Saddle Stitch
Decorative running stitch, ¼ inch to ½ inch long. Stitch Type 205 (variation). Looks like cobbler’s stitching.
Safety Stitch
A stitch formation that incorporates both chainstitch and overedge.
Sailcloth
Any heavy, strongly made woven canvas of cotton, linen, jute, polyester, or nylon, etc., that is used for sails. The fabric usually has a construction of 184-square with a weight of about 0.2 lb/yd.
SAK (or Supima)
An extra long staple (ELS) cotton grown in Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and California, with fiber lengths varying in length from 1 ¼ to 1 9/16 inches.
Sanding / Emerising
A fabric finishing process where fabrics are sanded (real sandpaper) to make the surface soft without hair. Can be performed before or after dyeing.
Sandblast
A laundry process where jeans before washing are literally shot with guns of sand in order to make the jeans look as if they have been worn. While originally done only by hand, this processing has recently become automated. Chemicals are also now used in many laundries replacing sand.
A finishing process that uses sand, aluminum oxide, chemicals or brushing to literally blast color from the fabric to create contrast.
Sandwashing
Wet process closely related to stonewashing but using particles of sand to gently soften the fabric.
Sanforize
A Cluett Peabody and Company trademark for the preshrinking fabric process that limits residual fabric shrinkage to under 1%. Developed in the late 1920s by the Sanforize Co., the process was used on the garments in Wrangler’s first jeans line in 1947.
Sateen
A cotton fabric made in a satin weave.
Satin Stitch
Used for pictorial detailing such as flora and fauna. Straight, long stitches worked closely together either vertically or at an angle to fill a large area. Characterized by its satiny surface.
Satin Weave
A fabric weave where one yarn floats over a series of yarns before it interlaces once. When the warp floats over a series of picks (at least four) the fabric is called satin. When the filling floats over a series of ends the fabric is called sateen. Satin weaves make fabric surfaces shiny and very smooth.
Saxony
A high-grade fabric for coats, made from Saxony Merino wool. A soft woolen with fancy yarn effects, used in sports coating. A highly twisted worsted knitting yarn.
Schappe
A yarn from partly degummed silk waste.
Scorching
The tendering of a fibre surface by heat so as to change the color and texture of the surface.
Scouring
An industrial process where dirt or starch (oil, grease, sizing) is taken off fabrics.
Screening
A laundry process where jeans are checked for quality, repaired, price tagged and packed.
Scrim
A lightweight, open-weave, coarse fabric; the best qualities are made with two-ply yarns. Cotton scrim usually comes in white, cream, or ecru and is used for window curtains and as backing for carpets.
Sculpted Hem
A hem that is softly rounded for fashion detail.
Sea Island Cotton
Along with Egyptian cotton fibre, the finest grade of cotton available. The fibre can be spun into yarn two times finer than Pima, the next best cotton grade.
Seam
Join resulting when two or more fabric pieces are sewn together. According to Federal Specification 751a entitled “Stitches, Seams & Stitchings”, a seam is a series of stitches used to join two or more plies of fabric.
Seam Grin
Unsightly result that occurs when the seamline spreads open exposing the stitches so that they appear similar to the teeth of a grin.
Seam Pucker
Lack of seam smoothness that detracts from the appearance of the garment. A common problem on woven fabrics.
Seam Slippage
Damage that occurs when the fabric pulls away from the stitches of the seamline under stress.
Seam Strength
A measurement of the load required to rupture a seam.
Seamless Collar
A collar that is knit in a circle and is set in circular. There are no joining seams in the collar. Found in better-made Tee Shirts.
S.E.B. (Single End Break)
The single-end breaking strength of the thread or tensile strength when stress is applied across a single strand of thread until it ruptures. Usually measured in pounds, ounces or grams.
Seed Bead
Coloured or clear, seed beads are tiny beads that add a luminescent quality to the surface of a fabric. They can be applied in a pictorial or abstract pattern in different sizes and materials.
Seersucker
Lightweight fabric, made of cotton or man-made fiber, having crinkled stripes made by weaving some of the warp threads slack and others tight. Woven seersucker is more expensive than are imitations made by chemical treatment.
Self-fabric Sweatband
Refers to headwear where the sweatband is constructed with the same fabric as the crown.
Selvage or Selvedge
The narrow edge of woven fabric that runs parallel to the warp. It is made with stronger yarns in a tighter construction than the body of the fabric to prevent raveling.
