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A warp-pile woven fabric with short, dense cut pile that produces a rich fabric appearance and soft texture. Two methods are used for weaving velvets. In the double-cloth method, two fabrics are woven face to face with the pile ends interlocking. A reciprocating knife cuts through these pile ends to produce two separate pieces of velvet. In the second method, pile ends are lifted over cutting wires that are inserted with the filling and that are withdrawn to cut the pile. Velvet is produced in a wide range of constructions and types. Originally made of silk, but now also of cotton or manufactured fibers giving fabrics that are sometimes washable. The fabric can be specially finished to make it crush-resistant and water-repellent or it may be embossed or patterned by burn-out printing.

1. The set of yarn in all woven fabrics, that runs lengthwise and parallel to the selvage and is interwoven with the filling. 2. The sheet of yarns wound together on a beam for the purpose of weaving or warp knitting.

In a woven fabric, the yarn running from selvage to selvage at right angles to the warp. Each crosswise length is called a pick. In the weaving process, the filling yarn is carried by the shuttle or other type of yarn carrier.

A yarn composed of continuous filaments assembled with or without twist. Each filament is of an indefinite or extreme length such as found naturally in silk. Manufactured fibers are extruded into filaments that are converted into filament yarn, staple, or tow.

Natural fibers or cut lengths from filaments. The staple length of natural fibers varies from less than 1 inch as with some cotton fibers to several feet for some hard fibers. Manufactured staple fibers are cut to a definite length, from 8 inches down to about 1-1/2 inches (occasionally down to 1 inch), so that they can be processed on cotton, woolen, or worsted yarn.

A yarn consisting of staple fibers usually bound together by twist.

A manufactured fiber composed of regenerated cellulose, as well as manufactured fibers composed of regenerated cellulose in which substituents have replaced not more than 15% of the hydrogens of the hydroxyl groups (FTC definition). Rayon fibers include yarns and fibers made by the viscose process, the cuprammonium process, and the now obsolete nitrocellulose and saponified acetate processes. Generally, in the manufacture of rayon, cellulose derived from wood pulp, cotton linters, or other vegetable matter is dissolved into a viscose spinning solution. The solution is extruded into an acid-salt coagulating bath and drawn into continuous filaments. Groups of these filaments may be made in the form of yarns or cut into staple.  

CHARACTERISTICS: Rayon yarns are made in a wide range of types in regard to size, physical characteristics, strength, elongation, luster, handle, suppleness, etc. They may be white or solution dyed. Strength is regulated by the process itself and the structure of the yarn. (Also see POLYNOSIC FIBER.) Luster is reduced by including delustering materials, such as titanium dioxide pigments, in the fiber when it is extruded. The suppleness of the yarn is controlled by the number of filaments in the yarn, the denier or gauge of the individual filaments or fibers, and the fiber cross-section.  

END USES: Rayon is used in draperies, bedspreads, upholstery, blanket, dish towels, curtains, throw rugs, tire cord, industrial products, sport shirts, slacks, suitings, dress goods, and linings and in blends with other fibers to enhance functional and aesthetic qualities, e.g., with polyester in permanent-press fabrics.

A type of rayon produced in far greater quantity than cuprammonium rayon, the other commercial type.

A comb-like device on a loom that separates the warp yarns and also beats each succeeding filling thread against that already woven. The reed usually consists of a top and bottom rib of steel into which metal strips or wires are set. The space between two adjacent wires is called a dent (or split) and the warp is drawn through the dents. The fineness of the reed is calculated by the number of dents per inch.

The number of warp yarn ends per inch is called the reed density of the fabric.

A single filling thread carried by one trip of the weft-insertion device across the loom. The picks interlace with the warp ends to form a woven fabric. (Also see WEFT)

The number of weft yarns per inch of fabric.

Velvet fabric is a pile fabric. During dyeing process, the pile tilts in different random directions and thus reflects light from various random angles. The patch that reflects light directly into our eyes appears to be shiny and bright whereas the other part looks dull. These patches are just the natural inheritance of the velvet fabric.

In case even shade is required then the pile can be brushed in one direction during stentering. This will cause the pile to tilt in one direction and will eventually reflect light uniformly. However, in this case, the fabric will become too shiny. In order to get a dull affect, the pile needs to be brushed in all the directions alternately and this will cause the pile to stand up exactly at 90° perpendicular to the base fabric. In this orientation, the reflection of light is not able to reach our eyes and the fabric looks dull.

Before weaving Rayon velvet, the yarn is sized in a binding chemical. This binding chemical provides the necessary strength to Rayon yarn during the weaving stage otherwise the yarn will break very frequently due to the to and fro motion of the loom mechanism. Now this binding chemical is water-soluble and the fabric needs to be completely desized before dyeing by washing the fabric in warm water. Sometime mere washing of fabric is not enough and the fabric needs to be treated with some kind of softening agent which eventually removes all traces of the binding chemical.

If your processors has not desized the fabric properly, the fabric will not give the desired soft velvet feel and will appear to be defective.

A loom in which some device other then a shuttle is used for weft insertion.

Looms in which either a double or single rapier (thin metallic shaft with a yarn gripping device) carries the filament through the shed. In a single rapier machine, the yarn is carried completely across the fabric by the rapier. In the double machine, the yarn is passed from one rapier to the other in the middle of the shed.

Any one of the various methods, shuttle, rapier, water jet, etc., for making a pick during weaving.  

A process in which some compounds are applied to warp yarn to bind the fiber together and stiffen the yarn to provide abrasion resistance during weaving. Starch, gelatin, oil, wax, and manufactured polymers such as polyvinyl alcohol, polystyrene, polyacrylic acid, and polyacetates are employed.

A weight-per-unit-length measure of any linear material. Officially, it is the number of unit weights of 0.05 grams per 450-meter length. This is numerically equal to the weight in grams of 9,000 meters of the material. Denier is a direct numbering system in which the lower numbers represent the finer sizes and the higher numbers the coarser sizes. In the U.S., the denier system is used for numbering filament yarns (except glass), manufactured fiber staple (but not spun yarns), and tow. In most countries outside the U.S., the denier system has been replaced by the tex system.

The yarn numbering system based on length and weight originally used for cotton yarns and now employed for most staple yarns spun on the cotton, or short-staple, system. It is based on a unit length of 840 yards, and the count of the yarn is equal to the number of 840 yard skeins required to weigh 1 pound. Under this system, the higher the number, the finer the yarn.