Glossary of Textile Terms and Definitions, T - Textile Dictionary

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Letter T 

T

Tackspun Fabric: A material made from a polymer film with a backing substrate. The film is melted by a roller to which it adheres, drawing up a fibrous pile.

Tactel Brand: A du pont brand of filament nylon fiber.

Taffeta: A plain weave, tightly woven smooth crisp fabric with a characteristic rustle. Made from silk or man-made filament yarns.

Taffeta: A lustrous, medium weight, plain weave fabric with a slight ribbed appearance in the filling (crosswise) direction, and usually with a sheen on its surface. For formal wear, taffeta is a favorite choice. It provides a crisp hand, with lots of body. Silk taffeta gives the ultimate rustle, but other fibers are also good choices.

Tag wool: The first clip from a sheep not shorn as a lamb.

Tahband: A kind of girdle or belt.

Takauchiya: A kind pyjama (q.v.). Abu'i-fazl describes it in the ain-i-akbati as "a coat without lining, of the indian form. Formerly it had slits in the skirt, and was tied on the left side; his majesty has ordered it to be made with a round skirt and to be tied on the right side."

Tanis: tie-cords or strings used to fasten or tighten a garment when worn.

Tape (textile): A woven narrow fabric, generally plain-weave, used in non-loadbearing applications and the reinforcing of fabrics to resist wear and deformation. (2) a long narrow flat structure with textile-like properties made from thermoplastic polymer, paper, or other appropriate material.

Tape Yarn: A yarn which comprises a tape with a large width-to-thickness ratio, and which has an apparent width not exceeding an agreed limit (e.g., 5mm or 8mm). Note: such yarns are usually of paper or are formed by slitting a wide film of (usually) polyethylene or polypropylene polymer into individual tapes, with hot-stretching either before or after slitting to induce high longitudinal strength. The draw ratio in hot-stretching is kept low enough to avoid excessive longitudinal fibrillation. The tape yarn so produced is suitable for weaving.

Tape, oriented: A tape made by extruding a thermoplastic polymer, usually a polyolefin, in the form of a sheet or film, slitting the sheet into tapes and hot-stretching to induce molecular orientation and hence high longitudinal strength.

Taper: To decrease width gradually and bring it to an end point.

Taper Line Gratings: Transparent plates containing lines more widely spaced at one end than the other. By selecting the appropriate taper line grating and placing it parallel to a set of threads in a woven fabric, it is possible to ascertain the number of threads per unit length (cm or inch) as a result of a star form created. These gratings can also be used to determine the number of courses per unit length in weft-knitted fabrics, or the number of dents per unit length in a reed.

Tapestry: A closely woven figured fabric of compound structure in which a pattern is developed by the use of coloured yarns in the warp or in the weft or both. A fine binder warp and weft may be incorporated. It normally used for upholstery. Note: originally the term was applied to furnishing fabrics in which the design was produced by means of coloured threads inserted by hand as required. Modern tapestry fabrics are woven on jacquard looms, coloured yarns being used to produce the desired pattern. There are various fabric structures in which two or more warps and wefts of different materials may be used. The face of the fabric is usually of uniform texture, the design being developed in various colours, but in some tapestry fabrics figures of the brocade type formed by floating some of the threads are also to be found.

Tapestry: A heavy, often hand-woven, ribbed fabric, featuring an elaborate design depicting a historical or current pictorial display. The weft-faced fabric design is made by using colored filling yarns, only in areas where needed, that are worked back and forth over spun warp yarns, which are visible on the back. End-uses include wall hangings and upholstery.

Tartan: Refers to the kinds of plaid patterns traditionally worn by scottish highlanders. Each design was associated with a specific family or "clan". The term is generally used to today in reference to any plaid design similar to these scottish designs.

Taslan: A du pont trademark for a method of bulking and texturizing yarn using compressed air.

Tasteless: The basques of early 17th century doublets.

