Textile: a flexible material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibers and or yarn. Textiles are created by weaving, knitting, crocheting or felting these together

Fiber: a class of materials that are continuous filaments or are in discrete elongated pieces

Yarn: a long continuous length of interlocked fibers produced by spinning the fibers, these are suitable for use in the production of textiles. Yarn may be used undyed or may be dyed with natural or artificial dyes

Loom: a device used to weave cloth. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft yarns. The precise shape of the loom and its mechanics may vary but the basic function is the same

Warp: the longitudinal yarns that run the entire length of the fabric

Weft: also referred to as Fill yarns, these are the yarns that are inserted over-and-under the warp yarns

Selvage: the term for the self-finished edges of fabric. The selvages are the edges that run parallel to the warp yarns and are created by the weft yarns looping back at the end of each pass

Width: a horizontal measurement of a material- the distance from selvage to selvage

Bolt: a roll or piece of fabric, length varies from style to style

Yarn Dyed Woven: a fabric woven with dyed yarn

Piece Dyed Woven: a fabric woven with undyed yarns and that is dyed after weaving. Minimums vary between fabrics

Dye Lot: refers to each batch of dyed fabric or yarns. There can be color variations from dye lot to dye lot even though the pattern name and number do not change

Dye Lot Variation: the differences in color from different dye lots that are within the tolerance of a Commercial Match

Commercial Match: the acceptable difference between the color on a sample/strike off and of fabric and the color achieved in production

Finish: a substance or process added or preformed on textile materials after they are woven to impart desired properties

Up-the-Roll: Describes the orientation of a pattern’s direction. When looking at an up-the-roll pattern, the warp yarns are in the vertical direction, while the weft yarns are in the horizontal direction

Railroaded: Describes the orientation of a pattern’s direction. When looking at a railroaded pattern, the weft yarns are in the vertical direction and the warp yarns are in the horizontal direction

Print: a fabric with designs applied by means of dyes or pigments used on engraved rollers, blocks or screens

Heat Transfer Printing: a method of printing onto base cloths (created with thermoplastic fibers) with disperse dyes. The design is transferred from preprinted heat transfer paper onto the fabric by contact heat which causes the dye to sublime. Having no affinity for paper, the dyes are taken up by the fabric. This method is capable of producing well-defined, clear prints

Heat Transfer Paper: a light weight paper which disperse dyes are printed via engraved rollers

Base Cloth: a woven fabric created from thermoplastic fibers and yarns that has been prepared for printing, often referred to as being PFP

Repeat: a complete unit of pattern for design. Repeats vary in size depending on the capacity of the machine creating the design (loom, engraved roller, etc). Repeats are measured vertically and horizontally