, but not always, morphemes.-Linguistics:...

is a fabric

Textile

or yarn

Yarn

made up of more than one type of fiber

Fiber

Bobbin lace

Bobbin lace is a lace textile made by braiding and twisting lengths of thread, which are wound on bobbins to manage them. As the work progresses, the weaving is held in place with pins set in a lace pillow, the placement of the pins usually determined by a pattern or pricking pinned on the...

is a delicate lace

Lace

that uses wound spools of thread (the bobbin

Bobbin

A bobbin is a spindle or cylinder, with or without flanges, on which wire, yarn, thread or film is wound. Bobbins are typically found in sewing machines, cameras, and within electronic equipment....

s) to weave together the shapes in the lace.

Bobbinet

Bobbinet or genuine tulle is a specific type of tulle netting which has been made in the United Kingdom since the invention of the bobbinet machine in 1806 by John Heathcoat. John Heathcoat coined the term "bobbin net", or bobbinet as it is spelled today, to distinguish his machine-made tulle from...

is a tulle netting with hexagonal shaped holes, traditionally used as a base for embroidery and lingerie.

Bombazine

Bombazine, or bombasine, is a fabric originally made of silk or silk and wool, and now also made of cotton and wool or of wool alone. Quality bombazine is made with a silk warp and a worsted weft. It is twilled or corded and used for dress-material...

is a fabric originally made of silk

Silk

Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...

or silk and wool

Wool

, and now also made of cotton

Cotton

and wool or of wool alone. It is twilled or corded and used for dress-material.

Braid

To braid

Braid

A braid is a complex structure or pattern formed by intertwining three or more strands of flexible material such as textile fibres, wire, or human hair...

is to interweave or twine three or more separate strands of one or more materials in a diagonally overlapping pattern.

Broadcloth

Broadcloth is a dense woollen cloth. Modern broadcloth can be composed of cotton, silk, or polyester, but traditionally broadcloth was made solely of wool. The dense weave lends sturdiness to the material....

-material of superior quality.

Brocade

Brocade is a class of richly decorative shuttle-woven fabrics, often made in colored silks and with or without gold and silver threads. The name, related to the same root as the word "broccoli," comes from Italian broccato meaning "embossed cloth," originally past participle of the verb broccare...

is the term for forming pattern

Pattern

A pattern, from the French patron, is a type of theme of recurring events or objects, sometimes referred to as elements of a set of objects.These elements repeat in a predictable manner...

s in cloth with a supplementary weft

Weft

In weaving, weft or woof is the yarn which is drawn through the warp yarns to create cloth. In North America, it is sometimes referred to as the "fill" or the "filling yarn"....

Buckram

Buckram is a stiff cloth, made of cotton, and still occasionally linen, which is used to cover and protect books. Buckram can also be used to stiffen clothes. Modern buckrams have been stiffened by soaking in a substance, usually now pyroxylin, to fill the gaps between the fibres.In the Middle...

is a stiff cloth, made of cotton

Cotton

or linen

Linen

Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather....

, which is used to cover, and protect, a book

Book

A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...

, and although more expensive than its look-a-like, Brella, is stronger and resistant to cockroaches eating it. Buckram can also be used to stiffen clothes.

Burlap

Hessian , or burlap in the US, is a woven fabric usually made from skin of the jute plant or sisal fibres, or may be combined with other vegetable fibres to make rope, nets, and similar products...

is a type of cloth often used for sacks.

C

Calico

Calico (fabric)

Calico is a plain-woven textile made from unbleached, and often not fully processed, cotton. It may contain unseparated husk parts, for example. The fabric is less coarse and thick than canvas or denim, but owing to its unfinished and undyed appearance, it is still very cheap. Originally from the...

is a type of fabric

Textile

made from unbleached, and often not fully processed, cotton. Also referred to a type of Printing.

Cambric

Cambric, pronounced , "one of the finest and most dense species of the cloth manufacture", is a lightweight plain weave cloth, originally from Cambrai, woven in greige, then bleached and piece-dyed, often glazed or calendered. Initially made from flax, then cotton in the 19th century, it is also...

is a lightweight cotton

Cotton

cloth used as fabric for lace and needlework.

Camel's Hair

Camel

A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...

's Hair is a natural fiber

Fiber

from the camel

Camel

. Camel hair can produce a variety of different coarseness of yarn

Yarn

. This fiber is a novelty fiber spun

Spinning (textiles)

by hand-spinners.

Canvas

Canvas is an extremely heavy-duty plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, and other items for which sturdiness is required. It is also popularly used by artists as a painting surface, typically stretched across a wooden frame...

is an extremely heavy-duty fabric

Textile

used for making sail

Sail

A sail is any type of surface intended to move a vessel, vehicle or rotor by being placed in a wind—in essence a propulsion wing. Sails are used in sailing.-History of sails:...

s, tent

Tent

A tent is a shelter consisting of sheets of fabric or other material draped over or attached to a frame of poles or attached to a supporting rope. While smaller tents may be free-standing or attached to the ground, large tents are usually anchored using guy ropes tied to stakes or tent pegs...

s, marquees, and other functions where sturdiness is required. It is also popularly used on fashion handbags.

Canvas work

Canvas work is a type of embroidery in which yarn is stitched through a canvas or other foundation fabric. Canvas work is a form of counted-thread embroidery...

is embroidery

Embroidery

Embroidery is the art or handicraft of decorating fabric or other materials with needle and thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as metal strips, pearls, beads, quills, and sequins....

on canvas

Canvas

Carding

Carding is a mechanical process that breaks up locks and unorganised clumps of fibre and then aligns the individual fibres so that they are more or less parallel with each other. The word is derived from the Latin carduus meaning teasel, as dried vegetable teasels were first used to comb the raw wool...

is the processing of brushing raw or washed fiber

Fiber

s to prepare them as textile

Textile

Carpet

A carpet

Carpet

A carpet is a textile floor covering consisting of an upper layer of "pile" attached to a backing. The pile is generally either made from wool or a manmade fibre such as polypropylene,nylon or polyester and usually consists of twisted tufts which are often heat-treated to maintain their...

' is any loom-woven, felted textile or grass floor covering.

Cashmere

Cashmere wool

Cashmere wool, usually simply known as cashmere, is a fiber obtained from Cashmere and other types of goats. The word cashmere derives from an old spelling of Kashmir. Cashmere is fine in texture, and strong, light, and soft. Garments made from it provide excellent...

is wool

Wool

from the Cashmere goat

Goat

The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...

Cellulose

Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to over ten thousand β linked D-glucose units....

; this fiber

Fiber

processed to make cellophane

Cellophane

Cellophane is a thin, transparent sheet made of regenerated cellulose. Its low permeability to air, oils, greases, bacteria and water makes it useful for food packaging...

and rayon

Rayon

Rayon is a manufactured regenerated cellulose fiber. Because it is produced from naturally occurring polymers, it is neither a truly synthetic fiber nor a natural fiber; it is a semi-synthetic or artificial fiber. Rayon is known by the names viscose rayon and art silk in the textile industry...

, and more recently Modal

Modal (textile)

Modal is a cellulose fiber made by spinning reconstituted cellulose, often from beech trees. It is about 50% more hygroscopic per unit volume than cotton. It takes dye like cotton and is color-fast when washed in warm water. Modal is a kind of rayon.Textiles made from modal are resistant to...

, a textile

Textile

derived from beechwood cellulose

Cellulose

Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to over ten thousand β linked D-glucose units....

Cheesecloth

Cheesecloth is a loosewoven gauze-like cotton cloth used primarily in cheese making and cooking.Cheesecloth is available in at least seven different grades, from open to extra-fine weave. Grades are distinguished by the number of threads per inch in each direction.- Uses :The primary use of...

is a loosewoven cotton

Cotton

cloth, such as is used in pressing cheese

Cheese

Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....

curds.

Chiffon

Chiffon (fabric)

Chiffon, , from the French word for a cloth or rag, is a lightweight, balanced plain-woven sheer fabric woven of alternate S- and Z-twist crepe yarns. The twist in the crepe yarns puckers the fabric slightly in both directions after weaving, giving it some stretch and a slightly rough...

is a sheer

Sheer (textile)

Sheer fabric is fabric which is made using thin thread and/or low density of knit and which results in a semi-transparent and flimsy cloth. Some fabrics become transparent when wet....

fabric

Textile

made of silk

Silk

or rayon

Rayon

Chino cloth

Chino cloth is a twill fabric, originally made of 100% cotton. Today it is also found in cotton-synthetic blends.Developed in the mid-19th century for British and French military uniforms and known as khaki, it has since migrated into civilian wear. Pants of such a fabric gained popularity in the...

is a kind of twill

Twill

Twill is a type of textile weave with a pattern of diagonal parallel ribs . This is done by passing the weft thread over one or more warp threads and then under two or more warp threads and so on, with a "step" or offset between rows to create the characteristic diagonal pattern. Because of this...

fabric, usually made primarily from cotton

Cotton

Chintz

Chintz is glazed calico cloth printed with flowers and other patterns in different colours. Unglazed calico is called "cretonne". The word Calico is derived from the name of the Indian city Calicut to which it had a manufacturing association.-History:Chintz was originally a woodblock printed,...

is calico

Calico (fabric)

cloth printed with flowers and other devices in different colors. It was originally of Eastern manufacture.

Coir

Coir is a natural fibre extracted from the husk of coconut and used in products such as floor mats, doormats, brushes, mattresses etc. Technically coir is the fibrous material found between the hard, internal shell and the outer coat of a coconut. Other uses of brown coir are in upholstery...

is a coarse fibre extracted from the fibrous outer shell of a coconut

Coconut

The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...

Colorfast (Colourfast)

A term used to describe whether the colors bleed or not in washing.

Cord

Cord is twisted fibre, usually intermediate between rope

Rope

A rope is a length of fibres, twisted or braided together to improve strength for pulling and connecting. It has tensile strength but is too flexible to provide compressive strength...

and string. It is also used as a shortened form of corduroy

Corduroy

Corduroy is a textile composed of twisted fibers that, when woven, lie parallel to one another to form the cloth's distinct pattern, a "cord." Modern corduroy is most commonly composed of tufted cords, sometimes exhibiting a channel between the tufts...

Corduroy

is a durable cloth.

Cotton

is a soft fibre that grows around the seeds of the cotton plant, a shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

native to the tropical and subtropical regions of both the Old World

Old World

The Old World consists of those parts of the world known to classical antiquity and the European Middle Ages. It is used in the context of, and contrast with, the "New World" ....

and the New World

New World

The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...

. The fibre is most often spun into thread

Yarn

and used to make a soft, breathable textile

Textile

Crepe

Crêpe

A crêpe or crepe , is a type of very thin pancake, usually made from wheat flour or buckwheat flour . The word is of French origin, deriving from the Latin crispa, meaning "curled". While crêpes originate from Brittany, a region in the northwest of France, their consumption is widespread in France...

is a silk

Silk

fabric

Textile

of a gauzy texture, having a peculiar crisp or crimpy appearance.