Tattersall: A simple overcheck design, usually a thin check of one or 2 colors on a contrasting color ground.

Tear: The ratio of top to noil produced in combing.

Tearing Strength (fabric): The resistance to the force that is required to start or to continue a tear in a fabric when tested under prescribed conditions appropriate to the fabric.

Tear Strength: The force necessary to tear a fabric, measured by the force necessary to start or continue a tear in a fabric. Expressed in pounds or in grams, the most commonly used method for determining the tear strength is the elmendorf tear test procedure.

Teazle; teazel; teasel: The dried seed-head of the plant dipsacus fullonum (fullers thistle) used to raise a pile or nap on certain fabrics. The machine used for this purpose is known as a teazle gig.

Teentah Topi: A topi (q.v.) Consisting of three different pieces, stitched together.

Teflon: A water repellent, stain resistant finish applied to fabric. Trademark of du pont co.

Temple Marking: A disturbance of the weave adjacent to the edge of a fabric and caused by a poorly adjusted temple.

Temporary Set: The process of conferring temporary stability of form upon fibres, yarns, or fabrics, usually by means of successive heating and cooling in moist or dry conditions.

Tenacity: See breaking stress.

Tenacity: The maximum specific strength of a fibre or yarn that is developed in a tensile test taken to rupture point.

Tencel Brand: Brand of lyocell cellulosic fiber.

Tensile Strength (breaking stregth): The strength shown by a fiber, yarn, or fabric to resist breaking under pressure. It is the actual number of pounds of resistance that a fabric will give before the material is broken on the testing machine.

Tensile Strength: The breaking strength (q.v.) per unit area of the cross-section of a textile material. Note: The use of this term as a synonym for "breaking strength" is incorrect.

Tensile Test: A test in which the resistance of a material to stretching in one direction is measured.

Tension Control Weave: A type of decorative weave, characterized by a puckered effect which occurs because the tension in the warp yarns is intentionally varied before the filling yarns are placed in the fabric.

Terry: A fabric with uncut loops on one or both sides. May be woven or knit. Used for toweling, robes. Knit versions such as french terry have loops on one side and are sometimes brushed to produce a fleece.

Terry Cloth: A typical uncut pile weave fabric. This fabric is formed by using two sets of warp yarns. One set of warp yarns is under very little tension; when the filling yarns are packed into place, these loose yarns are pushed backward along with the filling yarns, and loops are formed. The cloth has uncut loops on both sides of the fabric. Typical uses include towels, robes, and apparel.

Terry Velour: A pile weave cotton fabric with an uncut pile on one side and a cut pile on the reverse side. Terry velour is valued for its soft, luxurious hand. Typical uses include towels, robes, and apparel.

Tex: The basic unit of the tex system (q.v.) and that is equal to one gram per kilometre.

Note: The multiple and submultiples recommended for use are the following:

Kilograms per kilometre.......................kilotex (ktex),

Milligrams per kilometre......................millitex (mtex),

Decigrams per kilometre......................decitex (dtex),

Tex: The basic unit of the tex system.

Tex is a recognized si unit: See also count, hank, lea (cotton), flax yarn bundle.

Tex system: A system of expressing linear density (mass per unit length) of fibres, filaments, slivers, and yarns, or other linear textile material. The basic unit is the tex, which is the mass in grams of one kilometre of the product. Multiples and sub-multiples recommended for use in preference to other possible combinations are: kilogram per kilometre, designated kilotex (ktex); decigram per kilometre, designated decitex (dtex);and milligram per kilometre, designated millitex (mtex).

Tex system: The direct decimal system based on metric units that has been adopted by ISO as a universal system for designating the linear density of fibres, filaments, slivers and yarns.

Textile (n): Any item manufactured from natural or man-made fibres or filaments, e.g. yarns, threads, cords, ropes, braids, lace, embroidery, nets and fabrics made by weaving, knitting, braiding, felting, bonding and tufting.