Selvage Denim
Old 28/29 inch shuttle looms produced denim where selvages were closed. Vintage Levi’s jeans had a single red stripe along both selvages, Lee’s had a blue/green along one, Wrangler’s was yellow. When vintage shopping for jeanswear check jackets and jeans for selvages because they are a great clue to the real thing.
Serge
Any smooth-faced cloth made with a two-up and two-down twill weave.
Serge Stitch
An overcastting technique done on the cut edge of the fabric to prevent unraveling.
Serging
Overcasting the cut edge of a fabric to prevent raveling.
Set-in Sleeve
A style of sleeve that is sewn into the shoulder, as opposed to the neck.
Sequin
A small, shiny, iridesecent pierced disk in metal or plastic sewn onto garments for decorative effect to cover a portion or entire surface area.
Sewability
The performance of thread on a sewing machine. Good sewability means that the thread seldom breaks or skips stitches.
Shade Batching
The process of selecting batches of fabrics into homogeneous shade lots to obtain consistent color continuity in garment making.
Shade Blanket
Where fabric is cut from each roll of fabric, sewn together, with roll numbers on the back of each pad to allow manufacturers to wash and identify all shade colors of each roll. This is an important tool in cutting apparel made from denim to ensure you cut garments from the same shade group.
Shade Cloth
A plain-weave cotton or linen fabric that is heavily sized and is often given oil treatment to make it opaque. This fabric is used for curtains and shades.
Shading
In cut-pile fabrics, an apparent change in color when the pile is bent, caused by differences in the way light is reflected off the bent fibers. This phenomenon is a characteristic of pile fabrics, not a defect.
Shantung
A mediumweight, plain weave fabric, characterized by a ribbed effect, resulting in slubbed yarns used in the warp or filling direction.
Sharkskin
A hard-finished twilled, fabric, woolen or worsted, made of simple weaves with a two-color arrangement of warp and filling yarns. A plain-weave sportswear fabric made of dull-luster acetate or triacetate yarns.
Shearling
The skin and wool of a shearling (a year-old sheep that has been sheared once) or a newly sheared sheep or lamb that is removed and then tanned.
Sheet Range Dyeing
A yarn-dyeing process for indigo fabrics in which the yarns are dipped parallel into the indigo dye baths.
Sherpa
As the garment is woven, the outside of this cotton-backed fabric is brushed with a wire brush to give the garment a very soft “fuzzy” feel.
Shrink-to-fit
Before sanforizing and stonewashing, jeans came ‘nature’: stiff as cod, dark and extra long. They were unwearable. After the first wash at home they shrank to fit and eventually became the right size (and colour).
Shuttle
The weft insertion device that propels the filling yarn across (over and under) the warp yarns. Shuttles used to be (shuttle looms) wooden with a metal tip.
Side Vents
Slits found at the bottom of side seams. They are fashion details that allow for comfort and ease of movement.
Silicone
Silicones are silicon-containing polymer materials that have found wide use in industry because of their great stability. They are available as fluids, sealant-adhesives, moldable resins, and rubbers. When the first silicone oil was made in the 1870s, its insensitivity to both high and low temperatures was noted, but the first silicone rubbers were not invented until 1943. In the 1950s silicones were developed commercially for the aerospace and electronics industries but rapidly found applications in many fields, especially construction. Some fluid silicones are used in garment finishing, to give a smooth handle to fabrics.
Silk
Silk is the filament secreted by the silkworm when spinning its cocoon, and the name for the threads, yarns, and fabrics made from the filament. Most commercial silk is produced by the cultivate silkworm, Bombyx mori, which feeds exclusively on the leaves of certain varieties of mulberry trees and spins a thin, white filament. Several species of wild silkworm feed on oak, cherry, and mulberry leaves and produce a brown, hairy filament that is three times the thickness of the cultivated filament and is called tussah silk.
Singeing
A phase of finishing when the fabric surface hair is burnt (or singed) using a controlled flame, to give a clean appearance to the fabrics. The process of burning off protruding fibres from yarn or fabric by passing it over a flame or heated copper plates. Singeing gives the fabric a smooth surface and is necessary for fabrics which are to be printed and for fabrics where smooth finishes are desired.
Single-end Strength
The breaking point of thread.
Singles Equivalent Size
The yarn size divided by the number of ply. (e.g., 40/2 yarn has a 20 equivalent size; 60/2 has a 30 equivalent size).
