"Textile"

A name used for any fabric woven in a loom.

"Texture"

The manner of weaving a web or cloth. Disposition of the several parts of a body in connection with each other: filaments or fibers interwoven, or the number of warp and filling threads to the inch.

"Web"

The textile being woven as it comes from the loom.

"Two-Ply"

When spoken of in relation to an ingrain carpet designates the weight of the carpet, as being made of two plies, or webs.

"Three-Ply"

A three-ply carpet is one that is woven on an ingrain loom with three plies instead of two, but is not called an ingrain carpet. There is no such thing as a three-ply or a two-and-one-half-ply ingrain carpet, as an ingrain weave has but two plies.

"Pick"

This relates to the thread of woof which is carried through the warp by the "shuttle," an instrument used in weaving in connection with the loom.

"Pile"

This term is often used, and is the long nap or woolly surface of a carpet. It is the same in Carpets as in a piece of plush, which, when you rub your hand over it, changes the shade of the color. It is the "pile" that causes the different shades in the same carpet or rug. Cut a strip of velvet or Axmin-ster carpet into two pieces and reverse one piece so that the "pile" runs in opposite directions, and notice the difference in shade. When a carpet or rug is made from a roll of carpet and a border is placed around it, a slight difference in color will be noticed owing to the fact that the "pile" in one strip of the border runs in a direction opposite to that of the carpet.

A long "pile" carpet usually has a prettier effect than a short "pile" carpet. For that reason an Ax-minster, or Moquette, or Savonnerie carpet has a softer appearance than a velvet, and velvet carpet has a better appearance than a Brussels carpet.

"Wires"

Has the reader heard a dealer speak of an eight, nine, or ten wire tapestry Brussels rug, and did you know exactly what was meant? In the first place, tapestry Brussels carpetings are different from the velvet, in that the tapestry carpets have small loops all over the surface while the velvet carpetings have not. A velvet carpet is woven on the same kind of a loom as the Brussels, and has this additional difference, that small wires which terminate in knifelike ends are inserted under each loop and when a velvet carpet is desired, the wires are withdrawn automatically to be reinserted until the carpet or rug is woven. These wires run from seven to ten to an inch, and when withdrawn from the Brussels carpet do not cut it, but leave the loops over the surface of the carpet. Therefore, in speaking of an eight-wire tapestry, the quality is self-defined, in that there are eight of these rows of loops or "wires" to the inch, each row running across and not up and down on the carpet. When one speaks of a seven, nine, or ten-wire tapestry carpet, the same rule applies. The more the wires to an inch, the heavier will be the rug, consequently a tapestry or velvet rug or carpet advertised at a low price means nothing unless the number of wires are designated.

As stated before, the process of weaving the velvet rug is the same as that employed in making the Brussels, but when the knife-like wires are withdrawn they cut the loops and make a "pile" rug, which is called a velvet rug.

There are many grades of carpets on the market and the inexperienced can be easily confused.