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Glossary Of Fabric Terms [45]

D Damask A reversible figured fabric of silk, wool, linen, cotton, or synthetic fibres, with a pattern formed by weaving. Damasks are woven with one warp yarn and one weft yarn, usually with the pattern in warp-faced satin weave and the ground in weft-faced or sateen weave. It is named after the city of Damaskus in Syria.
Darlexx Omnidirectional warp knit fabric laminated to a monolithic film. It is a sports performance fabric used in gloves, boots, wet suits, ski apparel, clean rooms, and in medical applications. It was designed to keep a person "warm when the environment is cold and cool when the environment is hot" and is breathable, windproof, and waterproof.
Darning mushroom A mushroom-shaped tool usually made of wood. The sock is stretched over the curved top of the mushroom, and gathered tightly around the stalk to hold it in place for darning.
Dazzle Type of polyester fabric that is widely used in making clothes like basketball uniforms, football uniforms, rugby ball uniforms and casual clothing because it absorbs moisture quickly. It is a lightweight fabric that allows air to circulate easily around the body.
Delaine wool Wool produced by Delaine Merino, a type of Merino sheep predominant in North America.
Denier Denier or den (abbreviated D), a unit of measure for the linear mass density of fibers, is the mass in grams per 9000 meters of the fiber. The denier is based on a natural reference: a single strand of silk is approximately one denier; a 9000-meter strand of silk weighs about one gram. The term denier comes from the French denier, a coin of small value.
Denier per filament (dpf) Denier measurement which relates to a single filament of fiber.
Denim A sturdy cotton textile in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. The most common denim is indigo denim, in which the warp thread is dyed, while the weft thread is left white. As a result, one side of the textile is dominated by the blue warp threads and the other side is dominated by the white weft threads. This causes blue jeans to be white on the inside. The indigo dyeing process, in which the core of the warp threads remains white, creates denim's signature fading characteristics. Denim initially gained popularity in 1870s when Jacob W. Davis, a tailor from Nevada, manufactured the first pair of denim pants upon customer's request to make a pair of strong working pants for her husband who was a woodcutter. He started to work for Levi Strauss, and the rest is history.
Dent Abrasion, scratch, blemish, or imperfection caused by a collision.
Design Brief (or Proposal) A written document for a design project developed by a person or team in consultation with the client. They outline the deliverables and scope of the project including any products or works, timing and budget.
Design Specification A detailed document providing information about the characteristics of a project to set criteria the developers will need to meet.
Desizing The process done in order to remove the size from the warp yarns of the woven fabrics.
Devore Print Also called burnout, it is a fabric technique particularly used on velvets, where a mixed-fibre material undergoes a chemical process to dissolve the cellulose fibers to create a semi-transparent pattern against more solidly woven fabric. The same technique can also be applied to textiles other than velvet, such as lace or the fabrics in burnout t-shirts.
Digital Printing Digital printing refers to methods of printing from a digital-based image directly to a variety of media. It usually refers to professional printing where small-run jobs from desktop publishing and other digital sources are printed using large-format and/or high-volume laser or inkjet printers. Digital printing has a higher cost per page than more traditional offset printing methods, but this price is usually offset by avoiding the cost of all the technical steps required to make printing plates. It also allows for on-demand printing, short turnaround time, and even a modification of the image used for each impression.
Dimensional Stability The vital characteristics of a fabric which determines whether a fabric has the potential to retain its original shape and remain stable, indicating it will not bubble or sag over time, when applied over a substrate, and its suitability for a specified use.
Dimity A lightweight, sheer cotton fabric, used historically, having at least two warp threads thrown into relief to form fine cords. It is a cloth commonly employed for bed upholstery and curtains, and usually white, though sometimes a pattern is printed on it in colors. It is stout in texture, and woven in raised patterns. Originally dimity was made of silk or wool, but since the 18th century it has been woven almost exclusively of cotton.
Direct Dye Also called substantive dye, it is any of a class of coloured, water-soluble compounds that have an affinity for fiber. Direct dyes are usually cheap and easily applied.
Discharge Printing Also called extract printing, it is a method of applying a design to dyed fabric by printing a colour-destroying agent to bleach out a white or light pattern on the darker coloured ground.
Disperse Dye Disperse dyes are the only water-insoluble dyes that dye polyester and acetate fibers. Disperse dye molecules are the smallest dye molecules among all dyes.
Dobby A woven fabric produced on the dobby loom, characterised by small geometric patterns and extra texture in the cloth. The warp and weft threads may be the same colour or different. Satin threads are particularly effective in this kind of weave as their texture will highlight the pattern. Polo shirts are usually made with dobby.
Doeskin Soft leather made from the skin of a deer, lamb, or goat, used especially for gloves.
Doff The act of removing bobbins, material, etc., and stripping fibers from a textile machine.
