[Fig. 1123.] represents common gauze, or linau, a substance very much used for various purposes. The essential difference between this description of cloth and all others, consists in the warp being turned or twisted like a rope during the operation of weaving, and hence it bears a considerable analogy to [lace]. The twining of gauze is not continued in the same direction, but is alternately from right to left, and vice versâ, between every intersection of the woof. The fabric of gauze is always open, flimsy, and transparent; but, from the turning of the warp, it possesses an uncommon degree of strength and tenacity in proportion to the quantity of material which it contains. This quality, together with the transparency of the fabric, renders it peculiarly adapted for ornamental purposes of various kinds, particularly for flowering or figuring, either in the loom; or by the needle. In the warp of gauze; there arises a much greater degree of contraction during the weaving, than in any other species of cloth; and this is produced by the turning. The twisting between every intersection of weft amounts precisely to one complete revolution of both threads; hence this difference exists between this and every other species of weaving, namely, that the one thread of warp is always above the woof, and the contiguous thread is always below.
[Fig. 1124.] represents a section of another species of twisted cloth, which is known by the name of catgut, and which differs from the gauze only, by being subjected to a greater degree of twine in weaving; for in place of one revolution between each intersection, a revolution and a half is always given; and thus the warp is alternately above and below, as in other kinds of weaving.
[Fig. 1125.] is a superficial representation of the most simple kind of ornamental network produced in the loom. It is called a whip-net by weavers, who use the term whip for any substance interwoven in cloth for ornamental purposes, when it is distinct from the ground of the fabric. In this, the difference is merely in the crossing of the warp; for it is very evident that the crossings at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, are of different threads from those at 6, 7, 8, and 9.
[Fig. 1126.] represents, superficially, what is called the mail-net, and is merely a combination of common gauze and the whip-net in the same fabric. The gauze here being in the same direction as the dotted line in the former figure, the whole fabric is evidently a continued succession of right-angled triangles, of which the woof forms the basis, the gauze part the perpendiculars, and the whip part the hypothenuses. The contraction here being very different, it is necessary that the gauze and whip parts should be stretched upon separate beams.