Crape (fabric)

“ Crape is absolutely inadmissible with velvet, satin, lace, bright or glacé silks, embroidery, fringe, excepting the special “crape fringe,” or, indeed, with anything but mourning silk, paramatta, merino, cashmere, woollen barège or grenadine, or barathea. A widow’s mourning is the deepest, and continued longest. For the first 12 months the dress and mantle must be of paramatta, the skirt of the dress covered with crape, put on in one piece to within an inch of the waist ”

“ Canton crapes are used, either white or coloured, for ladies’ scarves and shawls, bonnet trimmings, &c. The Chinese and Japanese excel in the manufacture of soft crapes. The crisp and elastic structure of hard crape is not produced either in the spinning or in the weaving, but is due to processes through which the gauze passes after it is woven. What the details of these processes are is known to only a few manufacturers, who so jealously guard their secret that, in some cases, the different stages in the manufacture are conducted in towns far removed from each other. ”

“ The cheaper grades of Crape have the crinkled effect produced by suitably prepared rollers through which the cloth is passed, and the crinkled effect in cotton Crapes is not always the result of true Crape weaving, which relies on the irregularity of the interweaving of threads to produce the Crape effect. In width Crape seldom exceeds 30 inches, but is made up in pieces of varying length. ”

“ When a whole tan of crape is to be painted, much of the design may be stencilled through perforated cardboard, but, in general, the best painted crapes display free-hand sketches, with patterns never exactly repeated, nor exactly matching at the edges. ”

“ If the dress is not made en suite, then a long or square shawl of barege or cashmere with crape border is worn. The bonnet is of black crape; a hat is inadmissible. The veil is of crape or barege with heavy border; black gloves and black-bordered handkerchief. In winter dark furs may be worn with the deepest mourning. Jewelry is strictly forbidden, and all pins, buckles, etc., must be of jet. Lustreless alpaca and black silk trimmed with crape may be worn in second mourning, with white collars and cuffs. The crape veil is laid aside for net or tulle, but the jet jewelry is still retained. ”

“ White crape is appropriate to young unmarried females, and to virgins on taking the veil in nunneries. The silk destined for the first is spun harder than for the second; since the degree of twist, particularly of the warp, determines the degree of crisping which it assumes after being taken from the loom. ”

“ There is not the least bit of linen to be seen; all black crape instead of it. The neck, ears, and side of the face covered with a plaited piece of the same stuff, and the face that peeps out in the midst of it, looks as if it were pilloried. The widows wear, over and above, a crape forehead cloth; and in this solemn weed go to all the public places of diversion without scruple. The next day I was to wait on the empress Amelia, who is now at her palace of retirement half a mile from the town. ”

“ No article in dress tarnishes so readily as black crape trimmings, and few things injure it more than damp; therefore, to preserve its beauty on bonnets, a lady in nice mourning should in her evening walks, at all seasons of the year, take as her companion an old parasol to shade her crape.
Guard the Foot, and the Head will Seldom Harm. ”

“ The warp comes to the factory all in big hanks of even thread. Nowadays it is usually of cotton, although they contend at the Gobelins that wool warp is preferable, for it gives the finished fabric a lightness and flexibility that the heavier, stiffer cotton destroys. ”

“ There are few of our readers who can require telling that China crape is made entirely of silk, and that shawls manufactured of it are generally costly in proportion to the richness of the pattern. The foundation or ground of the shawls is chiefly made at Nankin, and then sent to Canton to be embroidered. The pattern is formed by two "needlemen," who work together, the one passing the silk down, and the other from beneath passing it up, while a third workman changes the silk for them when necessary. ”

“ Ground cork 139and other light materials are sometimes mixed with the gum to increase the bulk, and make the articles light. The oxides of metals, their filings and pulverized silicas will give imitations of marble. The fibre of cotton, or the dust of different woods will afford simulations of wood of greater or less gravity, as may be required. The combining of plumbago gives the crayon; oxide of zinc, produces lithographic stone, and so on, and on. Pigments and earths are used for color and cheapness, and to increase the weight of the fabric as in the case of carpeting. ”

“ Chemisette of fulled muslin, confined with bands of needlework. Scarf of white China crape, beautifully embroidered, and finished with a deep, white, silk fringe. Drawn capote of pink crape, adorned in the interior with half-wreaths of green myrtle.
Fig. 2. Costume For A Young Lady.—A dress of white barège trimmed with three deep vandyked flounces put on close to each other; high body, formed of worked inlet, finished with a stand-up row round the throat; the sleeves descend as low as the elbow, where they are finished with two deep frillings, vandyked similar to the flounces. ”

“ If there were sewn with these strips of light cotton stuff of equal width, the carpet would prove a poor thing, heavy in spots and slimsy in others. Hence lighter stuffs should be cut in wider strips, as they can then be crowded down by the batten of the loom to the same width and substance as the heavy wools. Calicoes, cottons, all-wool delaines, and lining cambrics should be cut in strips at least an inch wide. These strips, of whatever length they chance to be, [241] are sewn into one continuous strip, which is rolled into a hard ball weighing about a pound and a quarter. ”

“ Square carpets involve more designing and more printing than piece goods; and the amount of preparation required is a very serious item. Before one complete carpet can be produced, preparations have to be made for from 200 to 300, or, in the case of medallions, double the number. That is one of the disadvantages of the manufacture; a further defect is inherent in the fabric. However accurately and carefully the processes of printing, scraping, setting, and weaving may be carried out, the transition from one colour to another cannot be made quite sudden and complete. ”

