Glossary

Important Textile Terms

Applique

Appliqué is ornamental needlework in which pieces or patch of fabric in different shapes and patterns are sewn or stuck onto a larger piece to form a picture or pattern. It is commonly used as decoration, especially on garments.

Basket Dyeing

Batch Dyeing

The fabric is subject to the dying process in lots or batches. This is to create a consistent colour across the full production. 

Blue Scale

The Blue Scale is used for assessing the light fastness of printed or dyed fabrics and textiles.  
The scale graduates from light (1) to dark (8), the higher the rating, the better the resistance. A score of 1/8 is very poor, and 7/8 is exceptionally good.

Boucle Yarn

Created by using any fibre the construction uses looped and drawn out yarn. It has a curly appearance and is derived from the French term “boucler”, meaning to curl or buckle into ringlets.

Chenille Yarn

A pile fabric woven using chenille yarns, usually in the weft, to produce a fabric usually softer and less uniform appearance than velvet. The yarn is produced by binding short fibers (2-3 mm) into twisted yarns to form the distinctive appearance and handle.

Colour Standards

All colours utilise quality dye stuffs and should give satisfactory service under normal conditions.

Colour matching to previous deliveries or sample swatches cannot be guaranteed

Crepe

This effect is created in the finishing. Embossing rollers are engraved with a crepe pattern which imprints a crepe effect onto the fabric through heat and pressure. 

Cross Dyeing

A process in which different fibres in a blend are dyed different hues in the same dye bath. The different compositions in the blend takes the dye differently creating a multi-toned effect.

Embroidery

Embroidery is the craft of decorating fabric or other materials using a needle to apply thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as pearls, beads, quills, and sequins.

Eyelash Yarn

Eyelash yarn is a type of novelty yarn. It is constructed with the use of a thread base, with several long strands spaced at even intervals. These strands jut out from the main strand at angles giving the appearance of an eyelash.

 Fabric Pill

A ‘pill’ or more commonly known as a bobble, fuzz ball, or lint ball is a small ball of fibres that form on the face of a piece of fabric.  It is caused by abrasion between two surfaces. Loose fibres have a natural tendency to move to the surface of a piece of fabric, where they are subject to friction, this causes the fibres to twist together into small balls  

Pilling is more noticeable on synthetic fibres.  This is mainly because natural fabrics shed loose fibres easily and less noticeably, while man-made fibres are extremely strong, so the pills are anchored strongly to the fabric.

Transfer pilling is when the pilling is a different colour to the main base fabric. This occurs when two fabrics have pilled together.  Clothing, throw rugs or cushions are normally the cause.

As pilling is not a fabric defect or fault it is not covered under warranty.

For more information on pilling please read this article: Understanding fabric pilling

FR

FR stands for Flame Retardant.  FR properties can be either inherent in the yarn or applied as a finish.  Inherent FR cannot be washed out and generally achieves a high certification for fire retardancy.  An after-market or solution finish can also achieve a good FR rating in the short term but may lessen over time depending upon how the fabric is treated.

The responsibility for attaining the appropriate FR certification is the role of the Specifier, as every project and location has a different requirement with varying context.

Heathered Yarn

A yarn that is spun using pre-dyed fibres. These fibres are blended together to give a particular look. (For example, black and white may be blended together to create a heathered yarn that is grey in color.) The term, heather, may also be used to describe the fabric made from heathered yarns.

Jacquard Weave

A Jacquard fabric is characterized as being highly textured with large intricate designs, woven on a specific Jacquard loom in a process invented in the early 1800’s by Joseph Marie Jacquard. A series of punched cards relating to the motif, regulate the raising of stationary warp thread mechanisms. The introduction of electronic Jacquard looms in the 1980’s and subsequent computerization has resulted in jacquard fabrics becoming more efficient, higher quality and easier to produce.

Martindale Rubs/Cycles

Martindale is a test used in Europe, the UK, Australia and New Zealand, for measuring the resistance to abrasion (rubs), as a means of assessing wearability in upholstery fabrics. It is created by applying a specific weight to the fabric, using a circular motion. Small samples of the fabric to be tested are mechanically rubbed against a standard abradant material and the number of cycles (rubs) is assessed at “endpoint”, i.e., when a number of threads are broken.

The number of Martindale rubs is recorded for your perusal on every fabric specification sheet.

As a rough rule of thumb:
Up to 12000 - Light use (occasional furniture)
13000-20000 - Residential
21000 and above - Commercial

Mélange Yarn

Mélange yarn is a blend of two or more different colored fibres to develop various shades in the yarn. Different ratio of fibres in the blend alters the uniqueness of spun mélange yarn.

Microfiber

Solution Dyeing

The process where the pigment or colour is bonded in the solution and colour fibre is extruded. Colour goes through the entire fibre and is clear, clean, and fast. 

Space Dyeing

Multi coloured yarns are created using this technique. Colourants are applied using this technique to the yarn at intervals to achieve random or regular multi coloured effect.

Warp

The yarns that run vertically or lengthwise, in woven fabrics. Textile fabrics are woven using warp yarns, referred to as ends.

Weft

An individual yarn running horizontally or across the fabric and which interlaces with the warp yarn at right angles in weaving fabric. Also known as a filling pick.