Nap (textile)

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A cloth with a nap. Velours pourpre.jpg
A cloth with a nap.

Primarily, nap is the raised (fuzzy) surface on certain kinds of cloth, such as velvet or moleskin. Nap can refer additionally to other surfaces that look like the surface of a napped cloth, such as the surface of a felt or beaver hat.

Textile Material produced by twining, weaving, felting, knotting, or otherwise processing natural or synthetic fibers

A textile is a flexible material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibers. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, hemp, or other materials to produce long strands. Textiles are formed by weaving, knitting, crocheting, knotting or tatting, felting, or braiding.

Velvet type of pile fabric

Velvet is a type of woven tufted fabric in which the cut threads are evenly distributed, with a short dense pile, giving it a distinctive soft feel. By extension, the word velvety means "smooth like velvet." Velvet can be made from either synthetic or natural fibers.

Moleskin heavy, strong, napped or sheared cotton fabric with a suede-like finish

Moleskin is a heavy cotton fabric, woven and then sheared to create a short, soft pile on one side. The feel and appearance of its nap is similar to felt or chamois, but less plush than velour. The word is also used for clothing made from this fabric, as well as adhesive pads stuck to the skin to prevent blisters. Clothing made from moleskin is noted for its softness and durability. Some variants of the cloth are so densely woven as to be windproof.

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Starting around the 14th century, the word referred originally to the roughness of woven cloth before it was sheared. [1] [2] When cloth, especially woollen cloth, is woven, the surface of the cloth is not smooth, and this roughness is the nap. Generally the cloth is then 'sheared' to create an even surface, and the nap is thus removed. A person who trimmed the surface of cloth with shears to remove any excess nap was known as a shearman. [3]

Weaving technology for the production of textiles

Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling. The method in which these threads are inter-woven affects the characteristics of the cloth. Cloth is usually woven on a loom, a device that holds the warp threads in place while filling threads are woven through them. A fabric band which meets this definition of cloth can also be made using other methods, including tablet weaving, back strap loom, or other techniques without looms.

Piled nap

Since the 15th century, the term nap generally refers to a special pile given to the cloth. [2] The term pile refers to raised fibres that are there on purpose, rather than as a by-product of producing the cloth. [4] In this case, the nap is woven into the cloth, often by weaving loops into the fabric, which can then be cut or left intact. Carpets, rugs, velvet, velour, and velveteen, are made by interlacing a secondary yarn through woven cloth, creating a nap or pile.

Pile (textile) upright loops, tufts, or strands of yarn extending from the ground of a fabric

Pile is the raised surface or nap of a fabric, consisting of upright loops or strands of yarn. Examples of pile textiles are carpets, corduroy, velvet, plush, and Turkish towels. The word is derived from Latin pilus for "hair"

Carpet Textile floor covering

A carpet is a textile floor covering typically consisting of an upper layer of pile attached to a backing. The pile was traditionally made from wool, but, since the 20th century, synthetic fibers such as polypropylene, nylon or polyester are often used, as these fibers are less expensive than wool. The pile usually consists of twisted tufts which are typically heat-treated to maintain their structure. The term "carpet" is often used interchangeably with the term "rug", although the term "carpet" can be applied to a floor covering that covers an entire house, whereas a "rug" is generally no bigger than a single room, and traditionally does not even span from one wall to another, and is typically not even attached as part of the floor.

Velour any of various woven or knitted fabrics with a napped or pile surface similar to velvet

Velour or velours is a plush, knitted fabric or textile similar to velvet or velveteen. It is usually made from cotton, but can also be made from synthetic materials such as polyester. Velour is used in a wide variety of applications, including clothing and upholstery. Other examples include car seats, leotards and robes. This means that it can be useful in many occasions.

