A weave that is tighter than lightweight, which combines warmth and wickability.

A textile structure held together by interlocking of fibers in a random web, accomplished by mechanical, chemical, thermal or solvent means. Generally, crimped fibers that range in length from 0.75 to 4.5 inches are used.

A manufactured fiber introduced in the early 1950s, and is second only to cotton in worldwide use. Polyester has high strength (although somewhat lower than nylon), excellent resiliency, and high abrasion resistance. Low absorbency allows the fiber to dry quickly.

Personal protective equipment (PPE) refers to protective clothing, helmets, goggles, or other gear designed to protect the wearer's body or clothing from injury by electrical hazards, heat, chemicals, and infection, for job-related occupational safety and healthsports, martial arts, combat, etc. Personal armor is combat-specialized protective gear.

PPE can also be used to protect the working environment from pesticide application, pollution or infection from the worker (for example in a microchip factory).

A manufactured fiber composed of regenerated cellulose, derived from wood pulp, cotton linters, or other vegetable matter. Today, various names for rayon fibers are taken from different manufacturing processes. The two most commonly used production methods for rayon are the cuprammonium process and the viscose process.

In the Satin Weave, the weft floats or skips over as many as 12 warps before being woven in. The next pick repeats the float, but on a different set of warps. Compare the weft over the warp threads in the diagram below. You may see satin fabrics labelled as 5 or 8 harness satin weaves indicating the degree of float. The one here is a 5 harness - the weft floats over 4 warp threads. In Germany these weaves are called Atlas verbindung. These are probably the best fabrics to use for complex moulds but can appear to be tightly woven and therefore difficult to wet out with resin. Since the threads have less crimping than plain and twill, satins make for the strongest use of the fibres.

Natural fibers or cut lengths from filaments. The staple length of natural fibers varies from less than 1 inch as with some cotton fibers to several feet for some hard fibers. Man-made staple fibers are cut to a definite length, from 8 inches down to about 1.5 inches (occasionally down to 1 inch), so that they can be processed on cotton, woolen, or worsted yarn spinnning systems. The term staple (fiber) is used in the textile industry to distinguish natural or cut length man-made fibers from filament.

Twill Weaves are better at handling compound curves than plain weaves. Look closely at the diagrams and you'll see the way the weave is formed. (The twill is formed when the weft passes over warps 1 and 2 and under warps 3 and 4, and in the next pass, the shuttle of the loom passes over warps 2 and 3 and under warps 4 and 5.) There are many variations on the theme so you will see twills listed as 1/2, 2/2, 1/3, etc. Twill fabrics are characterised by their appearing to have diagonal lines running either right or left on the fabric face.The first advantage is the fewer number of times the fibres go under and over one another. A variation of the twill is the Crowsfoot or cross twill. Twill weaves feel generally tighter, or more closely woven, than plain weaves. For most purposes a nice 100 - 160gsm twill is the best choice. (German Twill = Köper.)

A fabric composed of two sets of yarns, warp and filling, and dormed by weaving, which is the interlacing of these sets of yarn to form a fabric. There may be two or more wraps and fillings in a fabric, depending on the complexity of the construction. The manner in which the two sets of yarn are interlaced determines the weave. By using various combinations of the three basic weave, plain, twill and satan, it is possible to produce an almost unlimited variety of constructions. Other effects may be obtained by varying the type of yarns, filament or spun, and the fiber types, twist levels, etc.

A generic term for a continuous strand of textile fibers, filaments, or material in a form suitable for knitting, weaving, or otherwise intertwinging to form a textile fabric. Yarn occurs in the following forms: 1)a number of fibers twisted together ( spun yarn), 2) a number of filaments laid together without a twist ( a zero-twist yarn), 3) a number of filaments laid together with a degree of twist, 4) a single filament without twist ( monofilament) or 5) a narrow strip of material, such as paper, plastic film, or metal, with or without twist, intended for use by a textile construction.