Single-knit Fabric
Also called plain knit, a fabric constructed with one needle bed and one set of needles.
Singles Yarn
The simplest strand of textile material suitable for operations such as weaving and knitting. A singles yarn may be formed from fibres with more or less twist; from filaments with or without twist; from narrow strips of material such as paper, cellophane, or metal foil; or from Monofilaments. When twist is present, it is all in the same direction.
Sisal
A strong, white, bast fibre produced from leaves of the Agape plant which is found in Central America, West Indies, and Africa. Sisal is used chiefly for cordage and twine.
Sizing
Starch, gelatin, glue, wax that is added to fabrics in the finishing state to improve touch or weight and to help fabric laying in the cutting phase. Denim fabrics for example have almost 1 oz of sizing. Sizing is also applied to reinforce warp yarns during weaving. Most common starches used are corn in the United States, rice in Asia, and potato in Europe, or POOH and other chemical substances. Look out for fabrics containing PCP, a highly toxic chemical still used sometimes as sizing agent.
Skein
A continuous strand of yarn or cord in the form of a collapsed coil. It may be of any unspecified length and is usually obtained by winding a definite number of turns on a reel under prescribed conditions.
Skewing
Twill fabrics have to be ensured not to skew or not unroll.
Skipped Stitches
Malformed stitches caused when a stitch-forming device misses its appropriate loop.
Skying
Process in which the indigo dye is oxidated, or exposed to the air, a step that is necessary to develop and fix the colour.
Slash Pockets
A pocket that has to be entered through a slash on the outside of the garment. The pocket pouch is suspended from and attached to the slash.
Slashing
The last step in preparing dyed yarn for weaving. Threads from several section beams are combined, a wax and starch solution is added, and the threads are dried and wound onto a loom beam. The wax acts as a lubricant and the starch prevents loss of fibres and adds strength needed in the weaving process.
Slushier Dyed
One of the three methods to dye indigo yarn.
Slipstitch
“Invisible” form of the running stitch, used to join a folded edge to another play of fabric with the stitches hidden in the fold.
Sliver
Continuous strands of fibre untwisted that come from carding.
Slub
A yarn defect consisting of a lump or thick place on the yarn caused by lint or small lengths of yarn adhering to it. Generally, in filament yarn, a slub is the result of broken filaments which have stripped back from the end from which they are attached.
Slub Yarn
A yarn that is spun purposely to look irregular in shape (length and diameter). Usually slub yarns are very regular in repeat and size.
Smocking
Stitching that uses decorative stitches to hold the fabric in even, accordion-like pleats.
Snag
A pulled thread in knits. It is in the wale direction in warp knits and in the course direction of weft knits.
Snarl
A short length of warp or filling yarn that has twisted on itself owing to lively twist or insufficient tension. The snarling may occur during or prior to the weaving process.
Soft Finish
A thread finish that does not change physical characteristics of the thread. A soft finish utilizing no special treatment other than bleaching, dyeing and/or lubricating.
Soft-ribbed Cotton
A fine-ribbed cotton knit using altering wales.
Solution-dyed
A type of fibre dyeing in which coloured pigments are injected into the spinning prior to the extrusion of the fibre through the spinneret.
Spandex (PU)
Generic name for man-made fibres derived from a resin called segmented polyurethane. It has good stretch and recovery properties.
Characteristics: Spandex is lighter in weight, more durable, and more supple than conventional elastic threads and has between two and three times their restraining power. Spandex is extruded in a multiplicity of fine filaments which immediately form a monofilament. It can be repeatedly stretched over 500% without breaking and still recover instantly to its original length. It does not suffer deterioration from oxidation as is the case with fine sizes of rubber thread, and it is not damaged by body oils, perspiration, lotions, or detergents.
End Uses: Spandex is used in foundation garments, bathing suits, hose, and webbings.
Spinneret
A metal disc containing numerous minute holes used in yarn extrusion. The spinning solution or melted polymer is forced through the holes to form the yarn filaments.
Spinning
Spinning is the process by which cotton, wool, flax, and other short fibres are twisted together to produce a yarn or thread suitable for weaving into cloth, winding into rope or cable, or used in sewing. (Long, continuous fibres, such as silk, are not spun. To achieve strength and the appropriate thickness, they are thrown, or twisted, together.)
