Fabric
A planar textile structure produced by interlacing yarns, fibers, or filaments.
Fabric Construction
The details of structure of fabrics. Includes such information as style, width, threads per inch in warp and fill, and weight of goods.
Fabric Sett
The number of warp threads per inch, or other convenient unit.
Face
The right or better-looking side of a fabric.
Facing
A lining or trim which protects the edges of a garment especially at collars, cuffs, and front closings.
Faconne
A broad term for fabrics with a fancy-type weave made on a Jacquard or dobby loom.
Fagoting
Decorative stitching that holds together two closely spaced folded edges of fabric with ornamental stitches.
Faille
A soft, slightly glossy fabric made of silk, rayon, cotton, wool, or man-made fibres or combinations of these fibres and having a light, flat crossgrain rib or cord made by using heavier yarns in the filling than in the warp.
Fair to Middling
The name for the grade of cotton usually used in the spinning of yarns that will be used for the production of denim fabric.
Fastness
Resistance to fading; i.e., the property of a dye to retain its color when the dyed textile material is exposed to conditions or agents such as light, perspiration, atmospheric gases, or washing that can remove or destroy the color.
Faux Astrakhan
(also known as faux Persian lamb) Faux is the French word for “fake”. Genuine astrakhan was originally the skin of very young lambs from Astrakhan Russia, from which muffs, collars and coats were made. Beginning in the late 1800s, an imitation of this fur using wool or silk with cotton was used. Today, polyester and other man-made fibers are used. A dictionary of fabric terms from 1923 states, “Faux astrakhan is a woolen or silk material of considerable warmth having a long, closely curled pile that imitates the fur of the real astrakhan lamb.”
Faux Fur
Imitation or fake fur generally made from a nonorganic fabric that’s processed in such a way as to create a similar appearance to genuine animal fur.
Faux Shearling
An imitation of the genuine (shearling) article. Shearling is the skin and wool of a year-old sheep (that has been sheared once) or a newly sheared sheep or lamb. It is removed and then tanned.
Felt
A nonwoven sheet of matted material of wool, hair, or fur, sometimes in combination with certain man-made fibers, made by a combination of mechanical and chemical action, pressure, moisture, and heat.
A woven fabric generally made from wool, but occasionally from cotton or certain man-made fibers, that is heavily shrunk and fulled, making it almost impossible to distinguish the weave.
Festamenes
A loosely woven 2x2 twill worsted dress fabric with a rough finish.
Fibre
The smallest textile component. A near microscopic, hairlike substance that may be natural or manmade. Units of matter having length at least 100 times their diameter or width. Fibres suitable for textile use possess adequate length, fineness, strength, and flexibility for yarn formation and fabric construction, and for withstanding the intended use of the completed fabric. Other properties affecting textile fibre performance include elasticity, crimp (waviness), moisture absorption, reaction to heat and sunlight, reaction to the various chemicals applied during processing and in the dry cleaning or laundering of the completed fabric, and resistance to insects and micro-organisms. The wide variation of such properties among textile fibres determines their suitability for various uses.
Filament
A fibre of an indefinite extreme length such as found naturally in silk. Man-made fibres are extruded into filaments which are converted into filament yarn, staple, or tow.
Filament Yarn
A yarn composed of continuous filaments assembled with or without twist.
Filling (also called Weft)
The lengthwise, selvage horizontal, yarns carried over and under the warp. Filling yarns generally have less twist than warp yarns because they are subjected to less strain in the weaving process and therefore require less strength.
In pile-fabric constructions, such as velvet or velveteen, extra sets of warps are used to form the pile. A single filling yarn is known as a pick.
Fineness
A relative measure of fibre size expressed in denier or tex for man-made fibres.
Finish
A substance or mixture of substances added to textile materials to impart desired properties. A process, physical or chemical, applied to textile materials to produce a desired effect. A type of treatment (e.g., lubrication) applied to thread to protect it from needle heat and to give it good sewing characteristics.
Finishing
All the processes through which fabric is passed after bleaching, dyeing, or printing in preparation for the market or use. Finishing includes such operations as heat-setting, napping, embossing, pressing, calendering, and the application of chemicals which change the character of the fabric.
Five Pocket Jean
Jeans have 2 back pockets plus 2 front pockets and a coin pocket inside the front right pocket.
