Mule-twist Yarn.—Mule-twist yarn can be spun up to the finest counts; it is softer and more elastic than ring-twist yarn; it will take up more "size" than ring-twist and, generally speaking, is more regular in construction.
Mull.—A thin plain fabric usually bleached or dyed, characterised by a soft finish, used for dress wear. Various prefixes, such as Swiss, India, and Silk, are used in conjunction with Mull. Silk Mull is made of cotton warp and silk filling, and generally of higher count, finished either dyed or printed. The Swiss and India Mulls are fine, soft, bleached cotton fabrics; Silk Mull is in point of texture twice as fine as some grades of Cotton Mull. Cotton Mull is a plain fabric free from any ornamental features or fancy weaves, depending for its beauty or attractiveness entirely on the finish. When coarse-grade Mull, intended not for dress wear but for decorative purposes, is made, it is woven coarser than the dress fabric, stiffened in the finishing, and commonly known as Starched Mull. It is 30 inches wide, and has 36 picks and 40 ends per inch. Cotton Mull is generally woven from bleached yarns and not bleached in the piece.
Mungo and Shoddy are wool products or wool fibres which have previously passed through the process of manufacture.
Before either Mungo or Shoddy is produced, the rags, tailors' clippings, pattern-room clippings, or samples from which they are made have to be dusted, sorted, and ground. The last process tears thread from thread and fibre from fibre, leaving the Mungo or Shoddy ready to be once more made up into a yarn. The name is applied to textiles made up wholly or in great part from Mungo or Shoddy.
There actually exists a technical difference between Mungo and Shoddy, due to the class of fabric from which they are made. Mungo is the product of all types of cloths which have been subjected to the milling process. Shoddy is the product of unmilled fabrics, such as flannels, stockings, wraps, etc. Mungo is usually shorter and finer in fibre than Shoddy, because, in the first place, milled cloths are nearly always made from the shorter kinds of wool; secondly, because the fibres of a milled cloth are very difficult to separate from one another and break in the process of pulling.
Both Mungo and Shoddy are rather more comprehensive terms than names for any special type of material; both classes have a number of special divisions with different names.
Nainsook.—Nainsook is a light cotton fabric of plain weave which has a very soft finish. It may be distinguished from fine Lawns, fine Batiste, and fine Cambric from the fact that it has not as firm a construction nor as much body, and for that reason is not capable of retaining as much finishing material, the result being that when finished it has a very soft feel when handled. In width it ranges from 28 to 32 inches and in length from 20 to 60 yards per piece.