twisted and having a smooth surface produced by passing the yarn over
gas jets.
=Loading Worsted and Woollens.=--When the natural weight of any
fabric is artificially increased, it is subjected to a treatment
called "filling," "loading," or "weighting." Wool fabrics, by reason
of their great hygroscopic properties, are usually weighted by being
impregnated with hygroscopic substances, such as magnesium chloride.
Other agents employed for filling worsted and woollen goods are zinc
chloride, dextrine, starch, and water glass (alkali silicate).
Zinc chloride is a most useful loading agent on account of it
possessing great hygroscopic properties. When a wool fabric has
passed through solutions containing this agent the chloride is
absorbed and permanently retained in the form of moisture, and a
slippery handle or feel is imparted.
=Longcloth.=--This name is used to designate a fine cotton fabric,
either plain or twill woven, of superior quality, made from a fine
grade of cotton yarn of medium twist.
The fabric is used for infants' long dresses, from which it derives
its name, also for lingerie. Longcloth to some extent resembles
Batiste, fine Muslin, India Linen, and Cambric. It is, however,
distinguished from these fabrics by the closeness of its weave.
It has, when finished, a very good white appearance, due to the
closeness of the weave and the soft twist of the yarn. The surface is
rendered smooth by undergoing a "gassing" process.
=Long Ells (Woollen).=--This name is given to an all-wool twill-weave
fabric woven with a worsted warp and a woollen weft, averaging in
width from 28 to 30 inches and having a length of 24 yards to the
piece. Calendered, finished, and often dyed a bright vermilion. Long
Ells averaged in value during the 10 years 1904-14 about 17_s._ per
piece. They are not met with in a large range of qualities, the most
usual type answering to the above description.
=Long Stick.=--This term is used to describe a yard of 36½ inches
in length. The abbreviated manner of writing this term on documents
referring to textiles is LS. It is only used in connexion with
textile fabrics and in opposition to "short stick," a yard of 36
inches. One authority states that "the yard is generously reckoned at
37 inches by manufacturers in the United Kingdom." This statement,
however, should be taken with reserve, although in the woollen trade
it seems to be a common practice. In addition to this extra 1 inch
per yard, a quarter of a yard in every 10 is generally allowed, so
that a nominal 40-yard piece would actually measure 40 yards + 40
inches + 1 yard = 42 yards 4 inches. The long stick measure is only
used in the woollen trade.
=Louisine.=--A silk fabric having an uneven surface like that of an
Armure, but finer in effect.
=Lustre Dress Fabrics.=--This class of union fabric, when woven
with a fast black dyed cotton warp and a worsted mohair weft, is
representative of union fabrics in general, and the treatment of this
material when in its grey state applies to the majority of union
fabrics. The warp is generally a 2/80's, _i.e._, a strong yarn, and
the weft, say, a 1/14's. The warp being dyed prior to weaving, there
only remains the weft to be dyed after the unfinished cloth leaves
the loom. This is called cross-dyeing. The grey cloth, in its loom
state, possesses a visible appearance of non-lustrous cotton. This
appearance is changed and replaced by the lustre effect through the
process of "crabbing," or drawing out the material in the direction
of the cotton warp. The warp threads when drawn straight virtually
throw the lustrous weft to the surface, whilst they themselves become
embedded out of sight in the cloth. Orleans, Mohair Brilliantine, and
Mohair Sicilian are fabrics which come under this heading.
=Maco.=--Applied to hosiery or underwear made from pure Egyptian
undyed cotton.
=Madapolams= are all-cotton plain-weave bleached Shirtings or Calico
cloths.
=Madras.=--A light-weight cotton fabric or a cotton and silk mixture
sold in widths varying from 27 to 32 inches, usually made from
dyed yarns. Extensively used to designate light-weight shirting
materials as used for men's shirts, the term is equally applied
to similar weight fabrics printed in simple designs frequently
elaborated in weaving by stripes or figures woven on a dobby loom.
In the distributing trade, comprising various subdivisions of the
trade, the names Madras, Gingham, Madras Gingham, Zephyr, etc., are
so closely allied as to be impossible of separation. The original
intent of these several designations has apparently been completely
lost. Madras may either be woven as a plain or twill or kindred
weave fabric. Whilst this name is primarily applied to an all-cotton
fabric, it is also used to designate a cotton and silk mixture,
when it is sometimes described as a Silk Gingham. The salient
characteristic of Madras is the plain white and fancy coloured narrow
stripes running in the direction of the warp.