Textile: Originally a woven fabric but the term is now applied to fibres, filaments, or yarns, natural man-made, and products obtained from them. Note: for example, threads, cords, ropes, braids, lace, embroidery, nets, and fabrics made by weaving, knitting, felting, bonding, and tufting are textiles. Used as an adjective, descriptive of fibrous or filamentous manufactures and of the raw materials, processes, machines, buildings, and personnel used in the organizations connected with, and the technology of, their manufacture.

Textile Film: A man-made textile material in film form within which molecular orientation is predominantly in the longitudinal direction. Note: polymer films for non-textile use are commonly unoriented or bi-axially oriented, but uni-axial orientation is present in some cases.

Textile Glass (fibre) (generic name): The name used to describe glass fibres that are suitable for textile applications.

Textured Yarn: A continuous-filament yam that has been processed to introduce durable crimps, coils, loops or other fine distortions along the lengths of the filaments. Note 1: The main texturing procedures which are usually applied to continuous-filament yarns made from or containing thermoplastic fibres, are: (a) the yarn is highly twisted, heat-set and untwisted either as a process of three separate stages (now obsolescent) or as a continuous process (false-twist texturing). In an infrequently used alternative method, two yarns are continuously folded together, heat-set, then separated by unfolding; (b) the yam is injected into a heated stuffer box either by feed rollers or through a plasticizing jet of hot fluid (invariably air or steam). The jet process is sometimes known as jet texturing, hot-air jet texturing, or steam-jet texturing; (c) the yam is plasticized by passage through a jet of hot fluid and is impacted on to a cooling surface (impact texturing); (d) the heated yam is passed over a knife-edge (edge crimping), (now obsolete); (e) the heated yarn is passed between a pair of gear wheels or through some similar device (gear crimping); (f) the yam is knitted into a fabric that is heat-set and then unravelled (knit-deknit texturing); (g) the yam is over-fed through a turbulent air stream (air-texturing, air-jet texturing), so that entangled loops are formed in the filaments; (h) the yarn is composed of bicomponent fibres and is subjected to a hot and/or wet process whereby differential shrinkage occurs. Note 2: procedures (a) and (d) in note i above gives yams of a generally high-stretch character. This is frequently reduced by re-heating the yam in a state where it is only partly relaxed from the fully extended condition, thus producing a stabilized yarn with the bulkiness little reduced but with a much reduced retractive power. Note 3: The procedure (g) may also be applied to fibres which are not thermoplastic.

Textured Yarns: The yarns that result after undegoing the texturizing process, which can create crimping, looping, and otherwise modify the filament yarn for the purpose of increasing cover, abrasion resistance, insulation, warmth resilience, or moisture absorption, and to provide a different surface texture. When filament yarns are texturized, and then woven or knitted into fabrics, the result is that the finished fabric?s Properties resemble a fabric that has been made from a spun yarn. Most of today's filament polyester is texturized.

Texturizing: A process performed on specialized machinery which create bulk, stretch to the yarn, and therefore creates new aesthetics to the finished fabric.

Textured Yarn: A yarn that has been so processed as to introduce durable crimps (q.v.), coils, loops or other fine distortions along the length of the fibres or filaments. Note: a) the main texturing processes usually applied to continuous-filament yarns made from or containing thermoplastic fibres, are as follows:

1. The yarn is highly twisted, heat-set and untwisted, either as a continuous process (false twisting) or as a three-stage process.

2. The yarn is passed through a heated "stuffer box" (stuffer box crimping).

3. The heated yarn is passed over a knife edge (edge crimping).

4. The heated yarn is passed between a pair of geared wheels or some similar device (gear crimping).

5. The yarn is knitted into a fabric, heat-set and unravelled (knit-deknit).

6. Loops are formed in individual filaments by over-feeding into a turbulent airstream (air-textured).

7. Bicomponent fibres (q.v.) are differentially shrunk.

B) processes (1) and (3) above produce yarns of a generally high stretch character. This stretch character is frequently reduced by reheating the yarn in a state where it is only partly relaxed from the fully extended condition, thus producing a yarn with the bulkiness little reduced but with a much reduced retractive power.