Flagging
A sewing problem caused by the fabric moving up with the needle as the needle rises from the bottom of its travel causing poor loop formation and leading to skipped stitches or thread breaks.
Flame Resistant
A term used to describe a material that burns slowly or is self extinguishing after removal of an external source of ignition. A fabric or yarn can be flame resistant because of the innate properties of fiber, because of the twist level of the yarn, the fabric construction, or the presence of flame retardants, or because of a combination of these factors.
Flame Retardant
A chemical compound which can be incorporated into a textile fibre during manufacture, or applied to a fibre, fabric, or other textile item during processing or use to reduce its flammability.
Flannel
Medium weight plain or twill weave, slightly napped fabric, usually of wool, but may be of other fibres.
Flannelette
A medium-weight, plain weave fabric with a soft hand, usually made from cotton fabric is usually brushed only on one side, and is lighter weight than flannel. End uses include shirts and pajamas.
Flatlock
A 606 coverstitch machine using 4 needles, 4 loopers and 1 top cover thread made by W&G. These machines are used for producing flat seams on children’s knit garments.
Flat Seam (FS)
Join in which raw edges are abutted (or sometimes slightly overlapped) and sewn together.
Flat Felled Seam
Seam with the raw edges of both seam allowances folded under as the seam is stitched; a strong durable seam.
Flatseamer
A 607 coverstitch machine using 4 needles, 1 looper and 1 top cover thread made on a feed-off-the-arm machines.
Flax
A natural vegetable fibre composed mainly of cellulose that is processed from the stems of the flax plant. The flax plant yields long fine fibres that can be from 2” - 36” in length while the color can range from light ivory to dark tan or grey.
Fleece Fabric
A fabric with a thick, heavy surface resembling sheep’s wool. It may be a pile or napped fabric of either woven or knit construction.
Flock
The material obtained by reducing textile fibres fragments by cutting or grinding. There are two main types; precision cut flock, where all fibre lengths are approximately equal, and random cut flock, where the fibres are ground or chopped to produce a broad range of lengths.
Flocking
A method of cloth ornamentation in which adhesive is printed or coated on a fabric, and finely chopped fibres are applied all over by means of dusting, air-blasting, or electrostatic attraction.
Fluff Threads
Another name for texturized polyester or nylon threads. Fluff or texturized sewing threads are not recommended for lockstitch machines.
Foulard
A lightweight cloth that is usually printed with small figures on a solid background, foulard is frequently used in men’s ties. Today most foulards are made of filament polyester or acetate.
Fox Fibre®
Naturally Coloured Cotton, the fibres of which grow from seeds that already have their color and do not need to be dyed. It is believed that six colors (pink, red, lavender, brown, green and yellow) were developed by the ancient peoples of the Americas thousands of years ago. Sally Fox managed to breed plants that bring the fibre quality of the wilder brown cottons up to that required by modern spinning technology. FOXFIBRE® colors grow best without chemicals, opening the door to organically grown cotton, the COLORGANIC® cotton. Three shades are available today, Coyote Brown, Buffalo Brown and Palo Verde Green.
Fraying
The slipping or raveling of yarns from unfinished edges.
Frenchback
A fabric with a corded twill backing of different weave than the face. The backing, which is frequently of inferior yarn, gives added weight, warmth, and stability to the cloth.
French Seam
A “seam within a seam”; operator sews a narrow plain seam with the back sides of the fabric plies together and then sews a slightly wider plain seam with the face sides of the fabric plies together to encase the seam allowances of the first seam.
Friezé
A term applied when the pile of a velvet, plush, or other pile fabric is uncut. A friezé fabric is sometimes patterned by shearing the loops at different lengths. Friezé fabrics are widely used for upholstery.
Frost, Ice, White Out
Styling terms for the look achieved by chemical and abrasive decolorization. Many more descriptive terms are found for specific effects, such as galaxy (spotted white areas), and blizzard (90% of colour removal).
Frosting
Used to describe the process of treating garments with chemically pre-soaked stones, natural or synthetic, to achieve various decolorized patterns.
Full Cut
Refers to a garment’s fit as being generous and roomy.
Fused Lining
A lining that is fused to the two outer plies with solvent, heat and pressure. It is often used to stabilize or stiffen parts of a garment, such as a pocket or collar.
Fustian
A hard-wearing type of clothing fabric containing a large amount of weft yarn. Used to describe a class of heavily wefted fabrics.