Jacquard Weaving and Designing

by T. F. Bell

Fig. 164

It will be understood that, when the threads of the back cloth are being raised to form a shed, all the face threads of the corresponding portions must also be raised to clear them out of the way of the shuttle, and the raising marks for these are the short dashes on the painting. [Fig. 164] is the same pattern arranged for two threads face to one of back, which admits of a heavy backing with a fine face, and is suitable for quilts, &c. The markings are similar to those in Fig. 163, but the number of threads is not such as to admit of the plain texture repeating on the back cloth. It is therefore broken round the edges of the figure where it would least show.

Instead of having the extra harness for working the plain texture as explained in connection with the quilt harness, [Fig. 159], it might be done with four leaves of long-eyed heddles in front of the harness, or by having shafts through loops in the harness to act as heddles, or by having the cumber board divided into strips for each row of the harness, and knots on the harness twines above them, so that raising any strip will raise a row of the harness, or the machine may act as a twilling machine to work the texture.

A Marseilles quilt is a double cloth with a fine face and a coarse back, both stitched together round the edges of the pattern, and a wadding shot thrown in between them, which causes the pattern to be embossed or to rise up full and rich. The face is usually a plain texture, and the back the same; but the face has double the number of threads in it that the back has, and the yarn for the face is proportionately finer than that for the back. Two picks of fine and two of coarse weft are thrown in alternately—one pick of the fine goes into the face cloth only, and the other, also a face pick, stitches the face to the back. One of the coarse picks is thrown in between the two fabrics, and is called the wadding, and the other pick goes into the back cloth. In these fabrics a very fine effect can be produced by covering the ground with a small bird-eye pattern, stitching the back and front closely together, then having a bold floral pattern for the figuring, which, being only bound round the edges of the pattern and along veins, &c., is comparatively loose and produces a rich embossed effect. These fabrics may be woven with a twilled as well as a plain ground.

Matelasses are a similar description of fabric, but usually more ornamented, the face fabric being any fancy texture. When used for ladies’ jackets or mantles they are made of fine worsted or silk for the face, with perhaps a woollen back and a woollen or cotton wadding. The binding of the face and back cloths together takes place round the edges of the figure, and in any other portion, such as veins of leaves, &c., that may be thought desirable. The binding may be effected either by leaving down a portion of the face warp when the back pick is being thrown in, or by raising a portion of the back warp when the face pick is being thrown in, this depending upon the pattern and the counts of yarn used. The finer threads should be used for stitching, so as not to injure the face by bringing any coarse threads through to it. If the face of the cloth is a warp pattern it will be best to stitch by raising a back thread over a face pick, but if the face is a weft pattern then sinking the face warp for the back picks will probably be more satisfactory. If the cloth is made, as is frequently done, with a mohair or lustre worsted warp face with a cotton weft, and a cotton warp back with a woollen weft, and a woollen wadding, then the binding would be effected by raising some of the back warp thread over the face picks. One pick (woollen) for wadding would be thrown into a shed formed by raising all the face warp; the next pick would be for the back, thrown into a shed formed by raising all the face warp and that portion of the back warp required to form the texture of the back cloth; the third pick would be for the face, thrown into a shed formed by raising the portion of face warp required for the pattern, as well as those ends of the back warp that are to form the stitchings.

Quiltings.—A great variety of the cheaper description of quiltings, toilet covers, &c., consist of a face cloth with an additional thick weft. This thick weft is woven into the ground, which may be a twill, mat, &c., but flushed loosely at the back of the figure, which is a plain texture. Sometimes there is a small quantity of thin warp for binding the thick weft loosely at the back of the figure, making a double cloth in this portion, but all working together for the ground, making it a solid cloth.

Of more recent origin are the satin quilts made by Messrs. Barlow and Jones, of Bolton, and some other firms. They consist of two plain cloths, intimately bound together; one cloth has a fine warp and a very coarse weft, and the other has a fine weft and a coarser warp. When binding, the fine warp is made to catch on the fine weft, and the thick warp and weft cover the bindings. Suppose the fine warp to be white and the thicker warp to be blue, and let the warping be two threads blue and one white. Let the white warp be wefted with a thick twist weft—say four times as thick as the warp—and this coarse weft will form the figure. Let the blue warp be wefted with a blue weft perhaps double the count of its warp, and in binding this weft catches on the fine white warp. The thick white weft, which is fully double the thickness of the thick warp, effectually covers the tie, and when the yarns are properly proportioned the pattern stands out, producing a clear stamped or embossed effect. These cloths may be made with a twilled ground, and either all white or white and coloured. They are a good firm fabric and wear well, but are liable to have a coarser appearance after being washed. (See also Terry-Pile Quilts.)

Woollens and Worsteds.—Weaving woollen and worsted cloths in the jacquard loom is merely an extension of the patterns produced with shaft mountings, or sometimes the same patterns are woven on small jacquards by those who prefer the jacquard to working a larger number of healds when the cloth is not so heavy as to require the latter to be used, healds as a rule making a firmer and heavier cloth than a jacquard will. Light worsted goods for dress fabrics, &c., are figured like damask, or as double weft or double warp-faced cloths, or may be as double cloths.

Curtains and Tapestries.—These, though sometimes of damask, are usually made on some principle of double cloth, as indeed all cloths must be when a rich brilliant effect of colours is required. One of the simplest methods of making these fabrics, and which produces a very good effect, is to employ a fine binding warp of twist cotton and produce the pattern on it with two, three, or more coloured wefts of worsted, mohair, or silk—say a spun silk ground weft and a mohair or fine worsted figure. A small portion of a diamond pattern, greatly reduced for want of space, is given in [Fig. 165]. It is intended for three colours of weft—one for the ground and two for the figure. The ground weft might be black or gold, and the figure wefts olive green and dull red, or claret, the warp to be black or a deep navy blue.

For this pattern three cards must be cut from each line of the design paper—one for the ground weft and one for each colour of the figure. The design is painted in various colours, which are here represented by different markings on the squares. Let the black squares represent the olive and the dotted squares the red of the figure. The white squares represent the ground weft, and the shaded squares on it are for binding the face weft down, while the crosses are for binding up the weft at the back. The cutting of the cards is as follows:—For the ground shuttle cut all the shaded, black, and dotted squares—that is, the shaded squares on the ground and all the figure. For the first figure shuttle (olive) cut all the ground except the crosses (that is, the white and shaded squares) and the dotted squares of the figure. For the second figure shuttle (red) cut all the ground except the crosses, as before, and the black squares of the figure.