Raising the nap

In the finishing process of manufacturing textiles, after the cloth is woven, it goes through processes such as washing, fulling, raising the nap and trimming the nap. After the nap is trimmed, the fabric is considered finished. The raising process, which draws out the ends of the fibres, is done on both woollen and cotton fabric. [5] Flannelette is a cotton fabric that goes through this process. There are ways to 'raise the nap', most of which involve wire brushes such as raising cards. Originally, dried teasel pods were used and were still preferred for use on woollen cloth for a long time. [5] [6] Woollen fabrics, which must be damp when raising the nap, are then dried and stretched before the nap is trimmed or sheared. Cotton cloth goes straight to the shearing process, where the nap gets trimmed to ensure that all the raised fibres are the same length. [5]

Textile manufacturing is a major industry. It is based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into clothes. Different types of fibres are used to produce yarn. Cotton remains the most important natural fibre, so is treated in depth. There are many variable processes available at the spinning and fabric-forming stages coupled with the complexities of the finishing and colouration processes to the production of a wide ranges of products.

Fulling textile finishing process for woollen or worsted cloth that uses controlled shrinkage to produce a thicker, more compact fabric

Fulling, also known as tucking or walking, was a step in woollen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of cloth to eliminate oils, dirt, and other impurities, and to make it thicker. The worker who does the job is a fuller, tucker, or walker, all of which have become common surnames. The Welsh word for a fulling mill is pandy, which appears in many place-names, for example Tonypandy.

Cotton Plant fiber from the genus Gossypium

Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus Gossypium in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. Under natural conditions, the cotton bolls will increase the dispersal of the seeds.

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Calico balanced plain-weave cotton or cotton-blend fabric, often with a small printed pattern

Calico is a plain-woven textile made from unbleached and often not fully processed cotton. It may contain unseparated husk parts, for example. The fabric is far less fine than muslin, but less coarse and thick than canvas or denim, but it is still very cheap owing to its unfinished and undyed appearance.

Carding Process that disentangles, cleans and intermixes fibres

Carding is a mechanical process that disentangles, cleans and intermixes fibres to produce a continuous web or sliver suitable for subsequent processing. This is achieved by passing the fibers between differentially moving surfaces covered with card clothing. It breaks up locks and unorganised clumps of fibre and then aligns the individual fibers to be parallel with each other. In preparing wool fibre for spinning, carding is the step that comes after teasing.

Worshipful Company of Clothworkers livery company in London, United Kingdom

The Worshipful Company of Clothworkers was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1528, formed by the amalgamation of its two predecessor companies, the Fullers and the Shearmen. It succeeded to the position of the Shearmen's Company and thus ranks twelfth in the order of precedence of Livery Companies of the City of London.

Plush is a textile having a cut nap or pile the same as fustian or velvet. Its softness of feel gave rise to the adjective "plush" to describe something soft or luxurious, which was extended to describe luxury accommodation, or something rich and full.

<i>Dipsacus</i> genus of plants

Dipsacus is a genus of flowering plant in the family Caprifoliaceae. The members of this genus are known as teasel, teazel or teazle. The genus includes about 15 species of tall herbaceous biennial plants growing to 1–2.5 metres (3.3–8.2 ft) tall. Dipsacus species are native to Europe, Asia and northern Africa.

Flannel is a soft woven fabric, of various fineness. Flannel was originally made from carded wool or worsted yarn, but is now often made from either wool, cotton, or synthetic fiber. Vegetable flannel is made from Scots pine fibre.

Corduroy durable woven fabric with warp-wise stripes of cut pile

Corduroy is a textile with a distinct pattern, a "cord" or wale. Modern corduroy is most commonly composed of tufted cords, sometimes exhibiting a channel between the tufts. Both velvet and corduroy derive from fustian fabric.

Pile weave woven fabric in which a pile is produced above the ground by the use of a separate pile warp or pile weft

Pile weave is a form of textile created by weaving.These fabrics are characterized by a pile, a looped or tufted surface that extends above the foundation or ground weave. The pile is formed by supplemental yarn running in the direction of the length of the fabric or the width of the fabric. Pile weaves include velvet and corduroy fabrics and machine-woven Berber carpets.

