Glossary of Textile Manufacturing - S

S

Sailcloth

Sailcloth

Sateen

Sateen is a fabric formed with a satin weave where the floats are perpendicular to the selvage of the goods.

Satin

A Satin is a cloth that typically has a glossy surface and a dull back. It is formed by a sequence of broken twill floats in either the warp or weft system, which respectively identify the goods as either a satin or a sateen.

Satin weave

A satin is a broken twill weaving technique that forms floats on one side of the fabric. If a satin is woven with the floats parallel to the selvedge of the goods, the corresponding fabric is termed a "satin." If the floats are perpendicular to the selvedge of the goods, the fabric is termed a 'sateen.'"

Seam

A seam, in sewing, is the line where two pieces of fabric are held together by thread.

Seam ripper

A seam ripper is a small tool used for unpicking stitches.

Selvage or Selvedge

The woven edge portion of a fabric parallel to the warp is called selvage.

Serge

Serge is a type of twill fabric that has diagonal lines or ridges on both sides, made with a two-up, two-down weave. The worsted variety is used in making military uniforms, suits, great and trench coats. Its counterpart, silk serge, is used for linings. French serge is a softer, finer variety. The word is also used for a high quality woolen woven.

Serging

Serging is the binding off of an edge of cloth.

Sewing

Sewing is an ancient craft involving the stitching of cloth, leather, animal skins, furs, or other materials, using needle and thread. Its use is nearly universal among human populations and dates back to Paleolithic times (30,000 BC). Sewing predates the weaving of cloth.

Shag

Shag (fabric) is typically used to make a deep-pile carpets. This is the oldest use of the term. Shag carpet is sometimes evoked as an example of the aesthetic from the culture of the U.S. 1970s. Also used to make carpets for mariners.

Shed

In weaving, the shed is the gap between yarns on a loom when one or more, but not all, of the harnesses are raised.

Sheer

Sheer is a semi-transparent and flimsy cloth.

Shoddy

Recycled or remanufactured wool. Historically generated from loosely woven materials. Benjamin Law invented shoddy and mungo, as such, in England in 1813. He was the first to organise, on a larger scale, the activity of taking old clothes and grinding them down into a fibrous state that could be re-spun into yarn. The shoddy industry was centred on the towns of Batley, Morley, Dewsbury and Ossett in West Yorkshire, and concentrated on the recovery of wool from rags. The importance of the industry can be gauged by the fact that even in 1860 the town of Batley was producing over 7000 tonnes of shoddy. At the time there were 80 firms employing a total of 550 people sorting the rags. These were then sold to shoddy manufacturers of which there were about 130 in the West Riding. Shoddy is inferior to the original wool; "shoddy" has come to mean "of poor quality" in general (not related to clothing), and the original meaning is largely obsolete.

Shot

The opal effect achieved on a fabric by dyeing the warp and weft threads different colours. The yarns are dyed first and then woven. When looking at the fabric from various angles it appears to alter in colour, this is more obvious in lustrous fabrics and more so in certain types of weaves.

Shuttle

A shuttle in weaving is a device used with a loom that is thrown or passed back and forth between the threads of the warp to weave in the weft.

Silk

Silk is a natural protein fiber that can be woven into textiles. It is obtained from the cocoon of the silkworm larva, in the process known as sericulture, which kills the larvae. The shimmering appearance for which it is prized comes from the fibres triangular prism-like structure, which allows silk cloth to refract incoming light at different angles.

Sisal

Sisal or sisal hemp is an agave Agave sisalana that yields a stiff fiber used in making rope. (The term may refer either to the plant or the fiber, depending on context.) It is not really a variety of hemp, but named so because hemp was for centuries a major source for fiber, so other fibers were sometimes named after it.

Skein

Skein is when a length of yarn is bundled in a loose roll rather than put on a cone (as you would purchase from store)- usually done if yarn is going to a dye vat or needs a treatment in a manufacturing/knitting mill environment.

Solution-dyed

Solution-dyed

Spandex fiber

Spandex or elastane is a synthetic fiber known for its exceptional elasticity (stretchability). It is stronger and more durable than rubber, its major plant competitor. It was invented in 1959 by DuPont, and when first introduced it revolutionized many areas of the clothing industry.

Spinning

Spinning is the process of creating yarn (or thread, rope, cable) from various raw fiber materials.

Spread Tow Fabrics

Spread Tow Fabrics is a type of lightweight fabric. Its production involves the steps of spreading a tow of higher count, e.g. 12k, into thin-and-wide spread tow tape (STT) and weaving them into a lightweight fabric by employing the novel tape-weaving technique.

Staple

Staple is the raw material, or its length and quality, of fiber from which textiles are made.

Stitch

A stitch is a single turn or loop of the thread or yarn in sewing, knitting, and embroidery.

Stuff

Stuff is a coarse cloth, sometimes made with a linen warp and worsted weft.

Super

The Super grading system is used to grade the quality of wool fabric. The higher the number, the more yarn is packed in per square inch, therefore all things being equal a super 120s yarn is better than super 100s.