Crazy quilt

Crazy quilting

The term "crazy quilting" is often used to refer to the textile art of crazy patchwork and is sometimes used interchangeably with that term. Crazy quilting does not actually refer to a specific kind of quilting , but a specific kind of patchwork...

is often used to refer to the textile art

Textile arts

Textile arts are those arts and crafts that use plant, animal, or synthetic fibers to construct practical or decorative objects.Textiles have been a fundamental part of human life since the beginning of civilization, and the methods and materials used to make them have expanded enormously, while...

of patchwork

Patchwork

Patchwork or "pieced work" is a form of needlework that involves sewing together pieces of fabric into a larger design. The larger design is usually based on repeat patterns built up with different colored shapes. These shapes are carefully measured and cut, straight-sided, basic geometric shapes...

and is sometimes used interchangeably with that term.

Crinoline

Crinoline was originally a stiff fabric with a weft of horse-hair and a warp of cotton or linen thread. The fabric first appeared around 1830, but by 1850 the word had come to mean a stiffened petticoat or rigid skirt-shaped structure of steel designed to support the skirts of a woman’s dress into...

was originally a stiff fabric with a weft

Weft

In weaving, weft or woof is the yarn which is drawn through the warp yarns to create cloth. In North America, it is sometimes referred to as the "fill" or the "filling yarn"....

of horse-hair

Horse

The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...

and a warp

Warp (weaving)

of cotton

Cotton

or linen

Linen

thread

Yarn

. The fabric first appeared around 1830.

Cross-stitch

is a popular form of counted-thread embroidery

Counted-thread embroidery

Counted-thread embroidery is any embroidery in which the fabric threads are counted by the embroiderer before inserting the needle into the fabric...

in which X-shaped stitches are used to form a picture.

Crochet

The word crochet

Crochet

Crochet is a process of creating fabric from yarn, thread, or other material strands using a crochet hook. The word is derived from the French word "crochet", meaning hook. Hooks can be made of materials such as metals, woods or plastic and are commercially manufactured as well as produced by...

describes the process of creating fabric

Textile

from a length of cord, yarn

Yarn

, or thread with a hooked tool

Crochet hook

A crochet hook is a type of needle with a hook at one end used to draw thread through knotted loops. Only one crochet hook is needed to make crochet stitches. The crochet hook's earliest use appears to have been in the late 18th century or early 19th century.Typical materials for crochet hooks...

Crochet hook

A crochet hook

Crochet hook

is a type of needle, usually with a hook at one end, used to draw thread through knotted loops.

Cro-hook

The cro-hook

Cro-hook

The cro-hook, is a special double-ended crochet hook used to make double-sided crochet, which is a variation of Tunisian crochet. Because the hook has two ends, two colors of thread can be used simultaneously and freely interchanged....

is a special double-ended crochet hook

Crochet hook

used to make double-sided crochet

Crochet

. Because the hook has two ends, two colours of thread can be handled at once and freely interchanged.

D

Damask

Damask is a reversible figured fabric of silk, wool, linen, cotton, or synthetic fibers, with a pattern formed by weaving. Damasks are woven with one warp yarn and one weft yarn, usually with the pattern in warp-faced satin weave and the ground in weft-faced or sateen weave...

is a fabric of silk

Silk

, wool

Wool

, linen

Linen

, cotton

Cotton

, or synthetic fiber

Synthetic fiber

s, with a pattern formed by weaving

Weaving

. Today, it generally denotes a linen

Linen

texture richly figured in the weaving with flowers, fruit, forms of animal life, and other types of ornament.

Darning mushroom

A darning mushroom is a tool which can be used for darning

Sewing

Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era...

clothes, particularly sock

Sock

A sock is an item of clothing worn on the feet. The foot is among the heaviest producers of sweat in the body, as it is able to produce over of perspiration per day. Socks help to absorb this sweat and draw it to areas where air can evaporate the perspiration. In cold environments, socks decrease...

s. The sock can be stretched over the top of the (curved) mushroom, and gathered-tightly-around the stalk.

Denim

Denim is a rugged cotton twill textile, in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. This produces the familiar diagonal ribbing identifiable on the reverse of the fabric, which distinguishes denim from cotton duck. Denim has been in American usage since the late 18th century...

denotes a rugged cotton

Cotton

twill textile

Textile

Dimity

Dimity is a lightweight, sheer cotton fabric having at least two warp threads thrown into relief to form fine cords. It is a cloth commonly employed for bed upholstery and curtains, and usually white, though sometimes a pattern is printed on it in colors. It is stout in texture, and woven in raised...

is a lightweight, sheer cotton

Cotton

fabric having at least two warp threads thrown into relief to form fine cords.

Dobby loom

A Dobby Loom is a type of floor loom that controls the whole warp threads using a device called a dobby. Dobby is a corruption of "draw boy" which refers to the weaver's helpers who used to control the warp thread by pulling on draw threads....

is a loom

Loom

A loom is a device used to weave cloth. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads...

in which each harness

Harness

A harness is a looped restraint or support. It can also be referred to as an "hitcharness", especially by the Jordanian Armed Forces. Specifically, it may refer to one of the following harness types:* Bondage harness* Child harness* Climbing harness...

can be manipulated individually. This is in contrast to a treadle

Treadle

A treadle [from OE tredan = to tread] is a part of a machine which is operated by the foot to produce reciprocating or rotary motion in a machine such as a weaving loom or grinder...

loom, where the harnesses are attached to a number of different treadles depending on the weave structure.

Double weave

Double cloth or double weave is a kind of woven textile in which two or more sets of warps and one or more sets of weft or filling yarns are interconnected to form a two-layered cloth...

is a type of advanced weave

Weaving

. It is done by interlacing two or more sets of warp

Warp (weaving)

s with two or more sets of filling

Weft

In weaving, weft or woof is the yarn which is drawn through the warp yarns to create cloth. In North America, it is sometimes referred to as the "fill" or the "filling yarn"....

yarn

Yarn

Dowlas

Dowlas is the name given to a plain cloth, similar to sheeting, but usually coarser. It is made in several qualities, from line warp and weft to two warp and weft, and is used chiefly for aprons, pocketing, soldiers' gaiters, linings and overalls. The finer makes are sometimes made into shirts for...

is the name given to a plain cloth, similar to sheeting

Bed sheet

A bed sheet is a piece of cloth used to cover a mattress. It is this sheet that one typically lies on.In many areas of the world, a second flat bed sheet is laid on top of the sheet covering the mattress. This is known as a "top sheet" and when a top sheet is used, the sheet covering the mattress...

, but usually coarser.

Durability

how durable

Durable good

In economics, a durable good or a hard good is a good that does not quickly wear out, or more specifically, one that yields utility over time rather than being completely consumed in one use. Items like bricks or jewellery could be considered perfectly durable goods, because they should...

a fabric or yarn is.

Dyes

Dye

is used to color fabric. There are two main types: Natural dye

Natural dye

Natural dyes are dyes or colorants derived from plants, invertebrates, or minerals. The majority of natural dyes are vegetable dyes from plant sources – roots, berries, bark, leaves, and wood — and other organic sources such as fungi and lichens....

s and synthetic dyes. The process is called dyeing

Dyeing

Dye lot

A dye lot is a record taken during the dyeing of yarn to identify yarn that received its coloration in the same vat at the same time. Yarn manufacturers assign each lot a unique identification number and stamp it on the label before shipping...

is a number that identifies yarns dyed in the same vat at the same time. Subtle differences can appear between different batches of the same color yarn from the same manufacturer.

E

Elasticity

Embroidery

is an ancient variety of decorative needlework

Needlework

Needlework is a broad term for the handicrafts of decorative sewing and textile arts. Anything that uses a needle for construction can be called needlework...

in which designs and pictures are created by stitching

Sewing

Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era...

strands of some material on to a layer of another material. See also: Machine embroidery

Machine embroidery

Machine embroidery is an embroidery process whereby a sewing machine or embroidery machine is used to create patterns on textiles. It is used commercially in product branding, corporate advertising, and uniform adornment. Hobbyists also machine embroider for personal sewing and craft projects.There...

Epinglé fabric

A type of velvet fabric woven on a wire loom or épinglé loom. The épinglé velvet is specific by the fact that both loop pile and cut pile can be integrated into the same fabric. The art of épinglé weaving in Europe originates from Lucca (Italy) and later Venice and Genua. Actually the term 'Genua velvet' is still in use. The Flemish region of Kortrijk and Waregem (Belgium) is the area whereupon today the technique of épinglé weaving is still very actual. The fabric finds it application mostly in upholstery, although in medieval times it was used as apparel for princes and kings as well as for bishops, cardinals and the pope.

Even-weave

Even-weave or evenweave

Even-weave

Even-weave fabric or canvas is any woven textile where the warp and weft threads are of the same size.Even-weave fabrics are typically required as foundations for counted-thread embroidery styles such as cross-stitch, needlepoint, and blackwork so that a stitch of the same "count" will be the same...

fabric is used in counted-thread embroidery

Counted-thread embroidery

Counted-thread embroidery is any embroidery in which the fabric threads are counted by the embroiderer before inserting the needle into the fabric...

and is characterized by Warp

Warp (weaving)

and weft

Weft

In weaving, weft or woof is the yarn which is drawn through the warp yarns to create cloth. In North America, it is sometimes referred to as the "fill" or the "filling yarn"....

threads of the same size.

Eyelet

Grommet

thumb|right|250px|Some rubber grommets.A grommet is a ring inserted into a hole through thin material, such as fabric. Grommets are generally flared or collared on each side to keep them in place, and are often made of metal, plastic, or rubber. They may be used to prevent tearing or abrasion of...

s and eyelets are metal

Metal

A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...

, plastic

Plastic

A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...

, or rubber

Rubber

Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined...

rings that are inserted into a hole made through another material. They may be used to reinforce the hole, to shield something from the sharp edges of the hole, or both.

F

Facing

Felt

Felt

Felt is a non-woven cloth that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing woollen fibres. While some types of felt are very soft, some are tough enough to form construction materials. Felt can be of any colour, and made into any shape or size....

is a non-woven cloth that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibers. The fibers form the structure of the fabric.

Felting

The process of making felt

Felt

is called felting.

Fiber

or fibre (see spelling differences

American and British English spelling differences

One of the ways in which American English and British English differ is in spelling.-Historical origins:In the early 18th century, English spelling was not standardized. Differences became noticeable after the publishing of influential dictionaries...

