The Taffeta
Though woven from the same armor (cloth), all the fabrics which derive from taffeta are not alike; They have particular qualities which they derive from their mode of manufacture, and which produce, by eye or hand, effects which serve to differentiate them, and which makes them assign special names. We shall deal successively with each of them.

Taffeta in general
Taffetas, linen or canvas, is the simplest, the most solid, the easiest to conceive fabric (Editor's note: but also the most difficult to succeed because it does not forgive anything), and the one whose use is the most widespread. It is the first of all the stuffs, it is the oldest known, it is the one whose kind of crossing is closest to the old mats, hurdles, braids, etc. It is the easiest to conceive and to execute, because it is reproduced at each step in the simplest and most common objects which serve our needs. We need not here speak of the crossing of taffeta in general, since this crossing is that of the armor of its own. Let us pass to his derivatives, which are all fantasy canvases, but let us say, first of all, that although it is necessary to understand that the question here concerns the use of silk as a raw material, the various kinds of fantasy taffeta Can also be executed with other materials, such as wool, cotton, & c., Only these fabrics are imitations to which commerce and fashion have not assigned the same names.
Florence, or light taffeta
This last denomination comes from the fact that, of all the silk stuffs, the latter is the lightest. It was probably at Florence (Firenze) that this variety of taffeta was originally executed. But today, the manufacture of Florence belongs almost exclusively to the city of Avignon, where it is made of considerable quantities, which, considering their lightness and the low price, Specially used for linings, ie it is the least estimated silk fabrics.Florence is woven with simple warp and weft.
From the Marceline
This taffeta took its name from that of its inventor Marcel, from Lyon. This stuff, nowadays, is generally adopted for robes; Which is due to what it has on many other kinds of the same armor, the advantage of not fearing wrinkling. The Marceline is woven with double chain and simple weft. For this fabric, as for the preceding one, the chain must be well stretched. Needless to say that for one as for the other one has to make only one pass, to give only a shuttle stroke and one stroke of the door at every opening, march, crowd or not.
Taffeta for the primer
It is a simple, ordinary taffetas, in which scarcely any weft is used, and which is closed in a narrow chain. The absence of covering of the weft is supplemented by the passage of a polisher on the cloth. It is a utensil made of horn, bone, or tinplate, which serves to gloss the fabric by equalizing it.












A horn polisher
This operation consists of rubbing with the polisher, strongly, equally and regularly the facade, that is to say the woven part that is not yet wound. The fabric must be loosened a little to operate longitudinally, and almost give it its first tension to operate transversely.
Taffeta for the hand
The latter differs little from the preceding one; It is woven like him with closed pitch, but on a more taut chain. There is also the polisher.These two species are of price and qualities above the Florence and below the Gros de Naples.
Glossy Taffeta
This qualification comes from his brilliance and brilliance. This fabric is woven with open pitch, which further tightens the texture, on a chain less taut than that of the taffetas said for the hand, with an organsin thread that has only been molded once. It is mainly with the use of this weft that the glossy taffeta owes its suppleness and its brilliance. This is the place of speaking of the operation known as the Earlier Drawing of the Ear, which it takes for the tissues of which we have just been speaking.When a fabric does not cover sufficiently, it is to be expected when, despite the friction of the polisher, the traces of the pins or teeth of the comb can still be seen therein, this fault is remedied by stretching the fabric of a selvedge The other, in jerky jerks, obliquely, and at distances of about 50 cm. The kind of whipping repeated several times in the same place, causes this defect to disappear completely, and the cloth, afterwards, is again rolled back to its primitive firmness. This operation is repeated every time there are about two meters of woven fabric.This process is used for lightweight fabrics such as Florence, taffeta for priming, glossy taffeta, light satins, etc.
From the Gros de Naples
The Gros de Naples came to us from the manufactories of Italy; It was imported from Naples to France at the time of the transfer of the pontifical residence of Rome towards Avignon. The chain of the Gros de Naples must be woven with double threads, and the weft must also be composed of two threads or strands (in terms of manufacture, we substitute the words end to that of strands). In order that this cloth may be of fine quality, it is necessary that two strikes of wings be struck on each pass of the weft, one of which has an open pitch, and the other with a closed or closed pitch. Without this double stroke of the beating, the stuff would be subject to bubbling; In fact, the chain being stretched less strongly for this fabric than for the preceding ones, if the weft is not uniformly distributed in the chain, the result is in the fabric loose parts and others stretched; This is what is meant by bubbling. The brilliance which is the principal merit of the Gros de Naples arises from the great quantity of weft employed. It is useful, during the weaving of this fabric, to wrap around the roller sheets of smooth paper between the superimpositions of the fabric; Without this precaution, the friction of the material upon itself, and the tension of the piece on the roll, would produce a sort of moire. This fabric is sought after for lady's dresses and hats.
Poult of silk
It is the same thing as the Gros de Naples, with the only difference that the weft of it is composed of only two strands, and that the silk Poult contains more, at least three, eight or ten at most . This stuff, of a higher price than the Gros de Naples, is like him wanted for dresses.
