Cotton fabric

“ Cotton may be mercerized either in the yarn, warp, skein, or in the piece, the first being more effective. The best and most satisfactory results are achieved when the material treated is made of fine long staple cotton, either Sea Island or Egyptian, the shorter cottons being relatively much less improved by the treatment. The mercerizing does not diminish the strength of the material, and gives to it a greater affinity for dye stuffs. ”

“ Cotton worsted—All cotton or part cotton worsted-wove cloth.
Cottonade—Stout cotton cloth in imitation of woolen or worsted; used for men's trousers.
Covert—A twill-woven cloth sometimes with full face, sometimes sheared to imitate whipcord.
Crape cloth—A stout worsted fabric with surface in imitation of silk crape, used for dress coats.
Crash—A strong, course linen cloth of different widths, used for towels, suits, table linen, hangings, bed spreads; in fact, there is no end to the uses to which this textile can be adapted. ”

“ In the form of curled hair it is the most resilient and costly upholstery stuffer.
Pig's bristles and cow hair are used for the same purpose. The soft hair of the camel is used in weaving certain oriental rugs, and rabbit hair in certain felts.
Vegetable Fibers.
Cotton.—This textile is in universal use and requires no comment. The silky appearance of some damasks and other cotton fabrics is [Pg 155] caused by mercerizing, a process of treating cotton in either fiber or fabric form with caustic alkali. ”

“ Woollen and Cotton Mixtures.—This term is used to designate fabrics which are composed of the fibres of wool and cotton which have been blended or scribbled together rather than to fabrics composed of distinct threads which are all-cotton and all-wool yarns woven together. A cotton warp and wool weft fabric is a union, not a mixture. Mixtures may be recognised, when dyed, by a careful examination of the fibres constituting the yarn. When such fibres are not of the same colour, it will be found to have been due to the difference of affinity for the dye between cotton and wool. ”

“ The doriya was originally a cotton fabric, but it is now manufactured in silk, silk-and-cotton, tasar, and other combinations" (Yusuf Ali, Mon. on Silk, 94) .
[c. 1590.—In a list of cotton cloths, we have "Doriyah, per piece, 6R. to 2M."—Āīn, i. 95. [1683.—"... 3 pieces Dooreas."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 94.]
DOSOOTY, s. H. do-sūtī, do-sūtā, 'double thread,' a kind of cheap cotton stuff woven with threads doubled.
[1843.—"The other pair (of travelling baskets) is simply covered with dosootee (a coarse double-threaded cotton) ."—Davidson, Diary in Upper India, i. 10.] ”

“ Cotton in its raw state, as may be readily conceived, requires far less preparation than a strong hempen fabric, and thus, to meet the requirements of the paper-maker, we have rags classed under different denominations, as for instance, besides Fines and Seconds, we have Thirds, which are composed of fustians, corduroy, and similar fabrics ”

“ As absorbers of moisture, rank, respectively: wool, silk, linen and cotton.
The advantages of cotton over wool lie in its cheapness and non-shrinking qualities. If properly constructed, however, the advantageous properties of wool can be utilized without the shrinking by using a cotton framework, into the meshes of which the loose, raw fleece is worked.
That fabric will be best adapted for health, which combined with greatest porosity, possesses the least (a) conductivity, (b) greatest hydroscopic power, and (c) best shape. ”

“ Cotton cloths or paper are passed through these solutions of various degrees of strength according to requirements, they are then passed through rollers which causes the surface to become more compact. There is formed on the surface of the goods a deposit of a gelatinous nature which makes the surface more compact, and the fabric becomes waterproof in character while the copper imparts to them a green colour and acts as a preservative. The "Willesden" fabrics have been found very useful for a variety of purposes. ”

