Subject to this limitation, then, plain carpets, and plain Wiltons in particular, are all right for those who like them. The manufacturer does not regard them with great enthusiasm, for, though in some respects they are easier to make than figured goods, yet they are exacting if they are to be turned out perfectly. Moreover, they are more subject to competition, and do not afford scope for artistic skill in design and colour combination.
As has been indicated, Wilton carpeting, like Brussels, has, in comparison with some of its competitors, two main limitations; one economic and one artistic. For every square or tuft of yarn showing on the surface, there are, roughly, from two to four parts uneconomically used in the body of the fabric, and the number of shades that can be used to work one over the other to form the pattern is limited to five, or, exceptionally, to six. These limitations, however, are not serious ones; and the Wilton carpet, in its higher grades, is regarded by many as the best of all machine-made carpets. It is certainly the finest; and closeness of texture, broadly speaking, means both finer effects and better wear. The higher grades of Wilton are made, as has been stated, in pitch and beat-up which give from 95 to 123 points to the square inch; so that in the matter both of texture and of delicacy of design, effects can be produced in Wilton which surpass those of any other carpet fabric, with the exception of the finest Persians.
CHAPTER VII
AXMINSTER
Axminster carpets, though in point of time a comparatively recent development of the industry, may claim to be, in point of structure, the nearest related of all machine-made fabrics to the Oriental ancestor. The similarity lies in the fact that they are tufted; and the tuft, though inserted in the fabric mechanically, and bound down without being knotted, undoubtedly represents the knotted tuft of the original hand-made carpet. The essential feature of a tufted Axminster carpet is that the tufts are inserted row by row between the warp threads, either before or after being cut off, and are then bound down by the weft, and so woven into the ground of the texture. Each tuft is used on the surface, and forms part of the design; none of the tuft material is hidden away or wasted in the body of the fabric beyond what is needed for attachment to the binding weft.
The Axminster loom was introduced into England from the United States about 1878; and since that time the fabric has developed steadily, with an increasing popularity, which has only been rivalled in recent years by that of the Chenille Axminster. Bradbury, in commenting upon the similarity of Axminster in structure and appearance to the original hand-made carpet, says: “Generally speaking they are far superior to Eastern and hand-made productions, and where price is permitted to enter as a factor, they leave these primitive structures still further in the rear.” This may appear to some an extravagant appreciation; but there can be no difference of opinion as regards the general merits of the fabric. It combines economy in the use of material, and in manufacture, with richness of texture and almost unlimited potentialities of design and colour effect.
As in other carpet fabrics, there are in Axminster plenty of varieties of qualities; but there are comparatively few differences in structure, such differences as exist being mainly matters of pitch, tuft, or method of tufting and binding. The original Axminster quality was called the Royal. This is about 5 per inch in the pitch, and 6 in the beat-up, with a tuft of about 7/8 in. This held the field until 1893, when a strong invasion of the British market by American Axminster, offered at a considerably lower price, caused the Axminster makers of this country to bestir themselves to meet this competition. They did so strenuously; and the result was the production of the quality known as the Imperial Axminster, which had an instant and a lasting success. This was made in a pitch of 7 to the inch, and a beat-up of about 6½, and was put on the market at a moderate price. For many years it held the position of being the critical quality of the whole trade; the standard by which the value of other qualities was measured, and, as has been intimated, it is only of recent years that its position has been challenged by the Chenille Axminster.
At the present time, it would probably be safe to estimate that three-quarters of Axminster manufacturers’ looms are being run on this quality.
The Imperial Axminster quality may, therefore, be taken as typical of the fabric; and a description of how it is made will cover most of the ground, while variations from the standard type can be indicated. The quality itself is made in slightly different ways by different makers, but a normal standard will have the usual double chain, preferably of 2-14 or other linen, but sometimes of cotton, a cotton stuffer, one end to each reed, and a jute weft of about 2 fold 7½ lb. count. The pitch is 189 or 190 in the 3-4 width. Fig. 7 gives a transverse section through the weft of the weave ordinarily employed. In this there are three warps employed, the two chain warps being wound on one beam, and the stuffer warp, which runs straight in the fabric, on another. There are three double shots of weft to each row of tufts. The two halves of the chain warp alternately bind two double shots above, the tuft binding shot and the intermediate, and one below. The effect of this structure is to form a flat back, and also, through the lateral pressure of the intermediate weft upon the tuft weft, under the same warp shed, to give the tuft a distinct inclination out of the vertical, adding thereby to the fabric a point of similarity to the hand-tufted carpet.
