TextileGlossary.com

What is "Cloth" - Definition & Explanation

Cloth or fabric is a flexible artificial material made up of a network of natural or artificial fibres (thread or yarn) formed by weaving or knitting (textiles), or pressed into felt. Cloth is most often used in the manufacture of clothing, household furnishings, and art such as tapestry. Before the advent of woven cloth, the functions of textiles were fulfilled by furs and skins.

In the past, all cloth was made from natural fibres, including plant sources such as such as as cotton, flax, and hemp, and animal sources such as wool, hair, and silk. In the 20th century, these were supplemented by artificial fibres such as polyester and rayon.

Cloth is most often dyed, with fabrics available in every colour. Coloured designs in fabric can be created by weaving strands of different colours (plaid) and adding coloured stitches to finished fabric (embroidery), but also by using various printing processes on finished fabric.

Cloth is made in many varying strengths and degrees of durability, from the finest gossamer fabrics to sturdy canvas sailcloths. The relative thickness of fibres in cloth is measured in deniers. Microfiber refers to fibers made of strands thinner than one denier.

Used in its broad sense, cloth is synonymous with the terms fabric, material, and goods. It is anything made from a raw material that has been constructed by weaving, knitting, plaiting, braiding, or needling.
A Generic Term Embracing Most Textile Fabrics. The Term Was Originally Applied To Wool Fabric Suitable For Clothing.

Some other terms

Some more terms:

Sheen
For film-forming wood finishes, the measure of reflectivity of light. This is normally measured as a percent of light reflected at a 60 degree incident. So it ranges from 0 to 100. Different...
Batik
A method of resist dyeing which employs wax as the resist. The pattern is covered with wax, and the fabric is then dyed: the wax patterns will not take the dye. The wax is removed after dyeing by...
Mesh
A mesh is similar to fabric or a web in that it has many connected or weaved pieces. In clothing, a mesh is often defined as fabric that has a large number of closely-spaced holes, such as is common...
Levelness
A term used to describe the uniformity of colour accross a large piece of fabric. In general terms the faster you try and dye something or the greater % of applied dye you try to fix on a fibre the...
Warm Colors
Colors like red, orange, and yellow are called warm colors. They are advancing in nature because, as seen by the eye, these colors move closer thereby reducing the size of an object. Warm colors are...

Companies for Cloth:


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