D

yeing has always occupied a unique place among textile processes, the application of dye stuffs being regarded as a craft or an art, and dyers as somehow different from other textile workers.

As commonly understood, dyeing is that process which imparts colour to the whole of a fabric or yarn.

In practice there are numerous exceptions. We put a cloth of mixed silk and wool into a dye beck, and it comes out only partially coloured, or in two different colours, the silk a fine yellow, and the wool a strong brown. Such differences, however, are the refinements of the dyer’s art.

Dyeing machinery has benefited from many developments in recent years , the use of stainless materials in machine construction, and the introduction of automatic controls, have given the biggest refinements to modern dyeing machines.

What are the qualities required of a spun yarn?

Fineness, uniformity, and strength, are the general attributes of the yarns which command the confidence of weavers.

Fineness - Here we encounter a formidable obstacle, no common measure of yarns has been devised. In general it may be taken that the diameter of a fibre is the measure of its fine-spinning capacity. But other factors come into the problem, wool threads for example, are not considered by us in relation to just fineness, because the requirements of the weaver is for a smooth, regular, yet soft and strong thread of good covering quality.

Uniformity, Soundness, Regularity - We group all these three qualities together because they all spring from the one source and depend upon one another.

Strength - Three factors make up the tensile strength of a thread, the strength of the fibres, the number of fibres in the thickness, and the degree of twist

W

arp is the strength of the cloth; it is the bone and muscle of the body to which weft is the flesh and skin. The threads of warp are continuous throughout the whole length of a piece of cloth; the weft threads run across the breadth.

In Scottish towns where hand-loom weaving was the principle industry there were men, called “websters”, who did nothing else but warp and beam yarns for the weavers. These men were generally recognised as superior in intelligence and knowledge of their craft to the average weaver. The beamer was the acknowledged yarn expert of the locality, and his knowledge of weaving was relied upon constantly and referred to in matters of difficulty.

The position and function of the“wabster”, was immortalised by Burns in the satirical song, “Willie Wastle”:

“ Willie Wastle dwalt on Tweed, The spot they ca’d it Linkumdoddie. Willie was a wabster guid, Could stow a clue wi’ onie bodie.”

The complete warping mill is in four sections - the creel, the heck, the warping mill, and the beaming part. The creel is a high frame, with horizontal pegs, capable of holding in rows, one above the other, up to 400 cones of yarn. The yarns are arranged in colour sequence depending on the design.

The creel is a high frame, with horizontal pegs, capable of holding in rows, one above the other, up to 400 The threads pass through the heck which is a series of vertical steel pins, through the centre of each pin a hole has been drilled capable of letting a warp thread through. The pins can be parted odd numbers being opposed to even and then vice versa, each time a lease yarn is threaded through the section. This is done at the start and finish of the warp to ensure we have a reference point that the following processors can rely on. The creel is a high frame, with horizontal pegs, capable of holding in rows, one above the other, up to 400 We now ready to produce the warp, if we have set into the creel 400 ends, and the requirement is for an article consisting of 6,000 ends we must wrap 15 sections of 400 ends onto the warp mill one at a time.

The creel is a high frame, with horizontal pegs, capable of holding in rows, one above the other, up to 400 Once the completed warp is finished, using the beaming part we transfer all the 6,000 ends onto a warp beam.

The definition of a woven fabric is :

Two series of threads which cross one another at right angles and interlace with one another according to the style of structure required.

The method of effecting the interlacing are made by five principle motions of weaving: shedding, picking, beat-up, winding-up, and letting-off.

Shedding - the lifting of the healds to form a “shed” or opening for the rapier to pass through.
Picking - insertion of the weft by means of the pick selectors and the rapiers.
Beat-up - the thread left in the shed by the rapiers is beat-up to the cloth already formed.
Winding-up, letting-off - refers to the taking-up of the cloth as it is woven, and the letting-off of
the warp as the cloth is taken up.

W

hen a woven fabric comes off the loom, there may be unavoidable defects within the cloth. A break in warp or weft, a flying thread or all too-obvious knot. Correction of the weaver’s faults is the job of the mender; and the mending department has three main operations, inspection, burling, and mending.

Weaving Inspection - All fabric is inspected as soon as it comes from the loom , the main point to this action is to detect problems that may have been caused by the loom, to catch these faults quickly and unerringly is no easy task, and the inspector is called upon to exercise the utmost vigilance.

Burling - The cloth is passed over the mending table and pulled down metre by metre. There should be good light above and behind the fabric, the knots and flying threads are all removed and made good by hand.

Mending or Darning - All the breaks in warp and weft must be repaired imitating closely the weave of the body of the cloth. Provided with yarn equal in count and quality to those already in the cloth, the mender carefully works the needle along the line of weft, or warp, or both, and draws the end into place, How delicate the work is, only a careful scrutiny of fine cloth can show.

T

o a very large degree, the qualities of weft and warp, and the nature of the weave, determine the class of goods to which a wool fabric must belong. We can never make a cloth woven with woollen yarn into a worsted, nor is it possible to change a twill into a plain cloth after it has been woven.

Within certain limits, however, cloths woven in precisely the same way, and composed of the same yarns, may be made into fabrics of different appearance. The magic of the finisher is evident here.

The worsted finisher enhances the value and appearance of the cloth, imparting to its lustre, unshrinkableness, permanence of face, and clearness.

The finishing of worsted fabrics is a series of processes, varied , complex, and exceedingly difficult to bring under systematic observation. The same operations occur at different stages of the finishing of various fabrics; repetitions of operations are frequent on nearly all cloths.

The general operations are:
Scouring, Milling or Fulling, Tentering, Cropping, Pressing, Decatising