=Muslin.= A fine cotton cloth of plain weave originally made in Mosul, a city on the banks of the Tigris, in Asia.

=Nainsook.= Nainsook is a light cotton fabric utilized for various purposes, such as infants' clothes, women's dress goods, lingerie, half curtains, etc. The striped and plaid nainsook are used for the same purposes. When the fabric is required for lingerie and infants'

clothes the English fabric is selected because of its softness. When intended for dress or curtain fabric, the French-finished fabric is chosen. The latter finish consists of slightly stiffening and calendering the cloth. The fabric may be distinguished from fine lawns, fine batiste, and fine cambric by the fact that it has not as firm construction or as much body, and the finish is not as smooth or as stiff, but inclines to softness, as the fabric has not the body to retain the finishing material.

=Organdie.= An organdie may be defined as a fine, translucent muslin used exclusively for dress goods. The fabric is made in a variety of qualities as regards the counts of yarn used, and in a variety of widths ranging from eighteen to sixty inches. The plain organdie is popular in pure white, although considerable quant.i.ties are dyed in the solid colors, pale blue, pink, etc., while the figured organdies are usually bleached pure white, then printed with small floral designs. The printed design is in from two to four colors, and in delicate shades in conformity with the material. Organdie considered in relation to cost as wearing material is rather expensive. The reason for this is that it has a finish peculiar to itself, so that when washed it does not have the same appearance as before. It loses its crisp feeling altogether.

=Osnaburg.= A coa.r.s.e cloth of flax and tow, made in America of cotton, in checks or plaids, and used for furniture covering and mattress making. The town of Osnaburg, in Germany, made the fabric first.

=Percale.= Percale is a closely woven fabric made with a good quality of cotton yarn. The finer qualities are used for handkerchiefs, ap.r.o.ns, etc., and when used for these purposes are not printed, but bleached after the fabric comes from the loom. Percale is chiefly used for dress fabrics, and when used for this purpose is generally printed on one side with geometrical figures, generally black, although other colors may be seen. The fabric is bleached before it is subjected to the printing operations.

=Percaline.= Percaline is a highly finished and dressed percale. The first process to which the cloth is subjected is to boil it off, that is, to soak it in boiling water so as to relieve it from foreign matter that it may have gathered during the weaving, and at the same time to prepare it for dyeing. After dyeing it is sized to stiffen it, and also to increase the gloss on the cloth. After sizing it is ready for the calender. In order to give it the highest gloss the cloth is doubled lengthwise or the pieces are put together back to back, and as it pa.s.ses through the rolls it is wet by steam, the rolls being well heated and tightly set together. Percaline is used chiefly for feminine wearing apparel, princ.i.p.ally for linings, petticoats, etc.

These purposes require that the cloth shall be solid color, the darker colors being preferred, as blue, green, and black. Sometimes it is seen in lighter shades of brown and tan. The most attention is given to the finishing process.

=Pique.= Pique is a heavy cotton material woven in corded or figured effects. The goods are used for such purposes as ladies' tailor-made suits, vestings, shirt fronts, cravats, bedspreads, and the like. It was originally woven in diamond-shaped designs to imitate quilting.

The name is French for quilting. The plainest and most common fabrics of pique are those in which the pattern consists of straight cords extending across the cloth in the direction of the weft. In the construction of these fabrics, both a face and back warp are required, and the cords are produced by all the back warp threads being raised at intervals of six, eight, or more picks over two or more picks of the face cloth, which has a tendency to draw down on the surface of the fabric. The goods are always woven white and no colors are ever used. The face warp threads are generally finer than the back warp threads, and are in the proportion of two threads for the face and one thread for the back. On the heavier and better grades of pique coa.r.s.e picks called wadding are used to increase the weight, and also to give more prominence to the cord effect. They are introduced between the face and back cloths. In the lightest and cheapest grades neither any wadding nor back picks are used. In this case the back warp threads float on the back of the fabric except when raising over the face picks to form the cord. In the figured pique the binding of the back warp threads into the face cloth is not done in straight lines as in plain pique, but the binding points are introduced so as to form figures. These fabrics are woven in the white, and the figures are purely the result of binding the face and back cloths together.

