[Fig. 170] is another make of velvet for a heavier fabric, with 60 threads of warp per inch, and from 350 to 400 picks. It makes a good firm cloth, suitable for curtains or furniture coverings. The principle of designing is the same as for [Fig. 169]. Both these patterns are portions of a diamond figure.
When the figure is produced with a warp pile, it is only necessary to raise the proper warp threads with the jacquard for the insertion of each wire, but the difficulty to contend with is that there will be an irregular take-up of the warp pile threads, and this can only be remedied by having a number of small warp beams. In some cases a separate spool for each warp thread may be required, which, of course, for a fine velvet means a very intricate arrangement, though it suits very well for pile carpets. Different heights of pile can be formed through a pattern in this way—say, a short pile to be left looped, and a longer pile to be cut, which, in suitable colours of pile and ground, forms a very beautiful though costly fabric.
Fig. 170
Another method of warp pile weaving, more easily accomplished, is that known as terry, or Turkish towel weaving. It is largely used for quilts, toilet covers, towels, &c., and any bold figure can be woven on it with almost as much ease as on ordinary damask work.
There are two methods of forming figures on the cloth in this style of weaving, one by having two colours of pile warp and changing them from one side to the other to form the figure or ground—that is, supposing the one pile warp to be red and the other white—pile would be thrown up on both sides of the cloth at the same time; on one side the figure would be formed by the red pile and the ground by the white pile, and the other side would be the reverse of this. [Fig. 171] is a portion of a pattern of this style. The black squares represent, say, the red warp-forming loops on the face of the cloth, and the shaded squares the same for the white warp. The crosses are the ground or binding threads; and the dots represent the pile threads of the colours they are on, raised to bind with the weft, when these threads are forming pile on the underside of the cloth.
Fig. 171