Ratine.—A wool material similar to a Chinchilla, but having smaller tufts with wider spacings between. This material is always plain woven and is of comparatively recent creation; it can be described as a very rough surface dress fabric, properly in part of wool, but now also made entirely of cotton. The characteristic rough surface is caused by the use of special fancy weft threads which are composed of two or more different size yarns so twisted together as to produce knob effects at intervals in the thread. A more expensive fabric is made of filling threads composed of braided yarns. The trade now applies the name to imitation effects produced by terry weaves, Turkish Towelling fabrics, bouclé and bourette effects.
Rayé.—This is the French term for "striped" and is applied to patterns running longitudinally with the warp in textile fabrics, produced by employing a special weave or two or more colours of warp specially arranged.
Reed and Pick are terms applied in the cotton industry to the number of threads in a given space—usually ¼ inch or 1 inch—in the warp and weft respectively. These terms are not generally employed, however, in all textile districts; the term "make" or "ends and picks per inch" is applied to worsted cloths, whilst "sett" and "shots" are used with the same meaning in the linen industry.
The word "counts," which refers to the number or thickness of yarn, is sometimes erroneously used in this connexion, probably owing to the fact that the expression "counts to the 1-inch glass" is also used in reference to reed and pick.
Rembrandt Rib.—Applied to women's stockings having groups of five drop-stitches, separated by 1 inch of plain knitting running the full length.
Rep.—The name Rep is used to designate certain fabrics that have as a predominant feature a rep or rib running transversely across the face of the cloth. The term may also be applied to the actual weft rib which appears in the material.
Reps are what is known as warp-ribbed fabrics, i.e., fabrics with the rib or rep running weftways, and for that reason may be considered the opposite of cords. The term "warp-ribbed" might at first sight appear to designate a rib running warpways, that is to say, in the longitudinal direction of the cloth, whereas a warp rib is a warp surface weave in which, owing to the thickness of the weft picks or to the grouping of a number of weft picks together, the warp threads are made to bend round them, and being thus thrown to the surface produce a ribbed appearance across the piece. Reps, unless specially designated, are dyed plain cotton fabrics with an average width of 32 inches and a length of 32 yards per piece.