C) fabrics that contain textured yarns have increased bulk, opacity, and moisture absorbency and improved thermal insulation properties with a warmer handle (q.v.); some textured yarns also confer extensible or "stretch" properties on fabrics made from them.

Thermal Fabric: A knit or woven fabric constructed so as to trap warm air between the yarns. Often in a waffle or honeycomb texture. Used for blankets. Underwear.

Thermally Bonded Nonwoven Fabric: Textile fabric composed of a web or batt of fibres containing heat-sensitive material, bonded by the application of heat, with or without pressure. The heat-sensitive materials may be in the form of fibres, bicomponent fibres or powders.

Thermal insulation: The ability of a fabric to retain heat.

Thermoplastic: Deformable by applied heat and pressure without any accompanying chemical change. The deformation is reversible.

Thermoplastic Textile: A textile that is deformable (but not changed chemically) by the application of heat and pressure. Note: The salient feature is that the deformation can be repeated.

Thermoregulation: The ability to maintain a constant temperature independent of dynamic (changing) environmental conditions.

Thick & Thin: A fabric with a mottled appearance, made from a filament yarn with varying thickness.

Thickener: A substance used to increase the viscosity of a print paste or other fluid, in order to control its flow properties. Natural polymers (starch, alginates, etc.,), Chemical modifications thereof, synthetic polymers, emulsions, foams and clays can be used.

Thread: The result of twisting together in one or more operations two or more single, folded, or cabled yarns (2) a product as defined in (1) intended particularly for sewing purposes. (known also as Sewing Thread.) (3) a component of silk yarn. It is the product of winding together without twist a number of baves. A three-thread silk yarn is the result of folding three such products together (4) a textile yam in general.

Thread Count: Is the number of warp and weft yarns in one square-inch of a fabric (warp yarn x weft yarn per sq. Inch).

Thread Count: The number of ends and picks per inch in a woven cloth; the number of wales and courses per inch in a knit fabric. See "count of cloth".

Thick Place: A prominent band (q.v.) in which there is an increase in the pick density of a woven fabric or in the stitch density of a knitted fabric, compared with that of the normal fabric.

Thin Place: A prominent band (q.v.) in which there is a decrease in the pick density of a woven fabric or in the stitch density of a knitted fabric, compared with that of the normal fabric.

Thread: The result of twisting together, in one or more operations, two or more single, folded or cabled yarns (see under yarn).

B) a product as defined in (a) above and intended primarily for sewing purposes and known as a sewing thread.

C) a component of silk yarn, and that is the product of winding together, without twist, a number of baves (q.v.), e.g. a 3-thread silk yarn is the result of folding three such products together. Note: 1. The term "thread" is frequently used to describe single yarns.

2. The term "thread" is also used in such expressions as "threads per unit length", irrespective of their nature.

Threads Per Square Centimetre: The sum of the number of warps threads per centimetre and the number of weft threads per centimetre in a woven fabric.

Threads Per Unit Length (woven fabrics): The number of warp threads (ends) or the number of weft threads (picks) in a specified length of fabric. Note: a) the unit of length is usually taken as the centimetre, but with fabrics that have less than 10 threads per centimetre, it is advisable to use a unit length of 1 decimetre (10 cm).

B) with fabrics that have more than 10 threads per centimetre, the actual count may be taken over 2 cm, 3 cm or 5 cm and the result given by calculation in threads per centimetre.

C) counting may be done at the following stages of manufacture:

1. Finished, the count is taken when no further processing in the piece is prescribed. In all cases, the condition of the, fabric at the time the count was taken should be noted.

2. In the loom, the position of the count should be agreed on. It is usually taken between the fell of the fabric and the take-up roller, with the fabric under weaving tension.