The Gros Grain
It is a kind of silk Poult, the silk weft of which is replaced by a single twisted thread of cotton. This stuff is of a much more moderate price than the previous two; But also its brilliance is much lower. An important observation to make is that when a worker has left for a few moments the piece he weaves, he must, before resuming his work, reopen the last step, remove the last weft and strike it with new; Otherwise there would be a stripe across the fabric at this point.
The Fat of the Indies
It is another kind of taffeta that came to us from East Asia. This fine material is obtained by means of two chains, one of which is simple and the other double or triple, and of two wefts, one fine and one end, the other large and several tips. The two chains are passed to the re-fastening, so that all the even heddles (frames), for example, raise the warp double or triple, and that the odd strings lift the simple chain, and vice versa. So that each yarn of the single chain is placed between two yarns of the double chain, and each yarn of the chain doubles between two yarns of the single chain. We have said that the two frames employed are of unequal thickness; They are mounted on two particular shuttles which are alternately passed through the opening, so that the single chain covers the fine weft, and the double or triple chain, the multi-strand weft. The result is, by the place of the stuff, which is the side by which the large chain covers the large weft, small transverse ribs very pronounced.But the double chain, by virtue of the fact that it covers the large fabric on the most prominent side, fits faster (NDLR: stirring = shrinking of the chain) than the other, whence it follows that it must Be wound on a separate roll, so that the flip-flops, disposed accordingly, drop out of each of the unequal and proportional lengths. The reciprocal tension of these two chains must be in such a ratio, that it favors the production of the effect desired. Thus, the transverse furrow produced by the large weft is the more pronounced the larger the chain is less taut.
Simulated velvet
Although, like the preceding ones, this variety is a real taffeta, it has been called Simulated Velvet, probably because it has some resemblance to curly velvet, to which it resembles much less than the fabric of which We have just spoken and of which it is a perfect imitation, a falsification even if we can express ourselves thus.The simulated velvet, in fact, is almost entirely similar to the Gros des Indies: it is obtained as it is by the crossing of two chains and two unequal frames in sizes. It differs from it only in that the large weft, instead of being of silk, is of plied cotton.
The Gros de Tours
This genus, the first samples of which came from Tours, is chiefly employed for fabrics, whether day or strip, formed by other armor together with it. When the Gros de Tours forms an entire piece, of which it is the only fabric, it is to consider it only a very strong taffeta, the chain of which is double or triple, and doubled in each opening. Nevertheless, one proceeds in the making of the Gros de Tours other than in that of ordinary taffeta, since the same healds (frames) rise twice in succession.It would be a mistake to believe that the two frames, the effect obtained by passing and beating them separately, would be produced by passing and beating all at once; Because in the latter case the two shots are placed next to each other, while they would often be twisted together or superimposed if passed and if they were beaten at once.
Du Cannelé
Le Cannelé, to which many manufacturers misquote the name of Crepe, is a special effect employed partially, and resulting from a mode of crossing in which several threads form flanges, which alternate in small cut strips, in which it Tiles or parallelograms of varying sizes are drawn.The Cannelé is obtained either by chain effect, or by weft effect, or finally by chain and weft effect.The use of Cannelé is of a very fine glance, when it is used with taste, even with bands or tiles of another kind, or arranged in such a way as to form drawings, Uses two well-matched shades.It is not customary to use the Cannelate at the same time throughout the width of the cloth, for then this fabric would form bands or transverse lines, and would no longer bear the name of Cannelé; It can be used only with other strips woven according to another armor. The Cannelé being the result of several strokes of the weft in the same opening of chain, it would result, if it was used all across the room, a very thick cloth which without the perfection and the solidity of the so-called -grain, would nevertheless have the resemblance. Nevertheless, what we are saying here has an exception, as will be seen in the Compound Flute.We can distinguish 3 kinds of Cannelé: Single Cannelé, Cannelé countersemplé, and Cannelé composite. We treat here the first two species only, because they derive from the taffeta armor, and we will speak of the third species in its place.
Simple fluted: The simple fluted, is a sort of Gros de Tours, for which instead of two, three and four, even up to eight weft passes are made in the same opening of chain, as Tours is nothing but a taffetas with double past of weft. We must therefore consider the Cannelé, as to the first two genera, as derived from the taffeta armor. The single groove has no back, ie it produces the same effect on each side of the fabric. This results from the fact that, as the weft passes through, it always raises as many threads as are left at the bottom and the same number of times; Whence it follows that all the threads of a grooved band raise or lower together the same amount of strokes as those of a neighboring strip, even and odd, odd and even.
Fluted grooved or staggered: This type of Flute is woven on the same principles as the preceding one, to which it resembles, if we consider, of the simple Cannula, only the tiles included between the dissimilar bands; But the simple groove differs from that which occupies us, inasmuch as it can not be executed in the whole width of the cloth, without being divided into longitudinal strips, whilst the fluted or contra-grooved groove can extend to a Width and has an indefinite length. The name of counterspired is the expression by which one designates in Lyons and in some other cities of the South. But the name of staggering which he received at Elboeuf and in the manufacturing towns of the north of France gives a more accurate idea of ​​the arrangement of his tiles, or of his effects. This Cannelé staggered just like the simple Cannelé, has no back. When the Cannelé has a back, it is a compound Flute.