Donegal tweed Handwoven tweed manufactured in County Donegal, Ireland. The Donegal area is best known for a plain-weave cloth of differently-coloured warp and weft, with small pieces of yarn in various colours woven in at irregular intervals to produce a heathered effect.
Dotted Swiss Traditionally plain weave cotton covered in small dots placed at regular intervals. These can be woven in, flocked or printed. Colors may be introduced, although the most common is all white. Nowadays the cotton is sometimes blended with manufactured fiber. Dotted swiss fabric is mostly used for blouses, dresses and curtains.
Double Cloth A kind of woven textile in which two or more sets of warps and one or more sets of weft or filling yarns are interconnected to form a two-layered cloth. The movement of threads between the layers allows complex patterns and surface textures to be created. Double weaving is an ancient technique. Surviving examples from the Paracas culture of Peru have been dated to before AD 700. Modern applications of double cloth include haute couture coats, blankets, furnishing fabrics, and some brocades.
Double Knit A jerseylike fabric knitted on a machine equipped with two sets of needles so that a double thickness of fabric is produced in which the two sides of the fabric are interlocked.
Double knitting Form of knitting in which two fabrics are knitted simultaneously on one pair of needles. The fabrics may be inseparable, as in interlock knitted fabrics, or they can simply be two unconnected fabrics.
Double Rub Double rubs are a measurement of a fabric’s abrasion resistance. They are listed with most fabrics and are helpful in determining which fabric is right for your particular application. Double rubs are found through a mechanized test called the Wyzenbeek Test.
Double weave The same as "double cloth."
Dowlas Plain cloth, similar to sheeting, but usually coarser. It is made in several qualities, from line warp and weft to two warp and weft, and is used chiefly for aprons, pocketing, soldiers' gaiters, linings and overalls. The finer makes are sometimes made into shirts for workmen, and occasionally used for heavy pillow-cases.
Down Soft bird feather found under the tougher exterior feather. Down is a fine thermal insulator and padding, used in goods such as jackets, bedding (duvets), pillows and sleeping bags.
Drape Piece of cloth intended to block or obscure light, or drafts, or water in the case of a shower curtain. A curtain is also the movable screen or drape in a theater that separates the stage from the auditorium or that serves as a backdrop.
Drawing-in The process by which the yarn or fiber is elongated by passing it through a series of pair of rollers, each pair moving faster than the previous one.
Drop Wires In weaving process, drop wires detect warp yarn rupture and enable looms to continue operating while minimizing fabric quality loss.
Drugget Coarse woollen fabric felted or woven, self-coloured or printed one side. Formerly used for cloathing.
Duck Also called duck cloth or duck canvas, and commonly called "canvas" outside the textile industry, is a heavy, plain woven cotton fabric. There is also linen duck, which is less often used. Duck is used in a wide range of applications, from sneakers to over tents to sandbags. Duck fabric is woven with 2 yarns together in the warp and a single yarn in the weft.
Dungarees Historical term for what is now known as denim. Cotton twill with indigo dyed warp thread is now more commonly referred to as denim, or more specifically blue denim.
Dupioni An irregular silk thread reeled from two or more entangled cocoons and producing a coarse yarn generally used in fabrics such as shantung or pongee.
Durability The ability of a textile product to perform its required function over a lengthy period under normal conditions of use without excessive expenditure on maintenance or repair.
Dye A natural or synthetic substance used to add a color to or change the color of something.
Dye lot A record taken during the dyeing of yarn to identify yarn that received its coloration in the same vat at the same time. Yarn manufacturers assign each lot a unique identification number and stamp it on the label before shipping. Slight differences in temperature, dyeing time, and other factors can result in different shades of the same color between different dye lots of otherwise identical production.
Dye Sublimation Sublimation is a process where an image can be printed onto transfer paper using dye-based inks and then with heat and pressure become transferred into the substrate. Dye sublimation on hard surface surfaces is possible if the surfaces have been coated. Instead of printing images directly on a surface, which may scratch easily, the image is infused into the coating to provide permanent protection and durability.
Dye-bath Bath prepared for use in dyeing; a solution of coloring matter in which substances to be colored are immersed.
Dyeing The process of adding color to textile products like fibers, yarns, and fabrics. Dyeing is normally done in a special solution containing dyes and particular chemical material. After dyeing, dye molecules have uncut chemical bond with fiber molecules. The temperature and time controlling are two key factors in dyeing. There are mainly two classes of dye, natural and man-made.
Dyneema Super-strong fiber made from Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene, providing maximum strength with minimum weight. Invented by Albert Pennings in 1963. Used in armor, cut-resistant gloves, bow strings, climbing equipment, fishing line, spear lines for spearguns, high-performance sails, suspension lines on sport parachutes and paragliders, rigging in yachting, kites, and kites lines for kites sports.