<i>Dipsacus fullonum</i> species of plant

Dipsacus fullonum, syn. Dipsacus sylvestris, is a species of flowering plant known by the common names wild teasel or fuller's teasel, although the latter name is usually applied to the cultivated species Dipsacus sativus. It is native to Eurasia and North Africa, but it is known in the Americas, southern Africa, Australia and New Zealand as an introduced species and often a noxious weed. It forms large monocultures in areas it invades that have favorable climates and none of its biological control species. The inflorescence is a cylindrical array of lavender flowers which dries to a cone of spine-tipped hard bracts. It may be 10 centimeters long.

Broadcloth dense, fulled, plain woven cloth, historically made of wool

Broadcloth is a dense, plain woven cloth, historically made of wool. The defining characteristic of Broadcloth is not its finished width, but the fact that it was woven much wider and then heavily milled in order to shrink it to the required width. The effect of the milling process is to draw the yarns much closer together than could be achieved in the loom and allow the individual fibres of the wool to bind together in a felting process. This results in a dense, blind face cloth with a stiff drape which is highly weather-resistant, hard wearing and capable of taking a cut edge without the need for being hemmed.

Raising card flat brush with metal bristles used to raise a nap on fabric

A raising card is used to raise cloth. Raising is the technique used to produce the nap of cloth. Originally, only woolen cloth was raised, but now flannelette and other cotton fabrics are also raised. Raising is one of the last steps in the finishing process for cloth. It teases out the ends of the fibers in the cloth to produce a nap.

The manufacture of textiles is one of the oldest of human technologies. To make textiles, the first requirement is a source of fibre from which a yarn can be made, primarily by spinning. The yarn is processed by knitting or weaving, which turns yarn into cloth. The machine used for weaving is the loom. For decoration, the process of colouring yarn or the finished material is dyeing. For more information of the various steps, see textile manufacturing.

In the history of textiles, frieze is a Middle English term for a coarse woollen, plain weave cloth with a nap on one side. The nap was raised by scrubbing it to raise curls of fibre, and was not shorn after being raised, leaving an uneven surface. Panni frisi, "Frisian cloths", appear in medieval inventories and other documents. Frieze was woven in the English Midlands and Wales, and in Ireland from the fourteenth century, and later in Holland as well. A similar textile is baize. In Old Norse, such cloth was called vaðmál (wadmal), and lengths of wadmal were a medium of exchange, especially for the poor who had neither cattle nor silver. Wadmal could be used to pay property tax.

Finishing (textiles) any process performed after dyeing the yarn or fabric to improve the look, performance, or "hand" (feel) of the finished textile or clothing

In textile manufacturing, finishing refers to the processes that convert the woven or knitted cloth into a usable material and more specifically to any process performed after dyeing the yarn or fabric to improve the look, performance, or "hand" (feel) of the finish textile or clothing. The precise meaning depends on context.

Loden cape dense woollen fabric

A loden cape is an overcoat of Tyrolean origin, made of a thick, water-resistant woolen material with a short pile, first produced by peasants in Austria. The fabric is derived from the coarse, oily wool of mountain sheep and has a traditional bluish-green colour. The name is derived from Middle High German 'lode' or from Old High German 'lodo', meaning 'coarse cloth'.

Pill (textile) small ball of fibres adhering to the surface of a textile

A pill, colloquially known as a bobble, fuzzball, or lint ball is a small ball of fibers that forms on a piece of cloth. 'Pill' is also a verb for the formation of such balls.

References

  1. ↑ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Nap"  . Encyclopædia Britannica . 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 167.
  2. 1 2 "nap". The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989.
  3. ↑ "Last name: Shearman". The Internet Surname Database. 28 January 2015. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  4. ↑ "Pile". The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989.
  5. 1 2 3 Knecht, Edmund (1911). "Finishing"  . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica . 10 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 378–382.
  6. ↑ "Teasel". The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989.
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