3. Loomstate: The count is taken after the fabric has been removed from the loom and relaxed from weaving tension, but before it is subjected to any further treatment that may modify its dimensions.

Throw: A term, of germanic and anglo-saxon origin, used especially in the silk and man-made fibre industries to describe the twisting or folding of continuous-filament yams. Note. The term throwster was traditionally used to describe an individual or company specifically involved with these twisting processes, but, in more recent times, the title has also been inherited by those who manufacture textured yarns by the false-twist method.

Thrum: A waste length of warp (yarn) or of fabric, or both, formed during the preparation of a loom for weaving. Note: a) a thrum may be formed as follows:

1. During the adjustment of a loom at the commencement of the weaving of the warp. When the loom is correctly adjusted, the portion of the warp that contains picks inserted for testing the adjustment of the loom mechanism is cut off.

2. During warp replenishment in a loom. The old warp is twisted or knotted to the new warp and, if the new warp is drawn through by weaving, the point in the woven fabric at which the twisted or knitted warp ends occur is called a "through" because the fabric is cut through to remove the thrum containing the imperfect fabric formed by the twisted or knotted warp ends.

3. During loom operations away from the loom. In the above cases, a thrum consists of portions of the old and the new warp ends twisted or knotted together.

B) a thrum may also be: 1. A length of warp ends cut from the warp for the purpose of:

(i) evaluating the percentage of applied size;

(ii) repairing end-breakages in the warp concerned;

2. Any loose end(s) of warp;

3. A bundle of coarse yarns tied together by twine for use in making a mop.

Tick Weave: Fabric with a small allover pattern or texture, often using 2 contrasting colors.

Ticking: A general term for a strong, tightly woven fabric most often used for mattress and box spring covers but also for workwear and other apparel. Often found in a pattern of narrow stripes on either side of a wider stripe. They are commonly dark warp stripes on a white ground.

Ticking: Compactly woven cotton cloth used for containers, covers for mattresses and pillows, sportswear (hickory stripes), institution fabric, and work clothes. It is striped cloth, usually white background with blue or brown stripes in the motif.

Ticking: A tightly woven, very durable fabric, usually made of cotton, and used for covering mattresses, box springs, pillows, and work clothes. The fabric can be made by using a plain, satin, or twill weave construction.

Tight End: A warp thread or part of a warp thread that has less crimp in the fabric than have the adjacent normal ends. Note: this may be owing to weaving under greater tension or to abnormal stretching of the yarn during some process prior to weaving. It may be caused by excess moisture, e.g. during winding, and consequent contraction during finishing.

Tight Pick: A weft thread or part of a weft thread that has less crimp than have the adjacent normal picks. Note: this may be owing to a weft yarn having been inserted under greater tension than that imposed on the other weft yarns, or to the relaxation of a weft yarn subsequent to insertion, or to abnormal stretching of a yarn during some process prior to weaving. It may also be caused by the presence of excess moisture, e.g. during winding, and consequent contraction during finishing. (see also shiner).

Tie Dyed: A hand method of dyeing that involves gathering small portions of the fabric and tying them tightly before dyeing. The tied areas resist penetration of the dye, resulting in irregular patterns. Also refers to similar designs created by machine methods.

Tiki: A round piece; generally tacked on to a garment.

Tinsel Yarn: A textile yarn or thread, combined, coated, or covered with a shiny substance, often metallic (e.g., Aluminium, occasionally gold or silver), to produce a glittering or sparkling effect.

Tippet: From the 16th century onwards it meant a short shoulder cape.

Tippy Wool: Wool in which the tip portions of the fibres have been so damaged by weathering during growth as to have markedly different dyeing properties.

Tissue Faille: A lightweight, plain weave, filament yarn fabric characterized by a narrow crosswise rib. Used for blouses and dresses.

Tone on Tone: A fabric with a pattern consisting of 2 or more shades of the same color. 2. Piece dyed dobbies in which the dobby effect takes on a different tone by virtue of the weave, light reflection or types of yarn used.