=Poplin.= Poplin or popeline is a name given to a cla.s.s of goods distinguished by a rib or cord effect running width way of the piece.

It referred originally to a fabric having a silk warp and a figure of wool filling heavier than the warp. At the present time it refers more to a ribbed fabric than to one made from any particular combination of materials. Cotton poplin is usually made with a plain weave, the rep effect being obtained either by using a fine warp as compared with the filling, or a large number of ends as compared with picks per inch on both. Irish poplin is a light-weight variety of poplin, sometimes called single poplin, and is celebrated for its uniformly fine and excellent wearing qualities. It is princ.i.p.ally made in Dublin.

=Plumetis.= Sheer cotton or woolen cloth having raised dots or figures in relief on plain ground. The design shows a feathery effect, as in embroidery tambour. The name is French for this kind of embroidery, and is derived from _plume_, French for feather.

=Rep.= A fabric having a surface of a cord-like appearance. The name is probably corrupted from rib. It is used in making shirtwaists and skirts.

=Sateen.= Twilled cotton cloth of light weight, finished to imitate silk satin. There are two kinds, viz., warp sateen and filling sateen.

=Scrim.= Open mesh weave of cotton or linen for curtains and linings.

The name is from scrimp, referring to economy in weaving.

=Silesia= is a light-weight single cloth fabric, having a rather high texture, and weighing about three ounces per yard. It is composed of all cotton yarn, and is used princ.i.p.ally as a lining for ladies' and men's clothing. Silesia is woven of yarn in the gray state, and is dyed in the piece in such colors as black, dark blue, brown, drab, slate, steel, etc. An important feature is the highly glazed or polished face of the goods, which is due to the action of the heated roller in the calendering machine upon the sizing.

=Souffle.= The largest designs of crepon show a raised or puffed appearance. Souffle is from the French and means puffed.

=Swiss.= From Switzerland, where the plain Swiss net and figured cambric is a specialty in the St. Gall district.

=Tape.= Tape is a narrow fabric composed either of cotton or linen yarns in warp and filling, and usually made with a point or broken twill weave, the break in the weave occurring in the center of the tape, and the twill lines running in a right- and left-hand direction.

It is used as a tr.i.m.m.i.n.g in the manufacture of clothing, also as a binding in innumerable cases, and is sold by the roll, each roll containing a certain number of yards. It is made of all bleached and of regular yarns about 1/26's to 1/30's and 1/40's cotton.

=Tarletan.= An open mesh of coa.r.s.e cotton, used mostly in fruit packing, sometimes for dress and drapery. The name is from _tarlantanna_, Milanese for coa.r.s.e weave of linen and wool.

=Terry Cloth or Turkish Toweling= is a cotton pile fabric. It is woven in such a way as to permit the forming of a series of loops on each side of the cloth in regular order. After leaving the loom each piece is laid separately in the bleaching kier. Then the goods are dried on a tenter frame, given a light starching to add weight, run through a rubber rolled mangle and again dried on a tenter frame. This cloth is used in the manufacture of towels, Turkish bath robes, etc. Turkish toweling is the original terry. The name is from the French _tirer_, to draw or pull.

=Zephyr Gingham= is the finest grade of gingham made and is a light-weight cotton fabric, composed of 1/40's to 1/60's cotton warp and filling yarns. It is woven with either the plain weave or a small all-over dobby effect. It is made in attractive patterns by using good fast colors in warp and filling, and as a cloth has excellent wearing qualities.

FOOTNOTES:

[16] This information is from the leading authority, "The Cotton Fabrics Glossary," published by the _American Wool and Cotton Reporter_, Boston, Ma.s.s., and is reprinted here through the kindness of Mr. Frank P. Bennett.

[17] 1/12's cotton signifies single cotton yarn of 12's. 2/12's cotton signifies two sets of single cotton yarn of 12's twisted together.

CHAPTER XV

FLAX

=Flax.= Flax or linen occupies the first position in the group of stem fibers,[18] being not only the oldest, but next to cotton the most important vegetable spinning material known. Its value is increased by the fact that the flax plant readily adapts itself to various conditions of soil and climate, and in consequence has gained access to northerly districts and cool highlands. Although flax has lost some of its importance from the successful compet.i.tion of cotton, nevertheless it still forms one of the chief articles of an industry which merits all the care bestowed on its cultivation and proves highly profitable.

