Textile weaving

“ It will be seen by these suggestions that careful selection, and some knowledge of the qualities of different dyes, will go far toward modifying the want of permanence of colour and lack of reflection in cottons; the other quality of stiffness, or want of flexibility, is occasionally overcome by methods of weaving. Indeed, if the manufacturer or weaver had a clear idea of excellence in this respect, undoubtedly the natural inflexibility of fibre could be greatly overcome.
There is a place waiting in the world of art and decoration for what in my own mind I call "the missing textile." ”

“ Piece rates in textile trades are extremely complicated. The lists and exceptions are indeed so technical in their nature that many of the operatives themselves do not understand them, and it is quite possible that some employers do not fully grasp the working of the lists.
The weaving operation begins when the warp, or the longitudinal threads of the piece to be woven, has been fixed in position on the loom. The threads used for the warp are what in spinning are called “twist.” ”

“ The art of weaving arises from plaiting, and along with it come methods for spinning thread. It thus becomes possible to make an immense number of different useful articles out of shapeless vegetable material. Fibres are rendered more durable by being bound together, and textures formed from threads are adapted to the most various uses of life. This has an influence on the development of weapons also: bow-strings, slings, and lassos presuppose a rudimentary knowledge, at least, of the textile arts; and as knowledge increases, so are the products improved in turn. ”

“ There are many differences between weaving worsteds and woolens, but for our purposes we may consider the process the same, as in a general way it is. Some cloths are woven with a cotton warp and a woolen yarn filling, the warp being carefully concealed. Woolen cloths are more frequently woven with a backing than worsteds. This means that either there is a double warp, a double weft, or both. The object of backing is usually to add strength and warmth to the material, and the lower side is therefore often woven of coarser yarn. ”

“ Lois Bates, in her "Kindergarten Guide," says that "in the manufacturing districts of England great numbers of the children who pass through the elementary schools are employed in mills where weaving is carried on, or enter textile schools to learn designing in cloth. If this occupation of mat-weaving could be continued until the children had a thorough knowledge of its principles, how much intelligence might be brought to bear on the actual weaving and how much more pleasure might the worker draw from labor that is often looked upon as so much mechanical drudgery!" ”

“ Let, then, all those who belong any-wise to the weaving trade and come hither, go home resolved to stand for the future behind no nation, either of past or present time, in the ability of weaving not only useful, but beautiful and artistic textiles. ”

“ In the textile trades, weaving is often done either by the family or by a master who employs one boy only, or several weavers, and after having received the yarn from a big employer, pays a skilled workman to put the yarn in the loom, invents what is necessary for weaving a given, sometimes very complicated pattern, and after having woven the cloth or the ribbons in his own loom or in a loom which he hires himself, he is paid for the piece of cloth according to a very complicated scale of wages agreed to between masters and workers. ”

“ To perfectly satisfy this demand, we should have a weaving which is not only in itself an artistic manufacture, but which easily absorbs any additional application of art.
In my own mind I call the thing which [115] might and does not exist, The Missing Textile. To make it entirely appropriate to our esthetic and practical needs, the missing textile must be strong enough for every-day wear and use; it must be capable of soft, round folds in hanging; and have the quality of elasticity which will prevent creasing; and above all, it must have beautiful and lasting colour. ”

“ While the question was agitated, specimens of mummy-cloth were submitted to the judgment of several persons in the weaving trade deemed most competent to speak upon the matter. Helped only by the fingers’ feel and the naked eye, some among them agreed that such textures were really woven of cotton. This opinion was but shortlived. Other individuals, more philosophical, went to work on a better path. ”

“ Nine textile concerns are producing polyester-cotton and polyester-viscose yarn for weaving into shirting and other fabrics for which there is now a more rapid growth in demand than for comparable cotton products. The demand for woollen knitwear has continued to grow. The production of the woollen and worsted spinning industry goes mostly to the domestic knitting industry, although some is woven into cloth. Other woven products include silk and rayon brocade of traditional Chinese design, tapes, military webbing, lace, mosquito netting, carpets and rugs. ”

“ Piece Dyeing Machines.--Wherever it is possible it is far more preferable to dye textile fabrics in the form of woven pieces rather than in the yarn from which they are woven. During the process of weaving it is quite impossible to avoid the material getting dirty and somewhat greasy, and the operations of scouring necessary to remove this dirt and grease has an impairing action on the colour if dyed yarns have been used in weaving it. ”

“ From the ancient world the art of weaving passed through Europe and became known in England after the Roman conquest. No doubt primitive weaving with vegetable fibres, and perhaps with wool, was known in a very crude way before that time. How the art developed, and how improvement followed improvement, makes very interesting reading for the student of textile fabrics. ”

“ We cannot attempt to describe all the machinery involved in the spinning and weaving of yarn, but it is highly important that every well-informed person have a general knowledge of textile machinery. Because cotton cloth is more widely used than either linen or wool, we shall confine ourselves to the cotton branch of the textile industry, particularly as the difference between the treatment of cotton and other textile materials lies chiefly in the preparation of the thread or yarn. ”

