Textile Structure
how cloth is put together
Theme

The thread: Structure before fibre

Most of what a fabric does follows from how it is put together rather than from what it is made of. The same yarn gives a shirting or a satin, and they behave nothing alike.
plainfloat 1 · 8 interlacingsfirmness 1.002/2 twillfloat 2 · 16 interlacingsfirmness 0.505-end satinfloat 4 · 20 interlacingsfirmness 0.40a filled square means the warp is on the facecounted from the matrices, not from the pictures What cloth is

A fabric is a structure, not a material

Cotton is a material. Cloth is an arrangement, and almost everything a fabric does follows from how the threads are put together rather than from what they are made of.

 plainfloat 1 · 8 interlacingsfirmness 1.002/2 twillfloat 2 · 16 interlacingsfirmness 0.505-end satinfloat 4 · 20 interlacingsfirmness 0.40a filled square means the warp is on the facecounted from the matrices, not from the pictures Weaves

Plain, twill and satin

Three rules, and everything else in weaving is a variation on them. What separates the three is not appearance but one trade — how often a thread changes face against how far it runs when it does not.

 100 ends and 100 picks per inch in bothfine yarncover 78%coarser yarncover 97%cover from diameter and spacing, circular sections Setting and geometry

Thread count is not quality

It counts threads. It says nothing about how much of the cloth they cover, it can be inflated by counting plies, and it ranks fabrics in nearly the wrong order. The quantity it is mistaken for is cover factor, and that one is computable.

 a course runs acrossa wale runs down5 wales × 4 coursesevery loop passes through the one below itweft knit Knits and other structures

The loop

A knit is one thread bent into loops, each drawn through the loop below. Nothing in it is straight, which is why it stretches in every direction while a woven cloth stretches only at an angle.

 5-end satinwarp floats of 4weft floats of 120 markedruns measured round the repeatfloat 4 Weaves

The float decides

How far a thread runs on the face before it goes under is one number, and it sits behind lustre, drape, snagging, abrasion, tear strength and how densely the cloth can be set. Almost nothing else in the subject has that reach.

 the dots mark which way each course facesstockinette — every course the same0 face changes · curlsgarter — alternate courses reversed5 face changes · lies flatface changes counted, not the curl itself Knits and other structures

Why stockinette curls

A knitted loop is not symmetric front to back. Work every course the same way and the asymmetries add up along the edges; alternate them and they cancel. That is the whole difference between a fabric that rolls and one that lies flat.

 weaveinterlacingsdensest settingplain1.0020 per inch2/2 basket0.5027 per inch2/1 twill0.6724 per inch2/2 twill0.5027 per inch3/1 twill0.5027 per inch5-end satin0.4029 per inch8-end satin0.2532 per incha geometric jamming model, circular sections, yarn diameter 1/40 inch Setting and geometry

How close can threads be set

There is a maximum. Push more threads into a cloth than the geometry allows and they simply will not go, and the limit depends on the weave as much as on the yarn.

 a knit — the break runs up the wale3 loops freeda weave — the break stays put1 thread freedcounted from the structure, not from experience Knits and other structures

Ravel, fray and run

Cut a woven cloth and one thread comes loose. Break one loop in a knit and every loop above it follows. The two structures fail in opposite ways, and the reason is topology rather than strength.

 weaveinterlacingsdensest settingplain1.0020 per inch2/2 basket0.5027 per inch2/1 twill0.6724 per inch2/2 twill0.5027 per inch3/1 twill0.5027 per inch5-end satin0.4029 per inch8-end satin0.2532 per incha geometric jamming model, circular sections, yarn diameter 1/40 inch Weaves

Interlacings and firmness

Every time a thread changes face it has to bend, and a bend takes room. That one sentence decides how densely a cloth can be set, how firm it feels, and why the two run in opposite directions.

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