Can any one tell the names of any of these silks? Yes, the plain one is a taffeta. It is plain in color; and the weave is plain, the same on both sides. Sometimes it comes with printed and woven figures. What is the difference between a woven and a printed design? Here is a piece with a printed design. It is a foulard silk. How does this design differ from the taffeta with the design? Foulard silk is used for dresses. Taffeta is also; as well as for linings and for petticoats. A cheap quality of taffeta does not wear well. It costs from 75 cents to $2.00 a yard, and is woven 21 inches and wider. Foulards are about 24 inches wide and can be bought for the same price as the taffetas. Mollie's mother had a foulard silk dress last summer; so did Grandmother Allen.
Here is a soft crinkling white piece and a dark blue just like it; and also a black piece. These are called crêpe de chine and are used for dresses, also; and sometimes for underwear. It is soft and lustrous, and comes in plain colors and sometimes printed. It costs from 75 cents up and is woven 22 inches and sometimes wider.
Shall we start another book of materials, and see how many silks we can learn about?
The piece Barbara Oakes brought is smooth and shiny on the right side. Does anyone know the name? It is woven in such a way that the filling thread goes over several threads and under one. Try it on your school loom. This weave brings most of the filling thread on the surface of the cloth. The material is called satin, and the weave is the satin weave. Some cottons are woven with the satin weave, and often in table linen or damask we see the smooth satin weave. Here is a bit of damask table linen. Let us compare this smooth part with the satin.
Courtesy of Crompton and Knowles.
Fig. 73.—The Jacquard loom. Notice the cards with punched holes above it. They affect the pattern. Can you find the cloth which is being woven?
Satins are used for dresses, linings, trimmings, boxes, and for many other purposes. They cost $1 to $20 per yard, if very beautiful, and are woven from 21 to 54 inches wide. Satin is sometimes made of a combination of linen or cotton, with the silk. It is then less expensive. The woof, or filling thread, which gives the smooth finish is silk; and it is that which shows in the finished cloth. This piece of silk, which looks figured like table linen, only it is made of silk, is called a brocaded satin. This satin is used for dresses and trimmings, and often for furniture covering and for hangings in beautiful rooms. It is made on a loom called a Jacquard. Table damask is made on the same kind of loom. This wonderful loom (Fig. 73) is able to produce very beautiful patterns, because of the management of the perforated cards above the loom which affect the pattern.
The soft white piece is china silk. Little Alice Allen had a dress made of it last summer. It is a plain weave, and many of such silks are still woven by hand in China. It is very durable and is used for dresses, waists, and underwear. It costs $1 for a fairly good quality, and is woven 24 inches wide.