) is a class of material

Material

Material is anything made of matter, constituted of one or more substances. Wood, cement, hydrogen, air and water are all examples of materials. Sometimes the term "material" is used more narrowly to refer to substances or components with certain physical properties that are used as inputs to...

s that are continuous filaments or are in discrete elongated pieces, similar to pieces of thread

Yarn

. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. They can be spun into filaments, thread, or rope

Rope

A rope is a length of fibres, twisted or braided together to improve strength for pulling and connecting. It has tensile strength but is too flexible to provide compressive strength...

. They can be used as a component of composite

Composite material

Composite materials, often shortened to composites or called composition materials, are engineered or naturally occurring materials made from two or more constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties which remain separate and distinct at the macroscopic or...

materials. They can also be matted into sheets to make products such as paper

Paper

Paper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....

or felt

Felt

Filament

A filament is a fine, thinly spun thread, fiber, or wire.

Filling

See weft

Weft

In weaving, weft or woof is the yarn which is drawn through the warp yarns to create cloth. In North America, it is sometimes referred to as the "fill" or the "filling yarn"....

Finishing

Finishing (textiles)

In textile manufacturing, finishing refers to any process performed on yarn or fabric after weaving or knitting to improve the look, performance, or "hand" of the finished textile or clothing...

refers to any process performed on yarn

Yarn

or fabric

Textile

after weaving

Weaving

to improve the look, performance, or "hand" (feel) of the finished textile.

Fishnet

Fishnet (material)

In the field of textiles, fishnet is hosiery with an open, diamond shaped knit; it is most often used as a material for stockings, tights or bodystockings. Fishnet is available in a multitude of colors, although it is most often sported in traditional matte black...

is a material with an open, diamond shaped knit.

Flannel

Flannel is a soft woven fabric, of various fineness. Flannel was originally made from carded wool or worsted yarn, but is now often made from either wool, cotton, or synthetic fibre. Flannel may be brushed to create extra softness or remain unbrushed. The brushing process is a mechanical process...

is a cloth that is commonly used to make clothing

Clothing

Clothing refers to any covering for the human body that is worn. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic and is a feature of nearly all human societies...

and bedsheets. It is usually made from either wool

Wool

, wool and cotton

Cotton

, or wool and synthetic

Synthetic fiber

fabric.

Flax

Flax is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. It is native to the region extending from the eastern Mediterranean to India and was probably first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent...

fiber

Fiber

is soft, lustrous and flexible. It is stronger than cotton

Cotton

fiber but less elastic. The best grades are used for linen

Linen

fabrics such as damask

Damask

s, lace

Lace

and sheeting. Coarser grades are used for the manufacturing of twine and rope.

Frieze

Frieze (textile)

In the history of textiles, frieze is a Middle English term for a coarse woollen, plain weave cloth with a nap on one side. The nap was raised by scrubbing it to raise curls of fibre, and was not shorn after being raised, leaving an uneven surface. Panni frisi, "Frisian cloths", appear in medieval...

is a coarse woollen cloth with a nap on one side, that was raised by scrubbing it to raise curls of fibre (French: frisé). In the 19th century rough cheap frieze was made of wool mixed with shoddy (see Shoddy).

Fulling

Fulling or tucking or walking is a step in woolen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of cloth to eliminate oils, dirt, and other impurities, and making it thicker. The worker who does the job is a fuller, tucker, or walker...

is a step in clothmaking

Textile manufacturing

which involves the cleansing of cloth (particularly wool) to get rid of oils, dirt, and other impurities.

Fustian

Fustian is a term for a variety of heavy woven, mostly cotton fabrics, chiefly prepared for menswear. It is also used to refer to pompous, inflated or pretentious writing or speech, from at least the time of Shakespeare...

is a term for a variety of heavy twilled woven

Woven

A woven is a cloth formed by weaving. It only stretches in the bias directions , unless the threads are elastic. Woven cloth usually frays at the edges, unless measures are taken to counter this, such as the use of pinking shears or hemming.Woven fabrics are worked on a loom and made of many...

cotton

Cotton

fabric

Textile

s, chiefly prepared for menswear. Usually dyed in a dark shade. Declined in popularity from 1813, being replaced by harder wearing and better quality wool cloths.

G

Gabardine

Gabardine is a tough, tightly woven fabric used to make suits, overcoats, trousers, uniforms, windbreakers, and other garments. The fibre used to make the fabric is traditionally worsted wool, but may also be cotton, texturized polyester, or a blend. Gabardine is woven as a warp-faced steep or...

is a tough, tightly woven fabric

Textile

often used to make suit

Suit (clothing)

In clothing, a suit is a set of garments made from the same cloth, consisting of at least a jacket and trousers. Lounge suits are the most common style of Western suit, originating in the United Kingdom as country wear...

s, overcoat

Overcoat

An overcoat is a type of long coat intended to be worn as the outermost garment. Overcoats usually extend below the knee, but are sometimes mistakenly referred to as topcoats, which are short coats that end at or above the knees. Topcoats and overcoats together are known as outercoats...

s and trousers

Trousers

Trousers are an item of clothing worn on the lower part of the body from the waist to the ankles, covering both legs separately...

. The fibre used to make the fabric is traditionally worsted

Worsted

Worsted , is the name of a yarn, the cloth made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from the village of Worstead in the English county of Norfolk...

(a wool

Wool

en yarn), but may also be cotton

Cotton

, synthetic or mixed. The fabric is smooth on one side and has a diagonally ribbed surface on the other.

Gauge

A gauge

Gauge (knitting)

In knitting, the word gauge is used both in hand knitting and machine knitting; the latter, technical abbreviation GG, refers to "Knitting Machines" fineness size. In both cases, the term refers to the number of stitches per inch, not the size of the finished garment...

is a set number of rows per inch (in knitting

Knitting

) or the thread-count of a woven fabric that helps the knitter determine whether they have the right size knitting needles or a weaver if the cloth is tight enough.

Gante

Gante is a cloth made from cotton

Cotton

or tow warp and jute weft. It is largely used for bags for sugar and similar material, and has the appearance of a fine hessian cloth.

Gauze

A very light, sheer, fine woven fabric.

Genova velvet

A type of velvet

Velvet

Velvet is a type of woven tufted fabric in which the cut threads are evenly distributed,with a short dense pile, giving it a distinctive feel.The word 'velvety' is used as an adjective to mean -"smooth like velvet".-Composition:...

where in Jacquard patterns are woven into the ground fabric and where the pile is made of a combination of cut and uncut (loop) pile. This fabric is also known as Venetian velvet, or more generally, as épinglé velvet. In the actual terminology of furnishing fabrics it is mostly named with its French name "velours de Gênes".

This kind of fabric is made on a wire loom or épinglé loom.

Geotextile

A geotextile

Geotextile

Geotextiles are permeable fabrics which, when used in association with soil, have the ability to separate, filter, reinforce, protect, or drain...

is a synthetic permeable textile.

Gingham

Gingham is a medium-weight balanced plain-woven fabric made from dyed cotton or cotton-blend yarn.The name originates from an adjective in the Malay language, genggang , meaning striped. Some sources say that the name came into English via Dutch...

is a fabric

Textile

made from dye

Dye

d cotton

Cotton

yarn

Yarn

Glass fiber (fibre)

Fiberglass

Glass fiber is a material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass.Glassmakers throughout history have experimented with glass fibers, but mass manufacture of glass fiber was only made possible with the invention of finer machine tooling...

is material made from extremely fine fiber

Fiber

s of glass

Glass

Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...

. It is widely used in the manufacture of insulation

Thermal insulation

Thermal insulation is the reduction of the effects of the various processes of heat transfer between objects in thermal contact or in range of radiative influence. Heat transfer is the transfer of thermal energy between objects of differing temperature...

and textile

Textile

Gossamer

A gossamer is a very light, sheer, gauze

Gauze

Gauze is a thin, translucent fabric with a loose open weave.-Uses and types:Gauze was originally made of silk and was used for clothing. It is now used for many different things, including gauze sponges for medical purposes. When used as a medical dressing, gauze is generally made of cotton...

-like fabric, popular for white wedding

White wedding

A white wedding is a traditional formal or semi-formal wedding originating in Europe.The term originates from the white color of the wedding dress, which first became popular with Victorian era elites, after Queen Victoria wore a white lace dress at her wedding; however, the term now also...

dresses and decorations.

Grogram

Grogram is a coarse fabric of silk

Silk

mixed with wool

Wool

or with mohair

Mohair

and often stiffened with gum

Natural gum

Natural gums are polysaccharides of natural origin, capable of causing a large viscosity increase in solution, even at small concentrations. In the food industry they are used as thickening agents, gelling agents, emulsifying agents, and stabilizers...

H

Heddle

Common component of a loom

Loom

A loom is a device used to weave cloth. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads...

used to separate warp

Warp (weaving)

threads for passage of the weft

Weft

In weaving, weft or woof is the yarn which is drawn through the warp yarns to create cloth. In North America, it is sometimes referred to as the "fill" or the "filling yarn"....

. Commonly made of cord or wire.

Hem

To hem

Hem

To hem a piece of cloth is to sew a cut edge in such a way as to prevent unraveling of the fabric.There are many different styles of hems of varying complexities. The most common hem...

a piece of cloth (in sewing

Sewing

Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era...

), a garment worker folds up a cut edge, folds it up again, and then sews it down. The process of hemming thus completely encloses the cut edge in cloth, so that it cannot ravel.

A hem is also the edge of cloth hemmed in this manner.

Hemp

The main uses of hemp

Hemp

Hemp is mostly used as a name for low tetrahydrocannabinol strains of the plant Cannabis sativa, of fiber and/or oilseed varieties. In modern times, hemp has been used for industrial purposes including paper, textiles, biodegradable plastics, construction, health food and fuel with modest...

fibre are rope

Rope

A rope is a length of fibres, twisted or braided together to improve strength for pulling and connecting. It has tensile strength but is too flexible to provide compressive strength...

, sacking, carpet

Carpet

, net

Net (device)

A net, in its primary meaning, comprises fibers woven in a grid-like structure, and is very infrequently mentioned in discussions of philosophy. It blocks the passage of large items, while letting small items and fluids pass...

s and webbing. Hemp is also being used in increasing quantities in paper

Paper

manufacturing. The cellulose

Cellulose

Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to over ten thousand β linked D-glucose units....

content is about 70%.

Huckaback

Huckaback is a type of coarse absorbent cotton

Cotton

or linen

Linen

fabric used for making towel

Towel

A towel is a piece of absorbent fabric or paper used for drying or wiping. It draws moisture through direct contact, often using a blotting or a rubbing motion. Common household textile towels are made from cotton, rayon, bamboo, nonwoven fibers or a few other materials.-Types of towels:* A bath...