Top: Sliver that forms the starting material for the worsted and certain other drawing systems, usually obtained by the process of combing, and characterized by the following properties: (a) the absence of fibres so short as to be uncontrolled in the preferred system of drawing; (b) a substantially parallel formation of the fibres; (c) a substantially homogeneous distribution throughout the sliver of fibres from each length-group present. Note 1: tops are usually produced by carding and combing, or by preparing and combing on worsted machinery, but recent years have seen the introduction of top-making by the cutting or controlled breaking of continuous-filament tows of man-made fibres, and the assembly of the resultant staple fibres into sliver in a single machine. Note 2: The advent of man-made fibres has meant the introduction of staple-fibre top into the flax, jute, spun silk, and other drawing systems. (2) the form or package in which sliver is delivered, e.g., Ball top or bump top.

Top Dyed: A fiber dyeing method in which dye in applied to combed fibers in an untwisted or loosely twisted rope form (called top or sliver ). Sometimes dye is applied or printed on the fiber at regular intervals to give a melange effect. Top dyeing results in good colorfastness.

Topham Box: A device for twisting and winding a wet-spun continuous-filament yarn so as to produce a cake

Torchon Lace: An inexpensive, sturdy, machine made lace using thick threads in simple designs on a mesh ground. Often with scalloped edges. Also called beggar's lace.

Tow (flax or hemp): Any substantially clean fibre of less than scutched length.

Tow (man-made fibres): An assemblage of a large number of substantially parallel filaments with little or no twist.

Tow, Machine: Tow produced by a hackling machine.

Tow, straw: Flax straw in tossed and broken condition, resulting from threshing a flax crop too poor for normal processing

Tow: A large bundle of continuous manufactured filament fibers, such as polyester, as they are extruded from the spinerette, and before they have been cut into staple fibers.

Tower: High female headdress fashionable in the late 17th and early 18th century.

Tow-to-top: A process in which heavy continuous-filament yam, having no twist and a substantially parallel alignment of the filaments, is cut or broken into staple and drafted into a sliver as a continuous process. It is characteristic of the process that the tow does not lose its form, although the filaments are broken down into short lengths, but is only attenuated in the drafting process.

Tram: A silk weft yarn comprising two or more threads run together and then twisted with 2 or 4 turns/cm.

Transfer Printing: Any process by which a design is transferred from paper to another substrate. Several techniques have been used, viz melt-transfer, film-release, and wet-transfer, but vapour transfer (sublimation transfer) is the most important. Selected disperse dyes transfer in vapour form to thermoplastic fibres when the printed paper and fabric are brought into close contact in a transfer press at 170-220 C.

Trapunto: A form of quilting in which a design is stitched through 2 layers of fabric. The lower layer is than slit and batting or fiberfill is inserted to raise the design to a high relief.

Trash (cotton): A loose term embracing, in its widest sense, the non-fibrous foreign matter present in bales of raw cotton other than abnormal items, such as stone, timber, pieces of old iron, etc. Note 1: normal whole seeds, either ginned or un-ginned, are frequently excluded from this category but broken portions of them and also whole or broken undeveloped seeds are usually regarded as trash. Note2, the main component of trash is chaff and dirt in the form of soil or sand.

Trend: Fashion is not static, they are constantly moving, their movement has a definite direction. The direction in which fashion moves is called fashion trend.

Triacetate (fibre) (generic name): A term used to describe fibres of cellulose ethanoate (cellulose acetate) wherein at least 92% of the hydroxyl groups of the original cellulose are ethanoylated (acetylated).

Triacetate: A manufactured fiber, which like acetate, is made by modifying cellulose. However, even more acetate groups have been added to create this fiber. Triacetate is less absorbent and less sensitive to high temperatures than acetate. It can be hand or machine washed and tumble dried, with relatively good wrinkle recovery.

Tricorne: From french late 18th century term for hat with turned up brim and having three corners.