=The Physical Structure of Flax.= Flax, when seen under the microscope, looks like a long, cylindrical tube of uniform thickness, with lumina so small as to be visible only as straight black lines lengthwise of the fiber, and frequently exhibits small transverse cracks. It is never twisted like cotton fiber. Its color varies from pale yellow to steel gray or greenish tints. The difference in color is due chiefly to the process of "retting." Its average length is about twenty inches, and its tensile strength is superior to that of cotton. It will absorb moisture, 12 per cent being the standard allowance made.

Flax is used for making linen thread and cloth, yarn, twist, string fabric, and lace. In its composition it is almost purely an unlignified cellulose, and its specific gravity is 1.5.

Flax is a better conductor of heat than cotton, hence linen goods always feel colder than cotton goods.

Russia produces more than one-half the world's supply of flax, but that from Belgium and Ireland is of the best quality. Italy, France, Holland, and Egypt are other important producers. The plant is an annual, of delicate structure, and is gathered just before it is ripe, the proper time being indicated by the changing of the color from green to brown. At the time of gathering the whole plant is uprooted, dried on the ground, and finally rippled with iron combs, to separate the stalks from the leaves, lateral shoots, and seeds.

The best fiber amounts to about 75 per cent of the stalk. To separate this valuable commercial product from the woody matter the stalks are first subjected to a process termed retting, which is steeping them in water until they are quite soft. Then follow the mechanical processes to further the production of the fiber and free it from all useless matter.

These are as follows:

1. Crushing or Beating. This consists of breaking the woody matter with the aid of mallets or in stamping mills.

2. Breaking. This is pa.s.sing the stalks through a series of horizontal rollers to break further the woody matter and at the same time separate the greater part of it from the fiber.

3. Scutching. The object of this process is to remove completely the woody matter, and it is done by means of rapidly revolving wooden arms or blades, which beat the firmly held flax until it is sufficiently cleaned and separated.

4. Hackling. The scutched flax is drawn through iron combs which still further open the fiber. Fineness of fiber depends upon the number of times it is hackled, each time with a finer and finer instrument, which secures the different degrees of subdivision. Then the fibers are sorted and cla.s.sified as to length and quality and laid in parallel forms ready for spinning and manufacture into linen.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PULLING FLAX IN MINNESOTA]

=Bleaching.= Linen is bleached in the form of yarn, thread, and cloth. This is a difficult and long process owing to the large amount of natural impurities present in flax fiber, and the difficulty of removing or dissolving them. Bleaching is now done as a rule by chemical processes, and when chemicals are used great care must be taken about their strength and about the time the cloth is allowed to remain in them. In olden times sour b.u.t.termilk was applied to linen and rubbed in, and then bleaching was finished out of doors by sun and rain. "Unbleached" linen is treated in the same way as bleached, only the process is not carried to such an extent. In Ireland, famous for its bleaching, chemicals are used in the earlier stages of this process, and then fine linens are spread out on the gra.s.s to improve their color, and to purge them completely of any chemicals used. After bleaching, linen is washed, dried, starched, and put through heavy machines to give it a glossy finish, and it is then made up in pieces for sale.

=Characteristics of Good Linen.= Linen is noted for its smoothness of texture, its brilliancy--which laundering increases--its wearing qualities, and its exquisite freshness. The celebrated Irish linen is the most valuable staple in the market, and on account of its fineness and strength, and particularly its bright color, it attains an unapproachable excellence because the best processes are used throughout the entire manufacture. Linen is less elastic and pliable than cotton and bleaches and dyes readily.

Flax from all countries is woven into table linen, though very fine linen must have carefully prepared fiber. Linen should be soft, yielding, and elastic, with almost a leathery feel. Fineness of linen does not always determine good wearing qualities.

Good linen ranges in price from 75 cents to $3.00. Irish linen has a good bleach. French and Belgian linens, while fine in thread, are not as serviceable as Irish linen. Germany makes a good wearing linen, but not a large variety of patterns. Scotch linens are now used more than other kinds.

[Ill.u.s.tration: STACKS OF FLAX IN BELGIUM

Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.]

_Sources of Flax_

Russia, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Canada, U. S. (for seed only).