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Glossary
General Textile Terms
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access a listing of general textile terms, click on a letter above. |
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Dacron®: DuPont's brand name
for polyester. (Registered trademark of DuPont.) |
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D-Core®:
Refers to A&E's thread of core spun
thread with a cotton wrapped core. Registered trademark of A&E. |
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Decorative
Stitching: The sewing of thread to accent a pocket, collar, or
some other part of the garment. Usually, this thread is a different
color than the body fabric. (See also contrast
stitching). |
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Defect: Refers to a quality
imperfection found in the thread. Thread defects include: slubs,
knots, neps, slack twists, corkscrew twists, and
singles kinks. |
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Denier:
Refers to a sizing system used for continuous
filaments. Denier is the gram weight of 9000 meters of sewing
thread. Denier is 9 times the Tex Size.
Common continuous filament polyester sizes are 55d, 70d, 90d, 110d,
125d, 140d, 230d and 250d. Common continuous filament nylon sizes
are 70d, 100d, 140d, and 210d. |
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Dennison
Swiftach Systems: Patented molded nlyon fasteners by
Swiftach Systems and distributed by A&E. (Registered trademark
of Swiftach
Systems.) |
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Design A-Core®:
Refers to
an A&E's thread of core spun
thread with a cotton wrapped core. Used for thread topstitching on
denim garments Trademark of A&E. |
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Direct
Dyes: Refers to a type of dye used on cellulosic thread like
cotton and the dyestuffs that can be applied directly to fibers in a
neutral or alkaline bath without preliminary treatment. They
generally do not have as good color
fastness as vat dyes.
(See Thread Dyeing.) |
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Disperse
Dyes: Refers to a type of dye used for dyeing polyester threads.
Polyester threads are dyed with disperse dyes at temperatures of
from 245° to 265°F and they generally have very good laundry and wash
fastness. Disperse dyes are available to produce a whole
spectrum of shades. (See Thread
Dyeing.) |
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DuPont™: A
Trademark of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. |
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Edge
Finish: Refers to one of two classes of stitching where a single
ply of fabric is folded on the edge (hemmed) or
serged. Hemming can be done by hand or with a hemming folder
attached to the sewing machine. |
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Elastics:
Latex rubber ends covered with polyester yarns that are used in
products such as swimsuits, waistbands, and cuffs. |
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Elasticity:
Refers to how much a seam will stretch before the thread
ruptures or "cracks". Usually, threads with higher
elongation will give greater seam elasticity. Also, stitch
formations that use more thread will have greater seam elasticity
like overedge and coverstitch
seam constructions. The number of stitches per inch and the stitch
balance can also affect seam elasticity. |
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Elongation:
Refers to the amount that a thread stretches before it breaks.
Threads with high elongation provide greater seam elasticity but can
cause poor loop formation leading to excessive skipped stitches and
thread breakage. The elongation of a sewing thread is determined by
the fiber type used but can also be controlled by drawing and heat
setting of synthetic sewing threads like polyester and nylon.
(See Technical Bulletin, Minimizing Thread
Breakage and Skipped Stitches.) |
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Embroidery
(Industrial): The sewing of thread in a small area with numerous
stitches. If a high sheen is desired, either a filament rayon or
tri-lobal polyester thread is recommended. A&E's brand name for
its tri-lobal polyester embroidery thread is No. 40 Signature®. If
a high sheen is not necessary, we have customers that are using Perma Core® and Perma Spun® threads for embroidery. Regardless of the embroidery
thread used, the color fastness should
be tested prior to full production runs. Polyester threads have
better color fastness than cellulosic threads. |
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Endurance™
: Refers to A&E's thread of spun staple
from Lyocell® used for sewing Tencel®
fabrics that are overdyed and enzyme washed. Registered
trademark of A&E |
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Excell®
: Refers to A&E's thread of spun polyester used
for sewing anything from light weight garments like blouses & dresses to heavy weight garments like jeans, gloves, mattresses, etc. Registered
trademark of A&E. |
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Fadeometer:
A lab resting machine used to test long-term effects of light on
sewing thread color and strength. |
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Fiber
Glass: A very fine denier glass fiber that
is used for sewing filtration devises. Fiber glass is very brittle
and has poor loop strength, however it
is very resistant to many chemicals and toxins. A&E does not
have a fiberglass sewing thread. |
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Filtrane™:
Refers to a PTFE
monocord thread used for outdoor application that require excellent
chemical and mildew resistance. |
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Finishes:
Refers to various treatments of cotton threads including soft,
mercerized, and glaced. "Soft" refers to thread that is
simply spun or twisted and then dyed and wound
on a cone. "Mercerized" refers to the process where cotton
is submerged in a caustic soda bath under tension and then
neutralized in an acid bath. The end result is a greater affinity
for dyes and a higher tenacity thread.
"Glaced" is a process whereby cotton threads are passed
through a solution of starches and waxes and then polished between
brushes to give a very uniform surface. Continuous
filament threads are also available in various finishes including
"soft" and "bonded". "Soft" again
refers to thread that is simply twisted together, dyed and wound on
cones with a thread lubricant. "Bonded" refers to an
additional process where a coating is put on the continuous filament
thread to give it better ply security and
abrasion
resistance. Finish also refers to the thread lubricant applied to
the thread to give the thread good lubricity
characteristics and needle heat resistance. Two methods are commonly
used to apply finish to sewing threads: the "kiss-roll"
method and the "in-bath" method. |
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Flagging:
Refers to a sewing problem caused by the fabric moving up with
the needle as the needle rises from the bottom of its travel causing
poor loop formation and leading to skipped stitches or thread
breakage. (See Technical Bulletin, Minimizing
Thread Breakage and Skipped Stitches.) |
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Flammability:
For apparel applications, usually refers to an OSHA requirement
on children's sleepwear where the seam should not support
combustion. A&E has two products that are designed to meet this
OSHA requirement, and they are Spun Kool® and Tex Kool®. |
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Flatlock:
Refers to a 606 coverstitch machine using 4
needles, 4 loopers and 1 top cover thread made
by W&G. These feed-off-the-arm machines are used for producing
flat seams on children's knit garments. |
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Flatseamer:
Refers to a 607 coverstitch machine using 4
needles, 1 looper and 1 top cover thread made
on feed-off-the-arm machines. Usually texturized polyester (Wildcat Plus®) sewing threads or spun polyester sewing threads are
used on these machines. |
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Fluff
Threads: Refers to texturized polyester or nylon threads like Wildcat Plus® and Best Stretch® sewing threads. These threads provide excellent seam
coverage when sewn in overedge and coverstitch
machines. "Fluff" or texturized sewing threads are not
recommended for lockstitch sewing
machines. |
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Fortrel®:
Wellman's brand name for polyester. Registered trademark of
Wellman. |
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FR
Finish: Refers to a finish applied to spun polyester or textured
polyester threads that allow it to pass the Children's Flammability
standard. See Flammability.
(See Thread Finishing.) |
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Other Information |
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Technical Information
Links
to technical resources that answer your sewing problem questions... |
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Specialty |
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Thread
Science |
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Internet Sites |
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AAFA:
American Apparel and Footwear Association
www.apparelandfootwear.org
AATCC:
American
Association of Textile Chemist and Colorists.
www.aatcc.org
IAF: International Apparel
Federation http://www.iafnet.com |
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