Short lengths of fibres
normally measured in inches or fraction of inches, like those naturally found in cotton and wool. Silk, on the other hand, is the only natural fibre that does not come in staple lengths but instead in filament lengths.
Spool
A flanged wooden or metal cylinder upon which yarn, thread, or wire is wound. The spool has an axial hole for a pin or spindle used in winding.
Spreader
A thread carrying device that has no eye. It borrows its thread and moves the loop into a position for the needle to reenter, thus forming the stitch. Used in overedge, coverstitch, blindstitch and buttonsewing machines. Except for coverstitch machines, a spreader does not have its own source of thread.
Spun Polyester
A thread made from staple polyester fibers which are spun into single strands and then plied into a thread.
Staple
Natural fibres or cut lengths from filaments. The staple length of natural fibres varies from 1 inch as with some cotton fibres to several feet for some hard fibres. The term staple (fibre) is used in the textile industry to distinguish natural or cut length man-made fibres from filament.
Stitch
Thread interlocking or interlooping that holds a garment together.
Stitch Density
The number of stitches per unit of length of seam.
Stitches Per Inch (SPI)
Measurement of stitch length. The number of stitches made in one inch of seam, starting at needle penetration and measuring the lengths of thread between needle penetrations.
Stitches Per Minute (SPM)
Measurement of sewing speed.
Stitching
According to Federal Specifications 751a entitled “Stitches, Seams & Stitchings”, a stitching consists of a series of stitches used as a decorative stitch or hemming of a single ply of fabric.
Stockinette
A knit fabric in tubular or flat form made with a plain stitch from wool, cotton, man-made fibres, or a combination of these fibres. Stockinette fabrics are used for underwear, industrial applications, and other purposes. In heavier constructions, dyed and napped stockinette finds apparel uses. (Also spelled stockinet.)
Stones
Natural volcanic pumice or man-made synthetic pellets which can be soaked in bleach and tumbled with bluejeans to abrade and differentially bleach portions of the garment.
Stonewash
A type of wash where jeans are abraded with stones. A finishing process that tumbles garments in the washing machine with pumice stones ranging in size from marbles to golf balls. New process uses porous ceramic balls and cellulose enzymes.
Storm Flap
A strip of fabric sewn under or over the front zip or snap closure of an outerwear garment to protect against wind and moisture.
Strand
A single fiber, filament, or monofilament.
Straw
A general term for plant fibres obtained from stems, stalks, leaves, bark, grass, etc. They are made into hats, bags, shoes, mats, etc., by weaving, pleating, or braiding.
Stretch Baby Terry
A soft, luxurious blend of cotton and either Lycra® or spandex. It has a smooth face and a looped back that is soft, comfortable and not as hot as a sweatshirt.
Structured
A cap style with a lined front consisting of buckram, a stiff fabric, that controls the slope of the cap.
S-Twist Yarn
A right-handed twisted yarn. See also Z-Twist.
Sublimation
(color fastness to heat) A loss of material as a result of surface evaporation of a solid. Some dyes lose color by sublimation. Chemical process whereby certain dyes (primarily disperse dyes) lose color when exposed to heat as a result of surface evaporation of the solid dye.
Suede Fabric
Woven or knitted cloth finished to resemble suede leather, usually by napping, shearing, and sanding techniques.
Sulphur
A type of dyestuff used frequently on blacks, and neutrals (khaki’s) while economical, has only moderate fastness to washing and light.
Superimposed Seam (SS)
Seam created by superimposing fabric plies, or stacking them on top of one another with edges even, and sewing them together near the edge.
Surah
A soft fabric of silk or filament polyester or acetate, usually a twill and often woven in a plaid. Surah is used for ties, mufflers, blouses, and dresses.
Swatch
A small piece of fabric used as a representative sample of any fabric.
Synthetic Dyes
In 1856 William Henry Perkin, and English chemist, discovered the synthetic dye mauveine. From this day forward, synthetic dyestuffs began to supplant natural dyes. The synthetic-dye manufacturing industry was founded by Perkins in 1857, when he set up facilities near London for the commercial production of mauveine and, later, of other synthetic dyes. Other dye-making factories followed both in the U.K. And continental Europe, and new dyes began to appear on the market.
Synthetic Fibres
Chemicals combined into large molecules called polymers, produce fibres like nylon, polyester, spandex, acrylic, modacrylic, olefin, saran, spandex, and vinyon.