I

Ikat

Ikat, or Ikkat, is a dyeing technique used to pattern textiles that employs a resist dyeing process similar to tie-dye on either the warp or weft fibres....

is a style of weaving

Weaving

that uses a tie-dye

Tie-dye

Tie-dye is a process of resist dyeing textiles or clothing which is made from knit or woven fabric, usually cotton; typically using bright colors. It is a modern version of traditional dyeing methods used in many cultures throughout the world. "Tie-dye" can also describe the resulting pattern or an...

process on either the warp

Warp (weaving)

or weft

Weft

In weaving, weft or woof is the yarn which is drawn through the warp yarns to create cloth. In North America, it is sometimes referred to as the "fill" or the "filling yarn"....

before the threads are woven to create a pattern or design. A Double Ikat is when both the warp and the weft are tie-dyed before weaving.

Intarsia

Intarsia (knitting)

Intarsia is a knitting technique used to create patterns with multiple colours. As with the woodworking technique of the same name, fields of different colours and materials appear to be inlaid in one another, but are in fact all separate pieces, fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.Unlike other...

is a knitting

Knitting

technique used to create patterns with multiple colours.

Interfacing

Interfacing is a textile used on the unseen or "wrong" side of fabrics to make an area of a garment more rigid.Interfacings can be used to:*stiffen or add body to fabric, such as the interfacing used in shirt collars...

is a common term for a variety of materials used on the unseen or "wrong" side of fabrics in sewing

Sewing

Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era...

J

Jacquard

Jacquard loom

The Jacquard loom

Jacquard loom

The Jacquard loom is a mechanical loom, invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard in 1801, that simplifies the process of manufacturing textiles with complex patterns such as brocade, damask and matelasse. The loom is controlled by punched cards with punched holes, each row of which corresponds to one row...

was the first machine to use punched card

Punched card

A punched card, punch card, IBM card, or Hollerith card is a piece of stiff paper that contains digital information represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions...

s. It uses punched cards to control the pattern

Pattern

A pattern, from the French patron, is a type of theme of recurring events or objects, sometimes referred to as elements of a set of objects.These elements repeat in a predictable manner...

being woven

Weaving

. It is a form of dobby loom

Dobby loom

, where individual harnesses can be raised and lowered independently.

Jamdani

Jamdani is a hand loom woven fabric made of cotton, which historically was referred to as muslin. The Jamdani weaving tradition is of Bengali origin. It is one of the most time and labor intensive forms of weaving hand loom weaving. In the first half of the nineteenth century, James Taylor...

is a kind of fine cloth made in Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

Jute

Jute is a long, soft, shiny vegetable fibre that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from plants in the genus Corchorus, which has been classified in the family Tiliaceae, or more recently in Malvaceae....

is a long, soft, shiny plant

Plant

Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...

fibre that can be spun into coarse, strong threads.

Jute is one of the cheapest natural fibres, and is second only to cotton in amount produced and variety of uses. Jute fibres are composed primarily of the plant materials cellulose

Cellulose

Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to over ten thousand β linked D-glucose units....

and lignin

Lignin

Lignin or lignen is a complex chemical compound most commonly derived from wood, and an integral part of the secondary cell walls of plants and some algae. The term was introduced in 1819 by de Candolle and is derived from the Latin word lignum, meaning wood...

K

Knit fabrics

Knit fabric

Textile

s are fabrics that were produced through the process of knitting

Knitting

Knitting needle gauge

A knitting needle

Knitting needle

A knitting needle or knitting pin is a tool in hand-knitting to produce knitted fabrics. They generally have a long shaft and taper at their end, but they are not nearly as sharp as sewing needles. Their purpose is two-fold...

gauge makes is used to determine the size of a knitting needle. Some also double for crochet hook

Crochet hook

s. Most needles come with the size written on the needle, but many needles (like double-pointed needles) tend to not be labeled. Also, with wear and time the label often wears off.

Needle gauges can be made of any material, and are often made for metal and plastic. They tend to be about 3 by 5 inches. They contain holes of various sizes, and often have a ruler along the edge for determining the gauge of a sample.

L

Lace

Lace-making is an ancient craft. A lace fabric is lightweight openwork fabric, patterned, either by machine or by hand, with open holes in the work. The holes can be formed via removal of threads or cloth from a previously woven fabric, but more often lace is built up from a single thread and the open spaces are created as part of the lace fabric.

Lamé

Lamé (fabric)

Lamé is a type of fabric woven or knit with thin ribbons of metallic yarns, as opposed to guimpé, where the ribbons are wrapped around a fibre yarn. It is usually gold or silver in color; sometimes copper lamé is seen. Lamé comes in different varieties, depending on the composition of the other...

is a type of brocade

Brocade

d clothing

Clothing

Clothing refers to any covering for the human body that is worn. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic and is a feature of nearly all human societies...

fabric with inwoven metal threads, typically of gold

Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...

or silver

Silver

Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...

, giving it a metallic sheen.

Lawn

Lawn is a fine linen

Linen

or cotton

Cotton

cloth.

Linen

is a material made from the fiber

Fiber

s of the flax

Flax

Flax is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. It is native to the region extending from the eastern Mediterranean to India and was probably first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent...

plant. Linen produced in Ireland is called Irish linen. Linens

Linens

Linens are fabric household goods, such as pillowcases and towels.Originally, many, such as bed sheets and tablecloths, were made of linen. Today, the term "linen" has come to be applied to all related products even though most are made of cotton, synthetic fabrics or blends...

are fabric household goods, such as pillowcases and towel

Towel

Lining

Loden

Loden may refer to:*Water-resistant material for clothing made from sheep's wool, without removing the lanolin. It is usually green and used in Austrian traditional clothing. See Loden cape....

is water-resistant material for clothing made from sheep wool.

Loom

The Loom

Loom

A loom is a device used to weave cloth. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads...

is a machine

Machine

used for weaving

Weaving

fabric

Textile

Lucet

A lucet is a tool used in cordmaking or braiding which is believed to date back to the Viking and Medieval periods, when it was utilized to create cords that were used on clothing, or to hang useful items from the belt. Lucet cord is square, strong, and slightly springy. It closely resembles...

is a method of cordmaking or braiding which is believed to date back to the Viking

Viking

The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

era. Lucet cord is square, strong, and slightly springy. It closely resembles knitted

Knitting

I-cord or the cord produced on a knitting spool. Lucet cord is formed by a series of loops, and will therefore unravel if cut.

M

Macramé

Macrame

Macramé

Macramé or macrame is a form of textile-making using knotting rather than weaving or knitting. Its primary knots are the square knot and forms of "hitching": full hitch and double half hitches...

or macramé is a form of textile

Textile

-making using knot

Knot

A knot is a method of fastening or securing linear material such as rope by tying or interweaving. It may consist of a length of one or several segments of rope, string, webbing, twine, strap, or even chain interwoven such that the line can bind to itself or to some other object—the "load"...

ting rather than weaving

Weaving

or knitting

Knitting

. Its primary knots are the square knot and forms of hitching (full hitch and double half hitch

Half hitch

The half hitch is a simple overhand knot, where the working end of a line is brought over and under the standing part. Insecure on its own, it is a valuable component of a wide variety of useful and reliable hitches, bends, and knots....

es).

Mercerized cotton

Mercerization

Mercerized cotton

Mercerization is a treatment for cotton fabric and thread that gives fabric or yarns a lustrous appearance and strengthens them. The process is applied to cellulosic materials like cotton or hemp.-History:...

is a treatment for cotton

Cotton

fabric and thread mostly employed to give cotton a lustrous appearance.

Merino

The Merino is an economically influential breed of sheep prized for its wool. Merinos are regarded as having some of the finest and softest wool of any sheep...

is the Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

name for a breed of sheep, and hence applied to a wool

Wool

en fabric.

Mesh

A mesh

Mesh

Mesh consists of semi-permeable barrier made of connected strands of metal, fiber, or other flexible/ductile material. Mesh is similar to web or net in that it has many attached or woven strands.-Types of mesh:...

is similar to fabric

Textile

or a web

Spider web

A spider web, spiderweb, spider's web or cobweb is a device built by a spider out of proteinaceous spider silk extruded from its spinnerets....

in that it has many connected or weaved pieces. In clothing

Clothing

Clothing refers to any covering for the human body that is worn. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic and is a feature of nearly all human societies...

, a mesh is often defined as fabric that has a large number of closely spaced holes, such as is common practice for modern sports jersey

Jersey (clothing)

A jersey is an item of knitted clothing, traditionally in wool or cotton, with sleeves, worn as a pullover, as it does not open at the front, unlike a cardigan. It is usually close-fitting and machine knitted in contrast to a guernsey that is more often hand knit with a thicker yarn...

Metallic fiber (fibre)

Metallic fiber

Metallic fibers are manufactured fibers composed of metal, plastic-coated metal, metal-coated plastic, or a core completely covered by metal. Gold and silver have been used since ancient times as yarns for fabric decoration. More recently, aluminum yarns, aluminized plastic yarns, and aluminized...

s are fiber

Fiber

s used in textiles which are either composed of metal, or fibers of other materials with a metal coating.

Their uses include decoration and the reduction of static electricity

Static electricity

Static electricity refers to the build-up of electric charge on the surface of objects. The static charges remain on an object until they either bleed off to ground or are quickly neutralized by a discharge. Static electricity can be contrasted with current electricity, which can be delivered...

Microfibre (fiber)

Microfibre is a term for fibres with strands thinner than one denier. Fabrics made with microfibres are exceptionally soft and hold their shape well.

Millinery

Millinery is women's hat

Hat

A hat is a head covering. It can be worn for protection against the elements, for ceremonial or religious reasons, for safety, or as a fashion accessory. In the past, hats were an indicator of social status...

s and other articles sold by a milliner, or the profession or business of designing, making, or selling hats for women.

Mocado

Mockado

Mockado is a woollen pile fabric made in imitation of silk velvet from the mid-sixteenth century. Mockado was usually constructed with a woollen pile on a linen or worsted wool warp and woollen weft, although the ground fabric could be any combination of wool, linen, and silk...

is a wool

Wool

len pile

Pile (textile)

In textiles, pile is the raised surface or nap of a fabric, which is made of upright loops or strands of yarn. Examples of pile textiles are carpets, corduroy, velvet, plush, and Turkish towels.. The word is derived from Latin pilus for "hair"...

fabric

Textile

made in imitation of silk

Silk

velvet

Velvet

Modal

Modal (textile)

is a cellulose fiber

Cellulose fiber

Cellulose fibers are fibres of cellulose from any source, either natural or manufactured.-Textile:In the textile industry regenerated cellulose is used as fibers such as rayon, . Cellulose fibers are manufactured from dissolving pulp...

made by spinning

Spinning (textiles)

reconstituted cellulose

Cellulose

Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to over ten thousand β linked D-glucose units....

from beech

Beech

Beech is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia and North America.-Habit:...

trees.

Mohair

is a silk

Silk

-like fabric

Textile

made from the hair

Hair

Hair is a filamentous biomaterial, that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Found exclusively in mammals, hair is one of the defining characteristics of the mammalian class....

of the Angora goat

Angora goat

The Angora goat is a breed of domestic goat that originated in Ankara , Turkey and its surrounding region in central Anatolia...

