Obtained from The Worshipful Company of Weavers
| Term | Main definition |
|---|---|
| billiard cloth | Made from the finest merino wool. A compact cloth, usually woven in a 2 and 1 twill with great precision, heavily milled and cropped to produce a perfectly smooth fabric which is soft yet firm, waterproof and capable of resisting the dampest atmosphere. Traditionally dyed green, as the name describes, is used for covering billiard table tops. During the 19th century it is said that billiard cloth was exported from the West of England mills to India where the green dye was extracted and re-used to dye yarns for Kashmir shawls. See weaves. |
| bivoltine | A breed of mulberry silkmoth which produces two generations per year and lays hibernating and non-hibernating eggs. The monovoltine silkmoth produces one generation per year and multivoltine or polyvoltine up to eight generations per year. Multivoltine or polyvoltine are tropical varieties which, unlike bivoltine or monovoltine from temperate regions, have no dormant period. See monovoltine, multivoltine and polyvoltine. |
| blackface | |
| blanket | From the French word blankete, derived from blanc meaning white. Blankete was an undyed woollen cloth chiefly used as a warm heavy bed covering. Traditionally constructed with woollen or shoddy yarn in a 2-and 2 twill weave and then brushed, some blankets are woven with a cellular or honeycomb weave and remain unbrushed. The term blanket is also used in textile manufacture terminology to describe a sample length of cloth usually with a variety of different patterns and colourings in one piece. See shoddy and mungo. |
| blazer cloth | From the French word blason, a coat of arms or badge worn as identification. Traditionally blazer cloth is woven either in solid colours or in stripes using a |
| bleach | A chemical which whitens yarn or fabrics. Sodium chlorite (chlorine), hydrogen peroxide or reducing agents such as sulphur dioxide or sodium bisulphite are the most common bleaches. Bleaching is used to remove natural and other types of impurities and blemishes from fabrics prior to dyeing and finishing. The removal of colour from dyed or printed textiles is usually called stripping. |
| bleeding | Colour which run together from wet, dyed material onto a material next to it. It has been known that the property of bleeding, sometimes caused through the use of fugitive dyes or bad dyeing techniques, enhances its acceptability in certain markets. A range of striped and checked cotton cloths woven in India known as Bleeding Madras. |
| blending | A process of combining two or more types of staple fibres in one yarn to achieve a blend or mixture of either two types of natural fibre, a natural fibre with man-made fibre or several coloured fibres to achieve a colour mixture. See staple fibres. |
| block printing | Blocks for printing cloth are be made from wood, linoleum or copper; a seperate block being used for each colour. A design is carved from the flat surface of the block, printing ink or dye applied to the raised surface of the block which is then put down on the cloth and tapped once to transfer the ink or dye to the cloth. |
| blotch | A large area or background area of a design printed in a uniform colour. |
| blotch printing | |
| blowing | |
| bobbin | A spool or cylindrical barrel onto which yarn is wound for use either in the shuttle for weaving or for carrying the under thread in a sewing machine. The term is usually qualified to indicate the purpose or process for which it is used: ring bobbin, spinning bobbin, condenser bobbin and weft bobbin. A brass bobbin is used on lace making machines. |
| boiling off | |
| boll |