“ Dyed Figured Cotton Lastings.—This fabric is essentially an all-cotton twill or kindred weave material firmly woven from hard-twisted yarn, which has been figured or ornamented in the weaving by the introduction of a small floral or geometrical design. The fabric, being a "dyed fabric," is piece-dyed. Like Plain Lastings, this material enters largely into the manufacture of uppers for boots and shoes.
[28]
Dyed Figured Cotton Reps.—This name is used to designate an all-cotton material which is primarily a Rep fabric. ”

“ Here are a few things to think about which Miss Travers from the State College told the Mothers' Club of Pleasant Valley to remember in buying wool garments or materials.
1. Wool mixed with cotton should not be sold for all wool. It is a cheaper fabric. It wears fairly well, but is not so warm. Pull the fabric apart, untwist the fibers to see if cotton is present.
2. Garments bought ready-made of cotton and wool do not keep their shape as well as all wool garments. ”

“ Raising.—This operation, which was formerly only used for woollen goods (teasing) , has come largely into use for cotton pieces, partly in consequence of the introduction of the direct cotton colours by which the cotton is dyed evenly throughout (see Dyeing) , and partly in consequence of new and improved machinery having been devised for the purpose. Starting with a plain bleached, dyed or printed fabric, the process consists in principle in raising or drawing out the ends of individual fibres from the body of the cloth, so as to produce a nap or soft woolly surface on the face. ”

“ The recent methods of weaving cotton and linen fabrics more loosely have materially reduced their general defects as underclothing in cold weather, and if cotton or linen is worn next the skin it must be so woven as to give both thickness and porosity to the fabric.
For the majority of people, during the wet and cold seasons woolen undergarments are the best. If cotton is worn, it must be loosely woven, so that it may entangle a large quantity of air within its meshes. ”

“ By having one yarn carrier threaded with cotton and one threaded with wool or worsted, as the case may be, and changing these carriers at the end of every course so as to keep the cotton always knitting at the cams that are leading or making the plain stitch, the cotton alone will draw through on the back of the fabric while the worsted or wool will practically cover the face stitch of the cotton. ”

“ It may be described as a coarse, glue-sized fabric, and is made of cotton, hemp, linen, or cotton and hair (coarse) [Pg 175] yarns, usually from 10s to 25s. Made of a double cloth warp, 22s cotton, 34 picks to the inch, for the face or top fabric 1/12’s [17] ; weight from loom 2.22 ozs. per yard. Bottom fabric 1/12’s cotton; filling 1/16’s cotton; 12 picks to the inch. Weight per yard, 1.8 ounces. These fabrics depend a great deal on the finishing. The men’s wear requires less sizing on account of the hair it contains. The goods are piece dyed. ”

“ In mills where strength and evenness of yarn are at a premium, the sheets from three or four laps may be fed through another opener, usually called a "scutcher," which breaks them all apart again, mixes up the fibers, cleans out more of the dirt, and produces a more even lap.
The cotton, as it comes from the opener and the scutcher, is much cleaner and 46 more attractive. It begins to look like the riches it contains. ”

“ Generally all cotton fabrics woven so as to imitate foreign yarn-dyed fabrics, whether same are devoid of a raised finish or have been raised on either back or face of the cloth, irrespective of whether the yarn has or has not been mercerised prior to weaving and irrespective of whether the cloth has or has not been mercerised after leaving the loom. ”

“ There is a hand wheel, P, for unwinding the cloth readily. The negative motion is used principally in weaving the heavier classes of cotton fabrics and those in which there is a large number of picks per inch, such as velvets, and similar fabrics. Its advantages are that the cloth is wound directly on to the cloth beam, and cannot therefore be injured by an emery beam, and that it makes the cloth of a more even thickness, as it compensates for any variation in the thickness of the weft ”

“ Yates truly observes, “there appears no reason why cotton fabrics should have been used in preference to linen. The latter is more cleanly, more durable, and much less liable to take fire; and amongst the ancients it must have been much the cheaper of the two.” In Rome and Athens the finest woven goods were extravagantly dear, for the body of the people were practically excluded from manufacturing work. ”