Tricot: A common warp knit fabric with thin wales on the face and crosswise ribs on the back. Generally made of synthetic yarns such as polyester, nylon, acetate or rayon.

Tricot Knit: A warp knit fabric in which the fabric is formed by interlooping adjacent parallel yarns. The warp beam holds thousands of yards of yarns in a parallel arrangement, and these yarns are fed into the knitting area simultaneously. Sufficient yarns to produce the final fabric width and length are on the beam. Tricot knits are frequently used in women's lingerie items such as slips, bras, panties, and nightgowns.

Tricotine: A woven fabric with a distinct steep double twill line. Used for trousers dresses, women's sportswear.

Trim: To cut off the ragged edges below the seam line to prevent the garment from being bulky and to give the seam a neat finish.

Tristimulus values: The amounts of three defined primaries (usually blue, red and green) required to be mixed additively to match the colour of the object, under defined conditions.

Trivinyl (fibre) (generic name): A term used to describe fibres made from a synthetic terpolymer of cyanoethene (acrylonitrile), a chlorinated vinyl monomer and a third vinyl monomer, none of which represents as much as 50% of the total mass.

Tropical: A general term for crisp lightweight suiting fabrics. They often use fine or high twist yarns for a porous construction. May be a variety of fibers and weaves. Primarily used for warm weather suits.

Trousses: In the 17th century the upper hose which did not hang down, but fitted the thighs tightly. They are a survival of the 16th century grgues, preserved in the ceremonial costume of knights of the king's order and in pages' costumes.

True Hemp: See hemp, true.

Tubular: A knit fabric made on a circular knitting machine and shipped without being slit to open width form.

Tuck Stitch: A knit stitch that results in open spaces at regular intervals on the fabric by having some needles hold more than one loop at a time.

Tukma: Small, button-like boss used in conjunction with a ghundi (q.v.) Or loop, for fastening.

Tulle: A soft, fine, transparent net originally made of silk but now made of synthetics. Usually has a hexagonal mesh. Used in evening wear and bridal veils.

Tulle: A lightweight, extremely fine, machine-made netting, usually with a hexagon shaped mesh effect. End-uses include dance costumes and veils.

Tussah: Silk fabric made from the strong, coarse, uneven, light brown color silk produced by wild, uncultivated silkworms.

Tussah Silk: A coarse silk produced by a wild silkworm. There are three main types: antheraea mylitta (largely indian), antheraea pernyi (largely chinese), and antheraea yama-mai (largely japanese). It is brown in colour and is usually spun, since most cocoons cannot be reeled. Note: The spelling 'tussah', although considered erroneous by etymologists, is in common usage in the textile industry for the name given to fibres and filaments.

Tussore: A fabric woven from the coarse wild silk called tussah. Note: The spelling 'tussore', although considered erroneous by etymologists, is in common usage in the textile industry for the name given to fabrics.

Twaddell: A scale used for the measurement of the specific gravity of liquids by hydrometry. The following formula expresses the relationship between specific gravity (sg), and degrees twaddell (tw), for liquids heavier than water.

Tweed: Originally a coarse, heavy-weight, rough-surfaced wool fabric for outerwear, woven in southern scotland. The term is now applied to fabrics made in a wide range of weights and qualities from woollen-spun yams in a variety of weave effects and colour-and-weave effects.

Tweed: A medium to heavy weight, fluffy, woolen, twill weave fabric containing colored slubbed yarns. Common end-uses include coats and suits.

Twill: A general term for a woven fabric made with a twill weave, a basic weave characterized by diagonal lines on the face of the fabric.

Twill: a) a weave that repeats on three or more ends and picks and produces diagonal lines on the face of the fabric.

b) a fabric that has the above weave. Note:1. The diagonal lines produced on the surface of the fabric by a twill weave are often referred to as the twill in such phrases as "a prominent twill", "a broken twill", "unwanted twill".