=Madras Gingham.=--This name is applied to all-cotton fabrics made in
part or to a considerable extent of dyed yarns of various colours,
woven into stripes or checks woven either plain or fancy or with
a combination of two or more weaves, and of a weight distinctly
suitable for a shirting material in countries lying in the temperate
zone. In the United States the introduction of a leno or satin stripe
for the purpose of elaboration or ornamentation does not change the
trade designation of such Gingham. Madras Gingham may be woven either
plain, diamond, gauze and leno weave, or a combination of these
weaves. _See_ Madras.
=Madras Handkerchiefs.=--Plain-woven coloured cloths, with large
bold checks. The yarns are dyed with a loose top, and the cloth is
treated with acids, which cause the colours to bleed or run and give
an imitation of block printing.
=Maline.=--A fine silk net of gauze-like texture. Practically the
same as Tulle.
=Market Descriptions of Standard Cloth.=--Certain standard cloths
are known on the market by an expression such as "36--76, 19 x 22,
32/36". This stated at length means that the cloth is 36 inches
wide, 76 yards long, and contains 19 "ends" (or warp threads) and
22 "picks" (or weft threads) per quarter inch, whilst the twist (or
warp) is 32's and the weft 36's--all being actual, not nominal,
particulars.
=Marl.=--A term applied to a particular kind of coloured two-fold
or single yarn. In the former (the two-fold) one or both threads
making the two-fold yarn are spun from two rovings of different
colours, causing the single thread to have a twist-like appearance;
or the process may be begun earlier, by the two colours being run
together in the thick roving, thus producing a twist-like effect
in the smaller roving immediately preceding the spinning. These
single twist-looking threads are usually folded with a solid colour,
frequently black. If folded with each other they are called Double
Marls; a single-yarn Marl is this yarn without the folding.
=Marquisette.=--A sheer plain-weave fabric of silk or cotton, having
a mesh more open than that of Voile.
=Matelassé.=--A heavy compound-weave figured cloth, having a raised
pattern, as if quilted or wadded.
=Matt Weave.=--Similar to a plain or one-over-one weave, with this
difference, that instead of lifting one thread at a time two are
lifted over two. It might be described as a double plain weave. This
style of weave is noticeable in some varieties of embroidery canvas.
=Medium Cloth (Woollen).=--This is an all-wool fabric, plain woven
from a wool weft and wool warp. In width it varies from 54 to 74
inches and in length from 19 to 36 yards per piece. The average value
of this fabric per yard for the period 1904 to 1914 was 4_s._ 3_d._
This fabric approximates to, and by some is said to be identical
with, Broad, Habit, and Russian Cloth.
=Mélange.=--The French word for "mixture." Name given to a yarn
produced from printed tops. This class of yarn can be distinguished
from Mixture Yarn in that many fibres have more than one colour upon
them. In Mixture Yarn each fibre would only have one colour.
=Melton.=--Stout, smooth woollen cloth, similar to Broadcloth, but
heavier. A heavily milled woollen in which the fibres have been
raised, then the piece cut bare to obtain the typical Melton. Both
light and heavy Meltons are made with cotton warp and woollen weft.
=Mercerised Cotton.=--Cotton fibre roughly resembles a tube which,
being hollow and collapsed on itself, presents an uneven, twisted,
tape-like appearance with a good many surface markings.
By chemical treatment (mercerising) with caustic soda, and the
application of tension at the right period of the treatment,
remarkable changes in the structure and appearance of the cotton
fibre are produced. It is made to swell, to become more transparent,
to lose its twisted tube-like appearance, and to become more
lustrous, translucent, and elastic. Mercerised cotton gives an
impression of silk to the naked eye, its microscopic appearance being
changed, the fibre having swelled out and assumed a rounded rod-like
appearance which, whilst resembling silk, still differs from silk by
the absence of the characteristic swellings so distinctive to silk.
The mercerising process improves the dyeing properties of cotton. The
most effective mercerisation is obtained with Egyptian cotton.