. It is durable, light and warm, although some people find it uncomfortably itchy.

Mungo

Fibrous woollen material generated from waste fabric

Textile

, particularly tightly woven cloths and rags. See also: shoddy.

Muslin

Muslin |sewing patterns]], such as for clothing, curtains, or upholstery. Because air moves easily through muslin, muslin clothing is suitable for hot, dry climates.- Etymology and history :...

is a type of finely woven cotton

Cotton

fabric

Textile

, introduced to Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

from the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

in the 17th century. It was named for the city where it was first made, Mosul

Mosul

Mosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...

in what is now Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

N

Nainsook

Nainsook Cotton was often used to make Bias Tape in the 50's and 60's.Nainsook is a fine, soft muslin fabric, often to used to make babies' clothing....

is a fine, soft muslin

Muslin

Muslin |sewing patterns]], such as for clothing, curtains, or upholstery. Because air moves easily through muslin, muslin clothing is suitable for hot, dry climates.- Etymology and history :...

fabric, often to used to make babies clothing.

Nap

Nap (textile)

Primarily, nap is the raised surface on certain kinds of cloth, such as velvet. Nap can refer additionally to other surfaces that look like the surface of a napped cloth, such as the surface of a felt or beaver hat....

is a term for the raised surface of certain cloth, such as flannel

Flannel

Needlepoint

Needlepoint is a form of counted thread embroidery in which yarn is stitched through a stiff open weave canvas. Most needlepoint designs completely cover the canvas...

is a form of canvas work

Canvas work

Canvas work is a type of embroidery in which yarn is stitched through a canvas or other foundation fabric. Canvas work is a form of counted-thread embroidery...

created on a mesh canvas. The stitching threads used may be wool

Wool

, silk

Silk

, or rarely cotton

Cotton

. Stitches may be plain, covering just one mesh intersection with a single orientation, or fancy, such as Bargello

Bargello (needlework)

Bargello is a type of needlepoint embroidery consisting of upright flat stitches laid in a mathematical pattern to create motifs. The name originates from a series of chairs found in the Bargello palace in Florence, which have a "flame stitch" pattern....

. Plain stitches, known as Tent stitch

Tent stitch

Tent stitch is a small, diagonal embroidery stitch that crosses over the intersection of one horizontal and one vertical thread of needlepoint canvas forming a slanted stitch at a 45-degree angle. It is also known as Needlepoint stitch and is one of the most basic and versatile stitches used in...

es, may be worked as basketweave

Tent stitch

or half cross

Tent stitch

Needlework

Needlework is a broad term for the handicrafts of decorative sewing and textile arts. Anything that uses a needle for construction can be called needlework...

is another term for the handicraft

Handicraft

Handicraft, more precisely expressed as artisanic handicraft, sometimes also called artisanry, is a type of work where useful and decorative devices are made completely by hand or by using only simple tools. It is a traditional main sector of craft. Usually the term is applied to traditional means...

of decorative sewing

Sewing

Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era...

and textile arts

Textile arts

. Anything that uses a needle

Sewing needle

A sewing needle is a long slender tool with a pointed tip. The first needles were made of bone or wood; modern ones are manufactured from high carbon steel wire, nickel- or 18K gold plated for corrosion resistance. The highest quality embroidery needles are plated with two-thirds platinum and...

for construction can be called needlework.

Net

Net (device)

is a device made by fibers woven in a grid-like structure, as in fishing net

Fishing net

A fishing net or fishnet is a net that is used for fishing. Fishing nets are meshes usually formed by knotting a relatively thin thread. Modern nets are usually made of artificial polyamides like nylon, although nets of organic polyamides such as wool or silk thread were common until recently and...

, a soccer goal, a butterfly net

Butterfly net

A butterfly net is one of several kinds of nets used to collect insects. The entire bag of the net is generally constructed from a lightweight mesh to minimize damage to delicate butterfly wings. Other types of nets used in insect collecting include beat nets, aquatic nets, and sweep nets....

, or the court divider in tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

Nonwoven fabric

Non-woven textiles are those which are neither woven

Weaving

nor knit, for example felt

Felt

. Non-wovens are typically not strong (unless reinforced by a backing), and do not stretch. They are cheap to manufacture.

Novelty yarn

Nylon

Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers known generically as polyamides, first produced on February 28, 1935, by Wallace Carothers at DuPont's research facility at the DuPont Experimental Station...

is a synthetic polymer

Synthetic polymer

Synthetic polymers are often referred to as "plastics", such as the well-known polyethylene and nylon. However, most of them can be classified in at least three main categories: thermoplastics, thermosets and elastomers....

, a plastic. Nylon fibres are used to make many synthetic fabrics and women's stockings.

O

Oilcloth

Oilcloth was, traditionally, heavy cotton or linen cloth with a linseed oil

Oil

An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....

coating: it was semi-waterproof. The most familiar use was for brightly printed kitchen tablecloths. Dull-colored oilcloth was used for bedrolls, sou'westers, and tent

Tent

s. By the late 1950s, oilcloth became a synonym for vinyl

Vinyl

A vinyl compound is any organic compound that contains a vinyl group ,which are derivatives of ethene, CH2=CH2, with one hydrogen atom replaced with some other group...

(polyvinyl chloride) bonded to either a flannel

Flannel

ed cloth or a printed vinyl with a synthetic non-woven backing.

Organdy

Organdy or organdie is the sheerest and crispest cotton cloth made. Combed yarns contribute to its appearance.-Description:Organdy is a balanced plain weave. Because of its stiffness and fiber content, it is very prone to wrinkling...

or organdie is the sheerest cotton cloth made. Combed yarns contribute to its appearance. Its sheerness and crispness are the result of an acid finish on greige (unbleached) lawn goods. Because of its stiffness and fiber content, it is very prone to wrinkling.

Organza

Organza is a thin, plain weave, sheer fabric traditionally made from silk. Many modern organzas are woven with synthetic filament fibers such as polyester or nylon, but the most luxurious organzas are still made of silk. Silk organza is woven by a number of mills along the Yangtze River and in the...

is a thin, plain weave, sheer fabric traditionally made from silk, the continuous filament of silkworms. Nowadays, though many organzas are woven with synthetic filament fibers such as polyester or nylon, the most luxurious organzas are still woven in silk.

P

Paisley

Paisley (design)

Paisley or Paisley pattern is a droplet-shaped vegetable motif of Indian, Pakistani and Persian origin. The pattern is sometimes called "Persian pickles" by American traditionalists, especially quiltmakers,The Persian Pickle Club, Sandra Dallas. St. Martin's Press,...

is a droplet-shaped vegetal motif, similar to half of the T'ai Chi

Taiji

Taiji 太極 is a Chinese cosmological term for the "Supreme Ultimate" state of undifferentiated absolute and infinite potentiality, contrasted with the Wuji 無極 "Without Ultimate"...

symbol, the India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n bodhi tree

Bodhi tree

The Bodhi Tree, also known as Bo , was a large and very old Sacred Fig tree located in Bodh Gaya , under which Siddhartha Gautama, the spiritual teacher and founder of Buddhism later known as Gautama Buddha, is said to have achieved enlightenment, or Bodhi...

leaf

Leaf

A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....

, or the mango

Mango

The mango is a fleshy stone fruit belonging to the genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The mango is native to India from where it spread all over the world. It is also the most cultivated fruit of the tropical world. While...

tree

Tree

A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

. The design originated in India

India

and spread to Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

when British soldiers brought home cashmere

Cashmere wool

shawls.

Patchwork

is a form of needlework

Needlework

Needlework is a broad term for the handicrafts of decorative sewing and textile arts. Anything that uses a needle for construction can be called needlework...

or craft that involves sewing together small pieces of fabric

Textile

and stitching them together into a larger design, which is then usually quilted

Quilting

Quilting is a sewing method done to join two or more layers of material together to make a thicker padded material. A quilter is the name given to someone who works at quilting. Quilting can be done by hand, by sewing machine, or by a specialist longarm quilting system.The process of quilting uses...

, or else tied together with pieces of yarn at regular intervals, a practice known as tying. Patchwork is traditionally 'pieced' by hand, but modern quiltmakers often use a sewing

Sewing

Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era...

machine instead.

Percale

Percale or Percalcos is a closely woven plain-weave fabric often used for bed covers.The term describes the weave of the fabric, not its content, so percale could be a blend of 50% cotton and 50% polyester, 100% cotton, or a blend of other fabrics in any ratio...

refers to a closely woven, high thread count, cotton

Cotton

fabric often used for sheets and clothing.

Persian weave

Persian weave is a method of weave used in jewelry and other art forms. When used for making chains, the Persian weave makes a dense chain with a fascinating ring pattern. Persian weaves works best with relatively large rings....

is a method of weave

Weaving

used in jewelry and other art forms.

Pile knit

Pile weave

Pile weave is a form of textile created by weaving. Pile fabrics used to be made on traditional hand weaving machines. The warp ends that are used for the formation of the pile are woven over metal rods or wires that are inserted in the shed during weaving. The pile ends lie in loops over the...

Pile Wire

A steel rod which is inserted in between the base fabric and the pile ends in a pile fabric woven on a wire loom or épinglé loom. The height and thickness of the rod determine the size of the loop. A pile wire can be a simple rod - in which case the pile yarns will form a 'loop' pile. If the pile wire is equipped with a blade holder and cutting blade at the tip it will cut the pile loops during extraction thus producing cut pile.

Pill

Pill (textile)

A pill, colloquially known as a bobble, is a small ball of fibres that forms on a piece of cloth from wear. Pill is also a verb for the formation of such balls....

Plaid

From a Scots language

Scots language

Scots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster . It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety spoken in most of the western Highlands and in the Hebrides.Since there are no universally accepted...

word meaning blanket, plaid usually referring to patterned woollen cloth otherwise known as tartan

Tartan

Tartan is a pattern consisting of criss-crossed horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours. Tartans originated in woven wool, but now they are made in many other materials. Tartan is particularly associated with Scotland. Scottish kilts almost always have tartan patterns...

Plain weave

Plain weave is the most basic of three fundamental types of textile weaves . It is strong and hard-wearing, used for fashion and furnishing fabrics....

