Abrasion Resistance
A technical term used to describe resistance of fabric against damage caused by wear and tear. It is usually expressed in rubs (see 'Martindale').

ASTM
American Society for Testing and Materials.

Beaming
The process during warp making in which the ends are drawn from the warping creel and spread out into sheet form and then wound onto a long beam.

BIFMA
Business and International Furniture Manufacturers' Association.

BFD
Boston Fire Department.

Bleeding
Colour loss from coloured cloth when in contact with a liquid.

Blending
Blending is the mixing process of various fibres. It normally mixes fibres of different physical properties to ensure a consistent finished product.

Bow
The curving of the warp or weft within a cloth.

BS
British Standard.

Carbonising
A chemical process for removing vegetable contamination from animal fibres.

Carding
A process involving the movement of natural fibres between two surfaces covered with wire pins in order to detangle and align the fibres in preparation for spinning.

CMHR
Foam Combustion modified high resilient foam.

Cockle
The wrinkled effect visible on a fabric resulting from inconsistent shrinkage.

Colour and weave effect
An effect that is produced when different coloured warp and weft threads are woven together resulting in distinctive weaves.

Colour matching
The adjustment of the proportions of various dyes present in a piece of cloth to suitably match a given sample.

Combing
The straightening of carded fibres and the removal of impurities by using a comb assisted by brushes.

Composition
The quantity of each fibre used to make a fabric.

Condition
The moisture present in a textile fibre in its raw form.

Cone
Conical base onto which yarn is wound producing a cone.

Count of Yarn
Number indicating the mass per unit length or the length per unit mass of a yarn. (A measure of its thickness).

Creel
A frame onto which textile packages are mounted.

Crepe fabric
A fabric characterised by a crinkled or puckered surface.

Crimp
Naturally occuring or synthetic waviness of a fibre.

Crocking An alternative phrase for rubbing as in fastness to rubbing.

Crop To remove loose fibres from the cloth's surface after it has been woven. Cross colour The use of different coloured warp and weft threads.

CRE
Denotes constant rate of extension on a tensile strength testing machine.

CRT
Denotes constant rate of traverse on a tensile strength testing machine.

Decatizing
A pressing process used to improve the quality and appearance of fabric. Fabric is wrapped around a perforated roller whilst steam is blown through it, circulating throughout the fabric. This is a process used mainly for woollen fabrics.

Differential dyeing
Usually descriptive of fibres of the same generic class, but having potentially different dyeing properties from the standard fibre.

Dobby
A mechanism that controls the heald shaft movement of a loom.

Double cloth
A compound fabric produced by the weaving together of two pieces of cloth.

Dry clean
The treatment of fabric in an organic solvent to remove any grease, dirt or oil.

Dyeing
A process used to apply colour to a yarn or fabric.

Ecru
The natural colour state of a fabric before it is exposed to the colouring processes.

End
1. (spinning) An individual strand
2. (Weaving) An individual warp thread

Ends per inch/cm
The density of warp threads per inch/cm in fabric.

Face
The side of the fabric that is intended to be visible on the finished product.

FAR
Federal Aviation Regulation.

Fibre
The basic raw materials in textiles which can be natural or man-made.

Finishing
A collection of processes taking place after weaving which fabrics undergo before they are ready for despatch.

Flame Retardant
The ability of fabric to resist burning.

Float
A length of yarn on the surface of a fabric between adjacent intersections of warp and weft threads.

Foam Backing
Foam adhered to the back of a fabric to enhance its resilience.

Greasy / Greige / Grey Piece
Terms used to describe a textile product before being bleached, dyed or finished.

Heald
A flat steel strip, looped cord, or shaped wire with an eye in the centre through which warp yarn is threaded.

Heald shaft
A frame complete with healds.

Herringbone
A combination of twill weaves in which the direction of twill is reversed to produce stripes resembling herring bones.

HR Foam
High resilient foam.

Hue
A characteristic of colour that denotes it being predominantly yellow, green, red or blue.

ISO
International Standards Organisation.

Jacquard (weaving)
A shedding mechanism attached to the loom that gives individual control of up to several hundred warp threads and thus enables large complex designs to be produced.

Jacquard Harness (weaving)
A group of cords and their attachments, from the hooks of the machine downwards that control the lifting of the warp threads.

Light Fastness
Resistance to the fading effect of light or sunshine.

Loom
A weaving machine that produces cloth.

Loom State
Any piece of woven fabric as it leaves the loom before undergoing subsequent processes.

Martindale
An abrasion test used to measure the durability of fabric.The warp and weft threads are abraded simultaneously.

Mending The correction of faults and imperfections in fabric by hand.

Metamerism
The change in colour which can result in a fabric due to a change in lighting - for example, viewing fabric in daylight as opposed to artificial light. Normally avoided by correct dye selection.

Micro Fibre
A microscopically small fibre or filament (nominally 1.7 dTex or less).

Milling
A process that compacts woven or knitted fabrics to alter the handle of the fabric.

NFPA
National Fire Protection Association.

Overlocking
The joining of two pieces of fabric by double stitching over and around the edges.

Pick
A weft thread passing through the warp in weaving.

Picks per inch/cm
The number of weft threads per inch/cm of fabric.

Piece
An accepted unit length of fabric.

Piece Dyeing
Fabric dyed in piece form.

Pilling
Small bobbles of fabric that develop on the fabric surface due to general wear and tear.

Reed
Comb-like feature of a loom through which the warp ends pass.

Regain
The weight of moisture present in a textile fabric expressed as a % of the oven dry weight.

Roving
An assembly of parallel fibres; the feedstock for worsted spinning.

Sateen
A weft faced satin woven fabric with floats lying horizontally as opposed to vertically.

Satin
A warp faced satin fabric with floats lying predominantly vertical.

Scouring
The washing process of fabric or yarn to remove dirt or grease.

Scotchgard¨
A branded chemical finish that increases a fabric's resistance to oil, dirt and water.

Selvedge
The side edges of a finished piece of cloth that are reinforced to prevent unravelling.

Shed
The gap formed when warp threads are separated during the weaving action.

Shuttle
The mechanism on a loom that carries the weft thread through the shed to interlace with the warp.

Skew
A distortion in the cloth where warp and weft do not fall at exact right angles to one another resulting in a skew.

Slippage
Open spaces in the fabric resulting from sliding of weft threads or shifting of warp threads.

Spinning
The drawing out and twisting of fibres to produce a yarn.

Stenter/Tenter
A finishing machine used for drying and to set fabric width.

Synthetic fibres
Man-made fibres produced using petrochemicals.

Tensile Strength
The breaking strength of a fabric, usually expressed in Newtons.

Textured
yarns Man-made filament yarns which have been treated by heat and/or mechanical action to imitate the appearance and properties of natural fibre yarns.

Twill
A diagonal weave effect created by the passing of weft threads over two or more warp ends.

Warp
The lengthways threads in a woven fabric.

Warping
The arrangement of threads in long parallel lengths ready for weaving.

Weave
Formation of fabric by interlacing the warp and weft threads.

Weft
The horizontal yarns that interlace at right angles with the vertical warp threads.

Width
This is the width of the fabric measured from within the selvedges.

Woollen spun
Loosely twisted yarns spun from short fibres resulting in a bulky yarn with a hairy surface.

Worsted spun
Tight compact yarns spun from combed long wool fibres to produce a strong, even and smooth product.