=Mercerising.=--The object of this very important operation in the
manufacture of cotton goods, yarn, or cloth is to give them lustre,
making them resemble silk, the use of which they have replaced in
many instances. The process, which takes its name from the inventor
(Mercer), consists of passing the yarn or cloth, preferably bleached
or partially bleached, through a concentrated solution of caustic
soda, which causes the straightening of the cotton fibres, and would
also cause it to shrink considerably were it not for the fact that
the material being treated is kept under tension, which prevents the
shrinking. To this tension more than anything else is the lustre
imparted due. Mercerising is only applicable to vegetable fibres.
Animal fibres dissolve in caustic soda. The caustic soda solution is
only allowed to react on the fibre for about two minutes, when it is
washed out by abundant application of fresh water. _See_ Mercerised
Cotton.
=Merino.=--Applied to hosiery or underwear made of part cotton and
part wool mixed together. (_Note._--The word "merino" on a box label
is often misleading, as it frequently happens that goods so called
are composed wholly of cotton.)
=Mesh Underwear.=--All knit underwear cloth is mesh in varying
degree, but the common application of the term means a woven or
knitted fabric having a net-like appearance.
=Messaline.=--A light-weight satin of fine quality.
=Mixture Yarn.=--This class of yarn is spun from fibres which have
previously, and separately, been dyed various colours. The fibres are
then mixed together to produce the desired mixture tone and spun in
the usual way. This class of yarn differs from Mélange Yarn, which is
composed of fibres upon which more than one colour has been printed.
=Mock Leno.=--Mock or imitation Lenos are ordinary woven cloths, that
is, the warp threads do not cross each other, the open effect being
less pronounced than in the real Leno, resulting in a fabric which is
not as strong as the real or true Leno.
=Mock Seam.=--Applied to stockings made with cut leg and fashioned
foot.
=Mohair= is a lustrous wool obtained from the Angora goat. The hair
is often pure white, fine, wavy, and of good length, being the most
lustrous of the wool or hair class fibres. It is extensively used
in the manufacture of Plushes and lustrous dress fabrics. The name
Mohair is used to designate a lustrous fabric made from this class of
material.
=Mohair Beaver Plush.=--This fabric is a pile-weave material having
a long lustrous mohair pile and a cotton back. The mohair pile is
generally a "fast" pile in the sense that it is firmly held to the
back. The pile is not as lustrous as a silk pile or even a good
mercerised cotton pile, but it will not crush as readily as the
latter. Generally measures from 48 to 50 inches in width and 60 yards
in length. To prevent crushing of the pile, this material is shipped
on an iron frame, on which it is fastened by a series of hooks which
hold the material by the selvedges. Generally packed two frames to
the box or case. The backs of mohair pile fabrics show a certain
amount of loose pile fibres which have worked through during the
process of weaving. This is not found in either silk or cotton pile
fabrics.
=Mohair Brilliantine.=--A typical lustre dress fabric, plain woven,
free from ornamentation, cotton warp and mohair weft; width, 30 to 31
inches; length, 30 to 35 yards per piece. Finer in weave appearance
than Lustre Orleans, with a fairly extensive range of qualities. Like
most lustre fabrics, it is cross-dyed.
=Mohair Coney Seal.=--A long mohair-pile fabric, dyed black, in
widths of from 48 to 50 inches. The pile of this fabric is mohair,
the foundation cloth all cotton. Harsher to the touch than a
silk-pile fabric, Mohair Coney Seal has, as a distinctive feature,
a fuzzy appearance at the back due to the fact that certain of the
pile fibres appear to have worked through. If a similar fabric were
dyed brown instead of black, it would be known as a Mohair Beaver
Plush. If a similar fabric were dyed black and the surface chemically
bleached till the dye was all out, producing a pile dyed two-thirds
black and the surface third white, it would be known as a Silver Seal
or Chinchilla Plush.
=Mohair Sicilian.=--Similar in construction of weave and components
to a Mohair Brilliantine and differing from this only by the
relative coarseness of threads. Sicilian is three times as coarse
as Brilliantine, presenting a surface in which the warp and weft
intersections are clearly shown, whereas the Brilliantine, being
so much finer woven, does not show these so clearly, presenting
as it does a smoother surface. The weft threads in Sicilian are
comparatively much coarser than the warp, whereas in Brilliantine
this difference is not so apparent. In width Sicilian measures up to
54 inches and in length from 30 to 35 yards per piece.
=Moiré.=--A watered design applied to silks by pressure between
engraved rollers, or by the more common process of pressing two
fabrics together. _See_ Watering.