Plied yarn

Plied

Plying

In the textile arts, plying is a process used to create a strong, balanced yarn. It is done by taking two or more strands of yarn that each have a twist to them and putting them together. The strands are twisted together, in the direction opposite that in which they were spun...

yarn

Yarn

is yarn that has been plied, with the process called plying

Plying

Plush

Plush is a textile having a cut nap or pile the same as fustian or velvet.Originally the pile of plush consisted of mohair or worsted yarn, but now silk by itself or with a cotton backing is used for plush, the distinction from velvet being found in the longer and less dense pile of plush...

is a fabric

Textile

having a cut nap or pile the same as fustian

Fustian

or velvet

Velvet

Polyester

Polyester is a category of polymers which contain the ester functional group in their main chain. Although there are many polyesters, the term "polyester" as a specific material most commonly refers to polyethylene terephthalate...

is a synthetic fiber

Synthetic fiber

Poplin

Poplin, also called tabinet , is a strong fabric in a plain weave of any fiber or blend, with crosswise ribs that typically gives a corded surface.Poplin traditionally consisted of a silk warp with a weft of worsted yarn...

is a heavy, durable fabric

Textile

that has a ribbed appearance. It is made with wool

Wool

, cotton

Cotton

, silk

Silk

, rayon

Rayon

, or any mixture of these. The ribs run across the fabric from selvage to selvage. They are formed by using coarse filling yarns in a plain weave.

Purl stitch

a commonly used stitch in knitting

Knitting

Q

Qalamkari

Qalamkari is a type of hand-painted or block-printed textile

Textile

, produced in various places in India

India

Qiviut

Qiviut is an Inuit word commonly used to indicate the wool of the muskox. The word was originally used to refer to the down feathers of birds as well as the inner wool of the muskox. It is valued for its use as a fiber as, unlike sheep's wool, it does not shrink in water at any temperature...

is the wool

Wool

of the musk ox

Musk Ox

The muskox is an Arctic mammal of the family Bovidae, noted for its thick coat and for the strong odor emitted by males, from which its name derives. This musky odor is used to attract females during mating season...

Quilt

Quilting

is a method of sewing or tying two layers of cloth with a layer of insulating batting in between. A bed covering or similar large rectangular piece of quilting work is called a quilt

Quilt

A quilt is a type of bed cover, traditionally composed of three layers of fiber: a woven cloth top, a layer of batting or wadding and a woven back, combined using the technique of quilting. “Quilting” refers to the technique of joining at least two fabric layers by stitches or ties...

R

Rayon

is a transparent fibre made of processed cellulose

Cellulose

Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to over ten thousand β linked D-glucose units....

. Cellulose fibres from wood

Wood

Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...

or cotton

Cotton

are dissolved in alkali

Alkali

In chemistry, an alkali is a basic, ionic salt of an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal element. Some authors also define an alkali as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a soluble base has a pH greater than 7. The adjective alkaline is commonly used in English as a synonym for base,...

to make a solution called viscose

Viscose

Viscose is a viscous organic liquid used to make rayon and cellophane. Viscose is becoming synonymous with rayon, a soft material commonly used in shirts, shorts, coats, jackets, and other outer wear.-Manufacture:...

, which is then extruded through a nozzle, or spinneret, into an acid

Acid

An acid is a substance which reacts with a base. Commonly, acids can be identified as tasting sour, reacting with metals such as calcium, and bases like sodium carbonate. Aqueous acids have a pH of less than 7, where an acid of lower pH is typically stronger, and turn blue litmus paper red...

bath to reconvert the viscose into cellulose. A similar process, using a slit instead of a hole, is used to make cellophane

Cellophane

Cellophane is a thin, transparent sheet made of regenerated cellulose. Its low permeability to air, oils, greases, bacteria and water makes it useful for food packaging...

Rib knit

Rib weave

Rolag

A rolag

Rolag

A rolag is a roll of fibre generally used to spin woollen yarn. A rolag is created by first carding the fibre, using handcards, and then by gently rolling the fibre off the cards...

is a loose woolen roll of fiber

Fiber

s that results from using handcards

Carding

Roving

A roving

Roving

A roving is a long and narrow bundle of fibre. It is usually used to spin woollen yarn. A roving can be created by carding the fibre, and it is then drawn into long strips. Because it is carded, the fibres are not parallel, though drawing it into strips may line the fibres up a bit...

is a long rope of fibers where all of the fibers are going parallel to the roving.

Rug

A rug

Carpet

is a form of carpet. It is usually smaller than a carpet. See also: rug making

Rug making

Rug making is an ancient craft, and covers a variety of techniques.-Braided:Braided rugs are made by using three or more strips of fabric, usually wool, folding the raw edges to the middle and braiding them together. For an oval rug the center braid should be one inch longer than the width-length...

S

Sailcloth: Sailcloth

Sailcloth

Sails have been made from cloth for all of recorded history. Typically sails were made from flax , hemp or cotton in various forms including canvas. However, modern sails are rarely made from natural fibers. Most sails are made from synthetic fibers ranging from low-cost nylon or polyester to...

Sateen: Sateen

Sateen

Sateen, not to be confused with satin, is a type of fabric often found in bed sheets.Sateen is usually applied to cotton, or sometimes rayon. Better qualities are mercerized to give a higher sheen. Some are only calendered to produce the sheen but this disappears with washing and is not considered...

is a fabric

Textile

formed with a satin weave where the floats are perpendicular to the selvage of the goods.
Satin: A Satin

Satin

Satin is a weave that typically has a glossy surface and a dull back. It is a warp-dominated weaving technique that forms a minimum number of interlacings in a fabric. If a fabric is formed with a satin weave using filament fibres such as silk, nylon, or polyester, the corresponding fabric is...

is a cloth that typically has a glossy surface and a dull back. It is formed by a sequence of broken twill floats in either the warp or weft system, which respectively identify the goods as either a satin or a sateen.
Satin weave: A satin is a broken twill

Twill

weaving

Weaving

technique that forms floats on one side of the fabric. If a satin is woven with the floats parallel to the selvedge of the goods, the corresponding fabric is termed a "satin." If the floats are perpendicular to the selvedge of the goods, the fabric is termed a 'sateen.'"
Seam: A seam

Stitch (textile arts)

In the textile arts, a stitch is a single turn or loop of thread or yarn. Stitches are the fundamental elements of sewing, knitting, embroidery, crochet, and needle lace-making, whether by hand or machine...

, in sewing

Sewing

Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era...

, is the line where two pieces of fabric

Textile

are held together by thread

Yarn

.
Seam ripper: A seam ripper

Seam ripper

A seam ripper is a small tool used for unpicking stitches.The most common form consists of a handle, shaft and head. The head is usually forked with one side of the fork flattening out and becoming a blade and the other side forming a small point...

is a small tool

Tool

A tool is a device that can be used to produce an item or achieve a task, but that is not consumed in the process. Informally the word is also used to describe a procedure or process with a specific purpose. Tools that are used in particular fields or activities may have different designations such...

used for unpicking stitches

Stitch (textile arts)

.
Selvage or Selvedge: The woven

Weaving

edge portion of a fabric

Textile

parallel to the warp

Warp (weaving)

is called selvage

Selvage

The selvage or selvedge is the term for the self-finished edges of fabric. The selvages keep the fabric from unraveling or fraying. The selvages are a result of how the fabric is created...

.
Serge: Serge

Serge

Serge is a type of twill fabric that has diagonal lines or ridges on both sides, made with a two-up, two-down weave. The worsted variety is used in making military uniforms, suits, great coats and trench coats. Its counterpart, silk serge, is used for linings. French serge is a softer, finer variety...

is a type of twill

Twill

fabric

Textile

that has diagonal lines or ridges on both sides, made with a two-up, two-down weave

Weaving

. The worsted

Worsted

Worsted , is the name of a yarn, the cloth made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from the village of Worstead in the English county of Norfolk...

variety is used in making military uniforms, suits, great and trench coat

Trench coat

A trench coat or trenchcoat is a raincoat made of waterproof heavy-duty cotton drill or poplin, wool gabardine, or leather. It generally has a removable insulated lining; and it is usually knee-length.-History:...

s. Its counterpart, silk

Silk

serge, is used for linings. French serge is a softer, finer variety. The word is also used for a high quality wool

Wool

en woven

Woven

.
Serging: Serging is a sewing

Sewing

Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era...

term, the binding off of an edge of cloth.
Sewing: Sewing

Sewing

Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era...

is an ancient craft involving the stitching of cloth, leather

Leather

Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...

, animal skins, fur

Fur

Fur is a synonym for hair, used more in reference to non-human animals, usually mammals; particularly those with extensives body hair coverage. The term is sometimes used to refer to the body hair of an animal as a complete coat, also known as the "pelage". Fur is also used to refer to animal...

s, or other materials, using needle

Sewing needle

and thread

Yarn

. Its use is nearly universal among human populations and dates back to Paleolithic

Paleolithic

The Paleolithic Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered , and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory...

times (30,000 BC). Sewing predates the weaving of cloth.
Shag: Shag (fabric)

Shag (fabric)

A shag is a rug or carpet that has a deep pile, giving it a shaggy appearance. Shag carpeting is sometimes evoked as an example of the esthetic from the culture of the 1970s in the United States....

is typically used to make a deep-pile carpet

Carpet

s. This is the oldest use of the term. Shag carpet is sometimes evoked as an example of the aesthetic from the culture of the U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

1970s. Also used to make carpets for mariners.
Shed: In weaving

Weaving

, the shed

Shed (weaving)

In weaving, the shed is the temporary separation between upper and lower warp yarns through which the weft is woven. The shed is created to make it easy to interlace the weft into the warp and thus create woven fabric. Most types of looms have some sort of device which separates some of the warp...

is the gap between yarn

Yarn

s on a loom when one or more, but not all, of the harnesses are raised.
Sheer: Sheer

Sheer (textile)

Sheer fabric is fabric which is made using thin thread and/or low density of knit and which results in a semi-transparent and flimsy cloth. Some fabrics become transparent when wet....

is a semi-transparent and flimsy cloth.
Shoddy: Recycled or remanufactured wool

Wool

. Historically generated from loosely woven materials. Benjamin Law

Benjamin Law

Benjamin Law was born around 1773 in Gomersal, Yorkshire the son of George Law and Mary Wilby. He is credited by many authors as the inventor of the shoddy process. Benjamin Law set up his business at Howley Mill....

invented shoddy and mungo, as such, in England in 1813. He was the first to organise, on a larger scale, the activity of taking old clothes and grinding them down into a fibrous state that could be re-spun into yarn. The shoddy industry was centred on the towns of Batley

Batley

Batley is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. It lies southeast of Bradford, southwest of Leeds and north of Dewsbury, near the M62 motorway. It has a population of 49,448 . Other nearby towns include Morley to the northeast, Ossett to the southeast...

, Morley

Morley, West Yorkshire

Morley is a market town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England. It lies approximately south-west of Leeds city centre. Together with Drighlington, Gildersome, Churwell, Tingley and East/West Ardsley, the town had a population of 47,579 in...

, Dewsbury

Dewsbury

Dewsbury is a minster town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Huddersfield and south of Leeds...

and Ossett

Ossett

Ossett is a market town within the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, England. It is located on junction 40 of the M1 motorway, half-way between Dewsbury, to the west, and Wakefield, to the east. In the 2001 census, it was classified as part of the West Yorkshire...

in West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....