“ It is evident that the manufacture of cotton in India [66] must date from a very remote period indeed, for long before the time of Herodotus the processes of weaving and dyeing it had attained to a degree of excellence which indicates considerable previous experience; and a large export trade in white and coloured cotton fabrics had even then been established. ”

“ It is surprising that notwithstanding the comparative proximity of Egypt to India, cotton, which had been for ages so extensively manufactured in the latter country, should have remained so long unknown or unappreciated by a people to whom it would have furnished a cheaper and more comfortable article of dress than the flax-plant. But it is certain that linen was held in favour and the use of it prevailed in Egypt till the Christian era, although the cotton fabrics imported into Berenice were gradually coming into more general wear. ”

“ The United States having made unsuccessful attempts to produce cotton in the early days of the colonies, first became an important producing country toward the end of the eighteenth century. American Upland cotton, by reason of its comparatively short staple, and the unevenness of the fibers, as well as the difficulty of detaching it from the seed, was decidedly inferior to some other accessible species. ”

“ Satin figures are somewhat flat and indistinct when woven with grey warp and weft, and therefore in cotton fabrics the figures are more often developed in twill or fancy weaves of a bold character, unless coloured yarns are used. The best effect is obtained when a number of different weaves are employed in developing a design; the variety in itself prevents any appearance of flatness, which a design developed entirely in satin or twill possesses, and the weaves may be selected so as to suggest the beauties of the flower, leaf, or other object which forms the basis of the design. ”

“ Many of the new printed cotton fabrics have borrowed their patterns from these interesting textile ancestors, though nowadays, in the case of monochrome and duochrome prints, the color effects are somewhat richer than those that obtained in the printed fabrics of the eighteenth century, with their cold chocolate browns, bottle-greens, and ox-blood reds. For the collector there will naturally be an inimitable charm about the original pieces, not to mention{44} their historic interest, while old multicolored chintzes cannot be surpassed in loveliness. ”

“ There are many people who help in changing the cotton from fiber to cloth. While you are waiting for the cotton material and the pattern, shall we study how cotton cloth is made?
Cotton is used for many things. We learned that cotton is shipped in bales of 500 pounds each from the United States to all parts of the world. The manufacturer receives it at the factory and changes it by many processes into what he wishes to sell. Some manufacturers make only cotton threads of various kinds, for sewing, knitting, and crocheting. Others make cotton cloth of one variety or of several varieties. ”

“ This has for its object the combination of the warp and weft yarns, interlacing one with the other in such manner as to produce a firm texture, fitted for the varying uses to which cotton cloth is adapted—for warmth, for ornament, for trade purposes—for sale. The power looms of the present day, as employed in the cotton industry, vary very little in construction in the most widely separated districts, unless for very different classes of work, then what modifications are required consist of extra mechanism added to our common type—the plain loom. ”

“ Fabrics are printed by coming into contact with rotating rollers on which the pattern is engraved.
The attraction of cotton for coloring is generally feebler than that of wool or silk. Few of the natural dyestuffs attach themselves permanently without use of a mordant. A mordant is a substance which has an affinity for, or which can penetrate, the fiber to be colored, and which possesses the power of combining [Pg 70] with the dyestuff and thus forming an insoluble compound upon the fiber. Cotton is dyed in an unspun state, and also as yarn or spun thread, either in the hank or skein. ”

“ I have already said that cotton is inferior in its qualities to silk and flax, except in the production of transparent muslins. Its peculiarity is its tendency to “crinkle” or crumple in wearing, therefore it does not present a smooth flat surface, except by means of dressing, which unfits it for clinging effects but suits printed patterns. Such stuffs as workhouse sheeting, imitating certain fabrics of the sixteenth century, and which it has been the fashion of late to cover with embroidery, do not repay, by effective beauty, the trouble bestowed upon them. ”