“ There is a great similarity in many of the operations of weaving the simpler types of cloth, although there may be a considerable difference in the appearance of the cloths themselves. In nearly all the various branches of the textile industry the bulk of the work in the weaving departments of such branches consists of the manufacture of comparatively simple fabrics. Thus, in the jute industry, there are four distinct types of cloth which predominate over all others; these types are known respectively as hessian, bagging, tarpauling and sacking. ”

“ It is only when cotton does not pretend to be anything else that it is our most useful and durable textile. The readiness with which cotton takes the lighter dyes and improved methods of ginning, spinning, and weaving have made cotton goods superior to any other for summer use.
Muslin
Muslin, calico, and gingham must always head the list of cotton goods. Muslin is coarse and fine, bleached, unbleached, and half bleached, twilled or plain weave. ”

“ Felt is made up of matted fibers of fur and wool and has no thread structure.
WEAVE DIAGRAMS
Plain Weave
The plain weave is the most common, nearly all light weight goods being thus woven. In plain weaving, each thread of both warp and filling passes alternately over and under the threads at right angles. This makes a comparatively open cloth, requiring the [Pg 74] smallest amount of yarn for the surface covered. This weave is used in nearly all cotton goods, as in muslins, sheetings, calicoes, ginghams, and thin woolen goods. ”

“ We can make one clear distinction between basketry and cloth, for the latter is formed by the weaving of spun or twisted materials. It is therefore made of string, or yarn. We have noted that some knowledge of thread-making is universal among mankind, but it is otherwise with the weaving of cloth. Such weaving in the New World may be comprehended under two designations: loom weaving and finger weaving, or upward weaving and downward weaving. In the loom, the weaver begins at the bottom and builds the fabric upward, driving the weft home with a downward stroke ”

“ By passing the fabric, whilst it is tightly stretched, over a revolving cylinder which has its surface covered with small steel hooks or teasels, the surface of the fabric is scratched and the short fibres of the yarn used in the weaving are opened up and raised, resulting in a nap covering the whole of the surface. Raised Cotton Cloths allow of the use of coarse inferior yarns and are better looking than had they not been raised. The raising hides defects of weave and produces a warmer, better-looking cloth than could be produced by any other process at the price. ”

“ 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 ”

“ Weaving.—The difficulties in the way of power-loom linen weaving, combined with the obstinate competition of hand-loom weavers, delayed the introduction of factory weaving of linen fabrics for many years after the system was fully applied to other textiles. ”

“ If the face [Pg 263] weft covers better than the warp, it is the better way to bind by passing the back pick over a face end, whereas if the face warp covers better than the weft, a back end lifted over a face pick is preferable.
Three-, and more ply Cloths.—Any number of cloths may be woven separately, one above the other, or several may be bound together to form a very thick fabric. Fig. 341 is a design for weaving four plain cloths, one above the other, and if the picks are woven in the order given in the design it will weave a cloth four times the width of the loom when opened out. ”

“ Eventually the weaver was called upon to furnish articles possessing lustre, softness and delicacy; or those that combine strength and durability with diverse colourings, with a snowy whiteness, or with elaborate ornamentation. In cold countries a demand arose for warm clothing, and in hot ones for cooler materials; while commerce and industry have requisitioned fabrics that vary from normal characteristics to those that exceed an inch in thickness. In order to meet these and other requirements the world has been searched for suitable raw materials. ”

“ These looms are distinguished by the name of the material which they are designed to weave, as the ribbon-loom, blanket-loom, burlaps- and sacking-loom, plush-loom, double-cloth loom, rug-loom, fancy cotton-loom, silk-loom, worsted-loom, etc.
Weaving is distinct from knitting, netting, looping, and braiding, which are operations depending on the interlacing of a single thread, or single set of threads, while weaving is done with two distinct and separate sets of threads. ”

“ The spongy and size-absorbent properties are obtained at the expense of the strength of the yarn, and therefore a good sizing twist [34] often winds badly. The colour of the warp yarn is not important, and therefore whiter cottons are often reserved for weft. Fine twists are spun out of longer and finer cottons forming a close spun thread, which is used for better classes of cloth lightly sized. Strength and elasticity are great advantages in twist, and these properties should be obtained and preserved for the last process of weaving. ”

“ There are several old weavers who preserve in themselves all the old and good of the best days of blanket weaving. They use native dyes, native wool,—with bayeta when [165] they can get it,—and they spin their wool to a tension that makes it as durable as fine steel. They weave with care, and after the old fashions, following the ancient shapes and designs, and produce blankets that are as good as any that were ever made in the palmiest days of the art. Such blankets take long in weaving, and are both rare and expensive. ”

“ Such materials as carpet and oriental wools, fine worsteds, carpet ravelings, darning and knitting cotton should, in splicing, be run past each other. In weaving, run the wool through the warp to the very end. Start the new piece a few warp threads back, being careful to go over and under exactly the same warp threads as you did when finishing the end. As you pass these threads you will find that you are taking up the right warp threads, and that no mistake has been made. It is best to run the threads past each other in the middle of the mat rather than on the sides. ”

“ Little children weave together strips of paper, straws, and splints,—"over one, under one,"—and the weaving of plain cotton cloth is in principle nothing more than this. The first thing to do in weaving is to stretch out the warp evenly. This warp is simply many hundreds of tiny threads as long as the cloth is to be, sometimes forty or fifty yards. ”