, and concentrated on the recovery of wool from rags. The importance of the industry can be gauged by the fact that even in 1860 the town of Batley

Batley

was producing over 7000 tonnes of shoddy. At the time there were 80 firms employing a total of 550 people sorting the rags. These were then sold to shoddy manufacturers of which there were about 130 in the West Riding. Shoddy is inferior to the original wool; "shoddy" has come to mean "of poor quality" in general (not related to clothing), and the original meaning is largely obsolete.
Shot: The opal effect achieved on a fabric by dyeing the warp and weft threads different colours. The yarns are dyed first and then woven. When looking at the fabric from various angles it appears to alter in colour, this is more obvious in lustrous fabrics and more so in certain types of weaves.
Shuttle: A shuttle

Shuttle (weaving)

A shuttle is a tool designed to neatly and compactly store weft yarn while weaving. Shuttles are thrown or passed back and forth through the shed, between the yarn threads of the warp in order to weave in the weft....

in weaving

Weaving

is a device used with a loom

Loom

A loom is a device used to weave cloth. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads...

that is thrown or passed back and forth between the thread

Yarn

s of the warp

Warp (weaving)

to weave in the weft

Weft

In weaving, weft or woof is the yarn which is drawn through the warp yarns to create cloth. In North America, it is sometimes referred to as the "fill" or the "filling yarn"....

.
Silk: Silk

Silk

is a natural protein fiber

Fiber

that can be woven

Weaving

into textile

Textile

s. It is obtained from the cocoon of the silkworm larva

Larva

A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...

, in the process known as sericulture
Sericulture
Sericulture, or silk farming, is the rearing of silkworms for the production of raw silk.Although there are several commercial species of silkworms, Bombyx mori is the most widely used and intensively studied. According to Confucian texts, the discovery of silk production by B...

, which kills the larvae. The shimmering appearance for which it is prized comes from the fibres triangular prism-like structure, which allows silk cloth to refract incoming light at different angles.
Sisal: Sisal

Sisal

Sisal is an agave that yields a stiff fibre traditionally used in making twine, rope and also dartboards. The term may refer either to the plant or the fibre, depending on context...

or sisal hemp is an agave

Agave

Agave is a genus of monocots. The plants are perennial, but each rosette flowers once and then dies ; they are commonly known as the century plant....

Agave sisalana that yields a stiff fiber

Fiber

used in making rope

Rope

A rope is a length of fibres, twisted or braided together to improve strength for pulling and connecting. It has tensile strength but is too flexible to provide compressive strength...

. (The term may refer either to the plant or the fiber, depending on context.) It is not really a variety of hemp, but named so because hemp

Hemp (disambiguation)

Hemp may refer to:* Hemp, Cannabis as a source of industrial, food and other non-drug products, including cultivation information.* Cannabis, Cannabis as a genus of plant* Cannabis , about the use of C. sativa and C...

was for centuries a major source for fiber, so other fibers were sometimes named after it.
Skein: Skein

Skein

Skein may refer to:* A flock of geese or ducks in V formation flight* A wound ball of yarn with a center pull strand, see hank* TV Series, used part of Variety's slanguage.* Skein dubh, a Scottish knife* Skein module, a mathematical concept...

is when a length of yarn is bundled in a loose roll rather than put on a cone (as you would purchase from store)- usually done if yarn is going to a dye vat or needs a treatment in a manufacturing/knitting mill environment.
Solution-dyed: Solution-dyed
Spandex fiber: Spandex

Spandex

Spandex or elastane is a synthetic fibre known for its exceptional elasticity. It is strong, but less durable than natural Latex, its major non-synthetic competitor. It is a polyurethane-polyurea copolymer that was co-invented in 1959 by chemists C. L. Sandquist and Joseph Shivers at DuPont's...

or elastane is a synthetic fiber

Synthetic fiber

known for its exceptional elasticity (stretchability). It is stronger and more durable than rubber

Rubber

, its major plant

Plant

competitor. It was invented

Invention

An invention is a novel composition, device, or process. An invention may be derived from a pre-existing model or idea, or it could be independently conceived, in which case it may be a radical breakthrough. In addition, there is cultural invention, which is an innovative set of useful social...

in 1959 by DuPont

DuPont

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company , commonly referred to as DuPont, is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. DuPont was the world's third largest chemical company based on market capitalization and ninth based on revenue in 2009...

, and when first introduced it revolutionized many areas of the clothing

Clothing

Clothing refers to any covering for the human body that is worn. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic and is a feature of nearly all human societies...

industry

Industry

Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...

.
Spinning: Spinning

Spinning (textiles)

is the process of creating yarn

Yarn

(or thread, rope, cable) from various raw fiber materials.
Spread Tow Fabrics: Spread Tow Fabrics is a type of lightweight fabric. Its production involves the steps of spreading a tow

Tow

In the composites industry, a tow is an untwisted bundle of continuous filaments, and it refers to man-made fibres, particularly carbon fibres ....

of higher count, e.g. 12k, into thin-and-wide spread tow tape (STT) and weaving them into a lightweight fabric

Fabric

A fabric is a textile material, short for "textile fabric".Fabric may also refer to:*Fabric , the spatial and geometric configuration of elements within a rock*Fabric , a nightclub in London, England...

by employing the novel tape-weaving technique.
Staple: Staple

Staple (textiles)

A Wool Staple is a naturally formed cluster or lock of wool fibres and not a single fibre. Very many staples together form a fleece.* Image of the staples on the sheep The cluster of wool fibres is made by a cluster of follicles...

is the raw material, or its length and quality, of fiber

Fiber

from which textiles are made.
Stitch: A stitch

Sewing

Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era...

is a single turn or loop of the thread or yarn

Yarn

in sewing

Sewing

Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era...

, knitting

Knitting

, and embroidery

Embroidery

.
Stuff: Stuff

Stuff (cloth)

In the context of materials Stuff can refer to any manufactured material. This is illustrated from a quote by Sir Francis Bacon in his 1658 publication New Atlantis:"Wee have also diverse Mechanicall Arts, which you have not; And Stuffes made by them; As Papers, Linnen, Silks, Tissues; dainty Works...

is a coarse cloth, sometimes made with a linen

Linen

warp

Warp (weaving)

and worsted

Worsted

Worsted , is the name of a yarn, the cloth made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from the village of Worstead in the English county of Norfolk...

weft

Weft

In weaving, weft or woof is the yarn which is drawn through the warp yarns to create cloth. In North America, it is sometimes referred to as the "fill" or the "filling yarn"....

.
Super: The Super grading system is used to grade the quality of wool fabric. The higher the number, the more yarn is packed in per square inch, therefore all things being equal a super 120s yarn is better than super 100s.

T

Tablet weaving

Tablet Weaving is a weaving technique where tablets or cards are used to create the shed through which the weft is passed. The technique is limited to narrow work such as belts, straps, or garment trim....

is a process of weaving

Weaving

where tablets, also called 'cards', are used to create the shed

Shed (weaving)

that the weft

Weft

In weaving, weft or woof is the yarn which is drawn through the warp yarns to create cloth. In North America, it is sometimes referred to as the "fill" or the "filling yarn"....

is passed through. It is generally used to make narrow work such as belts or straps.

Tactel

Tactel can mean:*Tactel - a single sensing point on a tactile sensor array. A tactel is equivalent to a pixel, in that an array of tactels represents an image of the surface being touched....

is the brand

Brand

The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...

name of a man-made fibre made from nylon

Nylon

Taffeta

Taffeta is a crisp, smooth plain woven fabric made from silk or synthetic fibers. The word is Persian in origin, and means "twisted woven." It is considered to be a "high end" fabric, suitable for use in ball gowns, wedding dresses, and in interiors for curtains or wallcovering. There are two...

is a type of fabric

Textile

, often used for fancy dresses.

Tapestry

Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven on a vertical loom, however it can also be woven on a floor loom as well. It is composed of two sets of interlaced threads, those running parallel to the length and those parallel to the width ; the warp threads are set up under tension on a...

is a form of textile art

Textile arts

. It is woven

Weaving

by hand on a weaving-loom

Loom

A loom is a device used to weave cloth. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads...

. The chain thread is the carrier in which the coloured striking thread is woven. In this way, a colourful pattern or image is created. Most weavers use a naturally based chain thread made out of linen

Linen

or wool

Wool

. The striking threads can be made out of silk

Silk

, wool

Wool

, gold

Gold

or silver

Silver

, but can also be made out of any form of textile.

Tarlatan

Tarlatan is a starch

Starch

Starch or amylum is a carbohydrate consisting of a large number of glucose units joined together by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by all green plants as an energy store...

ed, open-weave fabric, much like cheese cloth. It is used to wipe the ink

Ink

Ink is a liquid or paste that contains pigments and/or dyes and is used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing and/or writing with a pen, brush, or quill...

off a plate during the intaglio

Intaglio (printmaking)

Intaglio is a family of printmaking techniques in which the image is incised into a surface, known as the matrix or plate, and the incised line or area holds the ink. Normally, copper or zinc plates are used as a surface, and the incisions are created by etching, engraving, drypoint, aquatint or...

inking process. The open weave allows for the tarlatan to pick up a large quantity of ink. The stiffness imparted by the starch helps prevent the fabric from taking the ink out of the incised lines.

Tassel

A tassel

Tassel

A tassel is a finishing feature in fabric decoration. It is a universal ornament that is seen in varying versions in many cultures around the globe.-Etymology:...

is a ball-shaped bunch of plait

Plait

A plait may refer to:* Plait, also called a braid, intertwined strands of, for example, textile or hair* Plait, now called a pleat, a fold of fabric, used in clothing and upholstery* Plait , a fold in the columella of a gastropod mollusc...

ed or otherwise entangled thread

Yarn

s from which at one end protrudes a cord

Cord (sewing)

In sewing, cord is a trimming made by twisting or plying two or more strands of yarn together. Cord is used in a number of textile arts including dressmaking, upholstery, macramé, and couching.Soft cotton cord forms the filling for piping.-References:...

on which the tassel is hung, and which may have loose, dangling threads at the other end.

Tatting

Tatting is a technique for handcrafting a particularly durable lace constructed by a series of knots and loops. Tatting can be used to make lace edging as well as doilies, collars, and other decorative pieces. The lace is formed by a pattern of rings and chains formed from a series of cow hitch,...

is a technique for handcrafting lace

Lace

that can be documented approximately to the early 19th century.

Terry cloth

Terrycloth

There are two types of terry fabrics# Towell Terry is a [woven] fabric with long loops that can absorb large amounts of water. Its content is usually 100% cotton, but may sometimes contain polyester....

is a type of cloth with loops sticking out. Most bath towels are examples of Terry cloth.