“ It is correct to wear crape tolerably deep for 2 months, and plain black for 2. For an uncle or aunt 6 weeks is the orthodox time, and crape is not required. Black is generally worn the whole time, for the first month with jet, afterwards with gold, silver, pearls or diamonds ”

“ Rug-making is the industry for which the port is noted, and every day we see itinerant auctioneers, weighted down with brilliant carpets trudging 309 through the streets, calling the latest bid, and offering the fabric for the examination of would-be purchasers. Unfortunately, modern Rabat carpets, like Navajo blankets, have suffered from the introduction of aniline dyes. ”

“ Crape may be renovated by thoroughly brushing all dust from the material, sprinkling with alcohol, and rolling in newspaper, commencing with the paper and crape together, so that the paper may be between every portion of the material. ”

“ But the fact that the veils in question are universally known and recognized among merchants and importers as crape veils, and not otherwise, and are never called or known as silk veils, is to be taken into the account. Although crape is shown to be a material of silk, to which a certain resinous substance has been applied, neither the merchant nor the ordinary buyer understands them to be identical. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The crinkled appearance—which is the distinctive feature of Crape Cloth—remains unchanged in the Printed Crape. The various methods of obtaining this crinkled effect is given under "Crape Cloth, Plain."
Printed Crimp Cloth.—Any all-cotton Crimp Cloth which has been ornamented by having certain designs or patterns impressed upon its surface in one or more colours is known as a Printed Crimp. The "cockled" stripes—which are the distinctive feature of Crimp Cloth—remain unchanged in the Printed Crimps. The method of obtaining these "cockled" stripes is given under "Crimp Cloth, Plain." ”

“ Flax yarn, more generally known in the trade as linen, is used in considerable quantities, especially as chains for Axminster, and as weft for Wilton and Brussels carpets. Its combined strength and pliancy, coupled with a certain degree of stiffness, make it a most useful fibre. Jute and hemp, having regard to the total production of all kinds of carpet, are probably used in greater quantities than any other yarn. Jute is cheap and strong, and is invaluable as a filling to give weight and handle to a fabric. ”

“ The yarns that are to form the velvety surface of the carpet, ought also to be of the best quality, but soft and downy in their texture, so that the dye may penetrate every filament. Hemp, or linen yarns, are likewise employed in this manufacture, as a woof, to bind the warp firmly together after each shoot of the velvety threads. Thus we see that good carpeting consists essentially of two distinct webs woven at the same time, and firmly decussated together by the woof threads. ”

“ The figure on the left in Figure 1, represents an elegant ball costume. The dress is composed of white crape, the skirt, which is full, being handsomely trimmed with white lace and fullings of crape put on at equal distances; the upper row of lace, reaching to a little below the waist. Plain low corsage, the top part encircled with a double fall of lace, forming a kind of berthe, and headed with a narrow fulling of crape, similar to that on the skirt. ”

“ It is neither real weaving, nor true embroidery, but unites in its working those two processes into one. Though wrought in a loom and upon a warp stretched out along its frame, it has no woof thrown across those threads with a shuttle or any like appliance, but its weft is done with many short threads, all variously coloured, and put in by a kind of needle. It is not embroidery, though so very like it, for tapestry is not worked upon what is really a web—having both warp and woof—but upon a series of closely set fine strings. ”

“ The warp and filling are made of carded wool so that the web (cloth) will shrink or full evenly. The stock is generally dyed in the raw state when used for men’s wear. When taken from the loom it does not have the smooth, lustrous appearance which is its distinctive feature. It is rough and dull colored, with the threads showing plainly. To improve its appearance it is first subjected to the action of the fulling mill, with the result that the fibers of the warp and weft become entangled to such an extent that the cloth never unravels. ”

“ Undoubtedly the most useful—and from a utilitarian point of view the most perfect—rag rug is made from worn ingrain carpet, especially if it is of the honest all-wool kind, and not the modern mixture of cotton and wool. There are places in the textile world where a mixture of cotton and wool is highly advantageous, but in ingrain carpeting, where the sympathetic fibre of the wool holds fast to its adopted colour, and the less tenacious cotton allows it to drift easily away, the result is a rusty grayness of colour which shames the whole fabric. ”

“ Pitch means the number of warp threads per inch measured crosswise of the loom. The warp threads run lengthwise of the fabric and interlock to bind in the weft, thus fastening the surface yarn. The closer together the warp threads the finer the weave; for example, good Wilton rugs are 256 pitch, meaning that there are 256 warp threads to each 27 inches of width of carpet, or 1,024 in a 9 by 12 rug. ”

“ It may be mixed with cotton, but when it comes to be a rag again, the cotton is burned out either with acid or with heat, the dust is taken out, and once more behold absolutely pure wool, much safer to wear than the new wool of the tropics and semi-tropics. When there is not enough wool to hold together it goes into our clothing. With wood ashes and scrap iron it ceases to be a fabric and becomes a dye, Prussian blue.
The cotton rag has no such long life. All it is good for is paper stock. The paper business is essentially a wealth from waste industry. ”

“ Carpet weaving is one of the large branches of the woolen industry, and for this purpose the coarsest and longest fibred wools (common, braid, and carpet wools) are usually employed. These wools readily lend themselves to the manufacture of a coarse thick yarn, which in turn produces a thick, durable material. The thickness of a carpet is known as the pile. ”

“ On many of the fragments of the large pans in my collection the impressions of the cloth are perfect delineations of the fabrics used. Though differing greatly in pattern and in fineness of texture, they are all, with one single exception, made woven in the same manner—that is, by twisting two threads of warp around the single thread of the woof, precisely as the wire faces of laid moulds for forming paper are now made. The coarsest fabric that I find the impression of has warps about one and a half inch apart, with about five threads of woof to the inch. ”