=Moleskin.=--An all-cotton Fustian, made extra strong by crowding the
number of picks to the inch, napped before dyeing and put to the same
uses as a strong Corduroy.
=Mottles.=--A variety of Velveteen or Velveteen Cord woven with
a pile surface showing a distinct combination of yarn-dyed pile
threads. Generally found with a pile combining black and white
weft-pile threads; Mottles are yarn-dyed fabrics.
=Mousseline de Soie.=--A sheer soft fabric of silk, similar to
Chiffon, but of more open weave.
=Mule-twist Yarn.=--Mule-twist yarn can be spun up to the finest
counts; it is softer and more elastic than ring-twist yarn; it will
take up more "size" than ring-twist and, generally speaking, is more
regular in construction.
=Mull.=--A thin plain fabric usually bleached or dyed, characterised
by a soft finish, used for dress wear. Various prefixes, such as
Swiss, India, and Silk, are used in conjunction with Mull. Silk Mull
is made of cotton warp and silk filling, and generally of higher
count, finished either dyed or printed. The Swiss and India Mulls are
fine, soft, bleached cotton fabrics; Silk Mull is in point of texture
twice as fine as some grades of Cotton Mull. Cotton Mull is a plain
fabric free from any ornamental features or fancy weaves, depending
for its beauty or attractiveness entirely on the finish. When
coarse-grade Mull, intended not for dress wear but for decorative
purposes, is made, it is woven coarser than the dress fabric,
stiffened in the finishing, and commonly known as Starched Mull. It
is 30 inches wide, and has 36 picks and 40 ends per inch. Cotton Mull
is generally woven from bleached yarns and not bleached in the piece.
=Mungo and Shoddy= are wool products or wool fibres which have
previously passed through the process of manufacture.
Before either Mungo or Shoddy is produced, the rags, tailors'
clippings, pattern-room clippings, or samples from which they are
made have to be dusted, sorted, and ground. The last process tears
thread from thread and fibre from fibre, leaving the Mungo or Shoddy
ready to be once more made up into a yarn. The name is applied to
textiles made up wholly or in great part from Mungo or Shoddy.
There actually exists a technical difference between Mungo and
Shoddy, due to the class of fabric from which they are made. Mungo is
the product of all types of cloths which have been subjected to the
milling process. Shoddy is the product of unmilled fabrics, such as
flannels, stockings, wraps, etc. Mungo is usually shorter and finer
in fibre than Shoddy, because, in the first place, milled cloths are
nearly always made from the shorter kinds of wool; secondly, because
the fibres of a milled cloth are very difficult to separate from one
another and break in the process of pulling.
Both Mungo and Shoddy are rather more comprehensive terms than names
for any special type of material; both classes have a number of
special divisions with different names.
=Nainsook.=--Nainsook is a light cotton fabric of plain weave which
has a very soft finish. It may be distinguished from fine Lawns,
fine Batiste, and fine Cambric from the fact that it has not as firm
a construction nor as much body, and for that reason is not capable
of retaining as much finishing material, the result being that when
finished it has a very soft feel when handled. In width it ranges
from 28 to 32 inches and in length from 20 to 60 yards per piece.
=Nankeen.=--The original Nankeen fabric was produced in China and was
a plain-weave cotton fabric woven on a hand loom from a cotton yarn
which had a natural yellow-coloured tinge. The name is now given to a
cotton cloth produced in Lancashire, woven as a three-shaft twill and
dyed a yellowish drab and other colours, often used for corset-making.
There is a mass of evidence to show that true Nankeen is a class
of cloth having as a salient characteristic an inherent peculiar
colour which is natural and due to its being woven from cotton of a
yellow-brownish tint. The following extracts bear on this point.
"The statement that this stuff was made from a cotton of brownish
yellow tint was for a long time discredited, but it is now certain
that the yellow preserves the colour of the cotton composing it
rather than acquires it by any process of dyeing" (S. William Beck:
"Textile Fabrics: Their History and Applications").
Sir George Staunton, who travelled with Lord Macartney's Embassy
through the province of Kiangnan, to which province the Nankeen
cotton is peculiar, distinctly states that the cotton is naturally
"of the same yellow tinge which it preserves when spun and woven into
cloth" ("Embassy to China," by Sir George Staunton).