2. Unwanted twill may arise as a defect in satin fabrics, the intensity of the unwanted twill depending on the fabric structure, the weave and the number of ends (q.v.) per dent (q.v.) in the reed.

Twill Weave: A fundamental weave characterized by diagonal lines, usually at a 45 degree angle. In a warp-faced twill, the warp yarns produce the diagonal effect. It is one of the three basic weaves, the others being plain and satin. All weaves, either simple, elaborate or complex, are derived from these three weaves. Twill is the most common weave for bottom-weight uniform fabrics.

Twist: The spiral disposition of the component (s) of a yarn and that is usually the result of relative rotation of the extremities of the yarn (s).

B) the number of turns per unit length of yarn, e.g. turns per metre. Note:twist designation:1. Twist in single yarns, s twist, z twist.2. Twist in folded yarns, zs twist, sz twist, zz twist -on-twist (q.v.), Ss twist -on-twist (q.v.). 3. Twist in cabled yarns, zsz twist (formerly "cabled twist"), zzs twist (formerly "hawser twist"). The first symbol designates the direction of twist in a single yarn, the second symbol designates the direction of twist in the folding operation, and the third symbol the direction of twist in the cabling operation.

Twist: A term that applies to the number of turns and the direction that two yarns are turned during the manufacturing process. The yarn twist brings the fibers close together and makes them compact. It helps the fibers adhere to one another, increasing yarn strength. The direction and amount of yarn twist helps determine appearance, performance, durability of both yarns and the subsequent fabric or textile product. Single yarns may be twisted to the right (s twist) or to the left (z twist). Generally, woolen and worsted yarns are s-twist, while cotton and flax yarns are typically z-twist. Twist is generally expressed as turns per inch (tpi), turns per meter (tpm), or turns per centimeter (tpc).

Twist: The condition of a yarn or similar structure when the component elements have a helical disposition such as results, for instance, from relative rotation of the yarn ends. For all practical purposes twist is measured in turns, but for purely theoretical work its measurement in radians (the si unit) often leads to much simpler mathematical expressions.

Twist Angle: The angle between the path of a yarn element and the yarn axis.

Twist Direction: Twist is described as 's' or 'z' according to which of these letters has its centre inclined in the same direction as the surface elements of a given twisted yarn.

Twist Factor; Twist Multiplier: In a yarn, the product of twist level and the square root of the linear density. Note: where units of specific length are in use, the corresponding factor is the quotient of the twist level and the square root of the count.

Twist Factor ''twist multiplier'': A measure of the "twist hardness" of a single yarn, determined by the multiplication of the turns per unit length by the square root of the linear density of the tex system.

Twist Level: The amount of twist per unit length of a yarn. Note: with the exception of false-twisting, the length is normally assumed to be that in the twisted form but, when necessary, ambiguity can be avoided by stating, for example, turns per twisted metre or turns per untwisted metre.

Twist Liveliness: The tendency of a yam to twist or untwist spontaneously. Note 1: examples of effects which may be caused by twist liveliness include snarling of yarns during processing and spirality in knitted fabrics.

Twist Liveliness: The effect caused by unbalanced torsional forces in any yarn, and of sufficient magnitude to give rise to difficulties in processing or defects in the resulting fabric. Note: examples of this are snarling (see snarl) in processing and spirality (q.v.) in knitted fabric.

Twist Multiplier; twist factor: In a yarn, the product of twist level and the square root of the linear density.

Twistless Spinning: A system of yarn formation that relies on the use of a permanent or temporary adhesive to bond fibres together. Note: where a temporary adhesive is used it is removed during fabric finishing, and the yarn (and fabric) strength is then obtained through lateral pressure produced by the interlacings in the fabric. A similar fabric construction can be achieved by using wrap spun yarns which have been produced with a soluble binder.

Twistless yarn: A yarn prepared without twist in order to obtain special properties, e.g., Increased softness and dyeability.

Twitt: Descriptive of an irregular yarn or stubbing in which local concentrations of twist have accentuated the irregular appearance. 

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