Thimble

A thimble

Thimble

A thimble is a small hard pitted cup worn for protection on the finger that pushes the needle in sewing.The earliest known thimble was Roman and was found at Pompeii. Made of bronze, its creation has been dated to the 1st century AD...

is a protective shield worn on the finger or thumb.

Threads per inch (TPI)

Threads per inch is the measurement of the number of threads per inch of material, such as fabric, or metal in the case of screws and bolts.

Thread count

The thread count is the number of warp threads per inch plus the number of weft threads.

Tissue

Tissue is a fine woven fabric

Textile

or gauze

Gauze

Trim

Trim (sewing)

Trim or trimming in clothing and home decorating is applied ornament, such as gimp, passementerie, ribbon, ruffles, or, as a verb, to apply such ornament....

or trimming in clothing

Clothing

Clothing refers to any covering for the human body that is worn. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic and is a feature of nearly all human societies...

and home decorating is applied ornament such as gimp

Gimp (thread)

Gimp is a narrow ornamental trim used in sewing or embroidery. It is made of silk, wool, or cotton and is often stiffened with metallic wire or coarse cord running through it. Gimp is used as trimming for dresses, curtains, furniture, etc. Originally the term referred to a thread with a cord or...

, passementerie

Passementerie

Passementerie or passementarie is the art of making elaborate trimmings or edgings of applied braid, gold or silver cord, embroidery, colored silk, or beads for clothing or furnishings....

, ribbon

Ribbon

A ribbon or riband is a thin band of material, typically cloth but also plastic or sometimes metal, used primarily for binding and tying. Cloth ribbons, most commonly silk, are often used in connection with clothing, but are also applied for innumerable useful, ornamental and symbolic purposes...

, ruffle

Ruffle

In sewing and dressmaking, a ruffle, frill, or furbelow is a strip of fabric, lace or ribbon tightly gathered or pleated on one edge and applied to a garment, bedding, or other textile as a form of trimming...

s, or, as a verb

Verb

A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...

, to apply such ornament.

Tulle

Tulle netting

Tulle is a lightweight, very fine netting, which is often starched. It can be made of various fibres, including silk, nylon, and rayon. Tulle is most commonly used for veils, gowns , and ballet tutus. Tulle comes in a wide array of colors and it can also easily be dyed to suit the needs of the...

is a netting, which is often starched, made of various fibers, including silk

Silk

, nylon

Nylon

, and rayon

Rayon

, that is most commonly used for veil

Veil

A veil is an article of clothing, worn almost exclusively by women, that is intended to cover some part of the head or face.One view is that as a religious item, it is intended to show honor to an object or space...

s, gown

Gown

A gown is a loose outer garment from knee- to full-length worn by men and women in Europe from the early Middle Ages to the 17th century ; later, gown was applied to any woman's garment consisting of a bodice and attached skirt.A long, loosely-fitted gown called a Banyan was worn by men in the 18th...

s (particularly wedding gowns) and ballet tutu

Ballet tutu

A tutu is a skirt worn as a costume in a ballet performance, often with attached bodice. It might be single layer, hanging down, or multiple layers starched and jutting out.There are several types of ballet tutu:...

Tweed

Tweed (cloth)

Tweed is a rough, unfinished woolen fabric, of a soft, open, flexible texture, resembling cheviot or homespun, but more closely woven. It is made in either plain or twill weave and may have a check or herringbone pattern...

is a type of fabric using the twill

Twill

weave.

Twill tape

Twill tape is a flat twill-woven ribbon of cotton, linen, polyester, or wool.Twill tape is available in various widths, generally up to 1 inch , and a wide range of colors....

is a flat twill

Twill

-woven

Weaving

ribbon

Ribbon

of cotton

Cotton

, linen

Linen

, polyester

Polyester

, or wool

Wool

Twill weave

Twill

is a type of fabric

Textile

woven

Weaving

with a pattern of diagonal parallel ribs. It is made by passing the weft

Weft

In weaving, weft or woof is the yarn which is drawn through the warp yarns to create cloth. In North America, it is sometimes referred to as the "fill" or the "filling yarn"....

threads over one warp

Warp (weaving)

thread and then under two or more warp threads. Examples of twill fabric are gabardine

Gabardine

, tweed

Tweed (cloth)

and serge

Serge

V

Velour

Velour or velours is a plush, knitted fabric or textile. It is usually made from cotton but can also be made from synthetic materials such as polyester. Velour is used in a wide variety of applications, including clothing and upholstery....

is a textile

Textile

, a knitted counterpart of velvet

Velvet

It combines the stretchy properties of knits such as spandex

Spandex

with the rich appearance and feel of velvet

Velvet

is a type of tufted fabric

Textile

in which the cut thread

Yarn

s are very evenly distributed, with a short dense pile, giving it its distinct feel. Velvet can be made from any fiber. It is woven on a special loom

Loom

A loom is a device used to weave cloth. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads...

that weaves two piece of velvet at the same time. The two pieces are then cut apart and the two lengths of fabric are wound on separate take-up rolls.

Velveteen

Velveteen is a cloth made in imitation of velvet. Normally cotton, the term is sometimes applied to a mixture of silk and cotton. Some velveteens are a kind of fustian, having a rib of velvet pile alternating with a plain depression. This fabric has a pile that is short , and is closely set. It has...

is a cotton

Cotton

cloth made in imitation of velvet

Velvet

. The term is sometimes applied to a mixture of silk

Silk

and cotton. Some velveteens are a kind of fustian, having a rib of velvet pile alternating with a plain depression. The velveteen, trade varies a good deal with the fashions that control the production of velvet.

Viscose

is an artificial cellulose-based polymer

Polymer

A polymer is a large molecule composed of repeating structural units. These subunits are typically connected by covalent chemical bonds...

, sometimes used as a synonym for Rayon

W

Warp

The warp

Warp (weaving)

is the set of lengthwise threads attached to a loom before weaving begins, and through which the weft is woven.

Warp knit

Knit fabric in which intermeshing loops are positioned in a lengthwise, or warp, direction. The fabric has a flatter, closer, less elastic structure than most weft knits and is run-resistant.

Waterproof

Water repellent

Weaving

is an ancient textile

Textile

art and craft that involves placing two sets of threads or yarn

Yarn

made of fibre called the warp

Warp (weaving)

and weft

Weft

In weaving, weft or woof is the yarn which is drawn through the warp yarns to create cloth. In North America, it is sometimes referred to as the "fill" or the "filling yarn"....

of the loom

Loom

A loom is a device used to weave cloth. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads...

and turning them into cloth. This cloth can be plain (in one color or a simple pattern), or it can be woven in decorative or artistic designs, including tapestries

Tapestry

Weft

The weft

Weft

In weaving, weft or woof is the yarn which is drawn through the warp yarns to create cloth. In North America, it is sometimes referred to as the "fill" or the "filling yarn"....

is the yarn that is woven back and forth through the warp to make cloth.

Weft knit

Wilton Carpet

Wilton carpet is produced on a specific type of weaving machine called wire loom. Wilton carpets are pile carpets whereby the pile is formed by inserting steel rods in the pile warps of the fabric. After extraction of the rods the pile is looped (in case straight wires have been used) or cut (in case cutting wires are used). Wilton carpet is generally considered as high quality and is used for heavy duty applications.

Wire loom,

Weaving

machine for pile fabrics or velvets whereby the pile is made by weaving steel rods or wires into the fabrics. When the wires are extracted the warp ends that have been woven over the wires remain as loops on top of the fabric or will form cut pile if the wire is equipped with a cutting blade. This technique is also known as "épinglé weaving". A wire loom in a much wider version (up to 5 meters of width) and in heavier construction is used for the manufacturing of carpets is called a "WILTON" loom, and the carpets made on such a loom are known as "Wilton Carpets"

Woof

The woof is the same thing as the weft

Weft

In weaving, weft or woof is the yarn which is drawn through the warp yarns to create cloth. In North America, it is sometimes referred to as the "fill" or the "filling yarn"....

Wool

is the fiber derived from the hair

Hair

Hair is a filamentous biomaterial, that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Found exclusively in mammals, hair is one of the defining characteristics of the mammalian class....

of domesticated animals, usually sheep.

Woolen

Woolen or woollen is a type of yarn made from carded wool. Woolen yarn is soft, light, stretchy, and full of air. It is thus a good insulator, and makes a good knitting yarn...

or woollen is the name of a yarn

Yarn

and cloth usually made from wool

Wool

Worsted fabric

Worsted

Worsted , is the name of a yarn, the cloth made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from the village of Worstead in the English county of Norfolk...

is the name of a yarn

Yarn

and cloth usually made from wool

Wool

. The yarn is well twisted and spun

Spinning (textiles)

of long staple wool (though nowadays also medium and short fibres are used). The wool is combed so that the fibres lie parallel.

Woven fabric

A woven

Woven

fabric is a cloth formed by weaving

Weaving

. It only stretches in the bias

Bias (textile)

directions (between the warp

Warp (weaving)

and weft

Weft

In weaving, weft or woof is the yarn which is drawn through the warp yarns to create cloth. In North America, it is sometimes referred to as the "fill" or the "filling yarn"....

directions), unless the threads are elastic. Woven cloth usually fray

Fray

Fray is an eight-issue comic book limited series, a futuristic spin-off of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Written by Buffy creator Joss Whedon, the series follows a Slayer named Melaka Fray, a chosen one in a time where vampires are returning to the slums of New York City, and the...

s at the edges, unless measures are taken to counter this, such as the use of pinking shears

Pinking shears

Pinking shears are scissors, the blades of which are sawtoothed instead of straight. They leave a zigzag pattern instead of a straight edge.Pinking shears have a utilitarian function for cutting woven cloth. Cloth edges that are unfinished will easily fray, the weave becoming undone and threads...

or hem

Hem

To hem a piece of cloth is to sew a cut edge in such a way as to prevent unraveling of the fabric.There are many different styles of hems of varying complexities. The most common hem...

ming.

Y

Yarn

is a long continuous length of interlocked fiber

Fiber

s, suitable for use in the production of textile

Textile

s, sewing

Sewing

Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era...

, crochet

Crochet

ing, knitting

Knitting

, weaving

Weaving

and rope

Rope

A rope is a length of fibres, twisted or braided together to improve strength for pulling and connecting. It has tensile strength but is too flexible to provide compressive strength...

making. Yarn can be made from any number of synthetic

Synthetic fiber

or natural fiber

Natural fiber

Fibers or fibres are a class of hair-like materials that are continuous filaments or are in discrete elongated pieces, similar to pieces of thread. They can be spun into filaments, thread, or rope. They can be used as a component of composite materials. They can also be matted into sheets to...

Z

Zibeline

Zibeline is a thick, soft fabric with a long nap. It is usually made of wool, such as mohair or alpaca, but can also be made from the hair of other animals, such as camels....

is a thick, soft fabric with a long nap.

External links

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