Sir George Thomas Staunton (son of the above) has translated an
extract from a Chinese herbal on the character, culture, and uses
of the annual herbaceous cotton plant, in which the plant producing
"dusky yellow cotton" of a very fine quality is mentioned as one of
the varieties ("Narratives of the Chinese Embassy to the Khan of the
Tartars").
Van Braam, who travelled in China with a Dutch Embassy and who had
been commissioned by European merchants to request that the Nankeens
for their markets might be dyed a deeper colour than those last
received, says: "La toile de Nanking, qu'on fabrique fort loin du
lieu du même nom, est faite d'un coton _roussâtre_: la couleur de
la toile de Nanking est donc naturelle, et point sujette à pâlir"
("Voyage de l'Ambassade de la Compagnie des Indes Orientales
Hollandaises vers l'Empereur de la Chine").
"Each family (at Woosung) appears to cultivate a small portion of
ground with cotton, which I here saw of a light yellow colour. The
Nankeen cloth made from that requires no dye" ("Voyage of the Ship
_Amherst_ to the North-east Coast of China, 1832," published by order
of the House of Commons).
Other authors refer to a Nankeen-coloured cotton grown in India and
state that the original Nankeen fabric was produced in Nanking,
in China, and was woven from a natural-coloured yellow cotton. As
produced in Lancashire the cloth is a closely woven three-shaft
twill, dyed yellowish drab and other colours and used for stay and
corset making and for pocketing.
An American Government publication (House of Representatives Document
No. 643: Report of the Tariff Board on Schedule 1 of the Tariff
Law) gives the general description of Nankeens as known in the
distributing trade as: "Distinguished by their peculiar yellowish
brown colour, natural to the colour of the cotton of which made."
From the above it would seem clear that true Nankeen is a plain
native cotton cloth woven on a native hand loom from unbleached
and undyed yarn spun from cotton of a yellowish or yellow-brownish
natural colour. The weave of Nankeen is a plain one-over and
one-under shirting weave, such being the type of weave most readily
produced on a native hand loom. The finished fabric is marketed in
its loom state.
True Nankeen is therefore devoid of any ornamentation or figuring
produced by weave or subsequent printing, embossing, dyeing, or
stencilling. The width of Nankeen has apparently been always
recognised as not exceeding 20 inches.
The name Nankeen in China was originally used to describe native
hand-loom cloths of the above variety only, but as new and slightly
different makes of native cloth appeared on the market the practice
grew of including them under this heading, until gradually the term
was used to describe not only the true Nankeen but a whole group of
native cloths answering to the following description: all-cotton
cloths not exceeding 20 inches in width, woven on a hand loom with
a one-over and one-under shirting weave from cotton yarn which has
not been previously dyed or mercerised, and including cloths of the
above variety which have either been bleached, piece-dyed in solid
greyish or blue colour, or woven from yarn previously dyed in greyish
or blue colour, and including hand-loom-woven grey or bleached cotton
cloths not exceeding 20 inches wide which have been ornamented by the
introduction in the weave of a yarn-dyed blue stripe or yarn-dyed
blue checkered design.
This loose application of the term continued until the 2nd May 1917,
when the Chinese Maritime Customs, in their Notification No. 876
(Shanghai, 2nd May 1917) laid down an authoritative definition of
this class of piece goods reading as follows:--
1. The cloth must be of plain shirting weave, woven on a hand
loom of the old style; it must not exceed 20 inches (English) in
width.
2. The "count" of the yarn (whether Chinese or foreign) from
which the cloth is made must not exceed 20's. The yarn must be
single in both warp and weft; it must not be "gassed."
3. The cloth may be of the natural colour, _i.e._, undyed, or it
may be bleached or dyed in the yarn. It must not be dyed in the
piece.
Chinese Cotton Cloth that does not fulfil the above conditions will
not be treated as Nankeen.
=Noils= are the rejected fibres from the process of combing the
different wools and hairs prior to making them up into yarn. The
primary object of combing is to sort or separate the long from the
short fibres.
=Ombré.=--Having graduated stripes in colour effect which shade from
light to dark.
=Opera Hose.=--Women's stockings of extra length ordinarily measuring
34 inches.
=Organzine.=--This name is given to a hard and strong finished silk
thread which has been given a great deal of twist in the throwing.
Organzine is used for warps, as strength and regularity are needed
in warp threads so that they may bear the strain and friction of
weaving. When silk is thrown with less twist, and is therefore softer
and more or less flossy, it is known as Tram and is used for the weft
in weaving.