Glossary G - H - I

G

Gabardine
A tightly woven, twilled, worsted fabric with a slight diagonal line on the right side. Wool gabardine is known as a year-round fabric for business suiting. Polyester, cotton, rayon, and various blends are also used in making gabardine.

Gauge
A measurement most commonly associated with knitting equipment. It can mean the number of needles per inch in a knitting machine. However, in full fashioned hosiery and sweater machines, the number of needles per 1-1/2 inches represents the gauge.

Gauze
A thin, sheer plain-weave fabric made from cotton, wool, silk, rayon, or other manufactured fibers. End-uses include curtains, apparel, trimmings, and surgical dressings.

Georgette
A sheer lightweight fabric, often made of silk or from such manufactured fibers as polyester, with a crepe surface. End-uses include dresses and blouses.

Geotextiles
Manufactured fiber materials made into a variety of fabric constructions, and used in a variety civil engineering applications.

Gingham
A medium weight, plain weave fabric with a plaid or check pattern. End-uses include dresses, shirts, and curtains.

Glass Fiber
An inorganic fiber which is very strong, but has poor flexibility and poor abrasion resistance. Glass will not burn and will not conduct electricity. It is impervious to insects, mildew, and sunlight. Today, the primary use of glass fiber is in such industrial applications as insulation or reinforcement of composite structures.

Greige Goods
An unfinished fabric, just removed from a knitting machine or a loom. Also called grey goods.

H

Hand
The way the fabric feels when it is touched. Terms like softness, crispness, dryness, silkiness are all terms that describe the hand of the fabric.

Heather
A yarn that is spun using pre-dyed fibers. These fibers are blended together to give a particular look. (For example, black and white may be blended together to create a grey heathered yarn.) The term, heather, may also be used to describe the fabric made from heathered yarns.

Hemp
A coarse, durable bast fiber obtained from the inner bark of the hemp plant. Used primarily in twines and cordages, and most recently apparel.

Herringbone
A variation on the twill weave construction in which the twill is reversed, or broken, at regular intervals, producing a zig-zag effect.

Houndstooth Check
A variation on the twill weave construction in which a broken check effect is produced by a variation in the pattern of interlacing yarns, utilizing at least two different colored yarns.

Hydrophilic Fibers
Fibers that absorb water easily, take longer to dry, and require more ironing.

Hydrophobic Fiber
Fibers that lack the ability to absorb water.

I

Interlining
An insulation, padding, or stiffening fabric, either sewn to the wrong side of the lining or the inner side of the outer shell fabric. The interlining is used primarily to provide warmth in coats, jackets, and outerwear.

Interfacing
Fabrics used to support, reinforce and give shape to fashion fabrics in sewn products. Often placed between the lining and the outer fabric., it can be made from yarns or directly from fibers, and may be either woven, nonwoven, or knitted. Some interfacings are designed to be fused (adhered with heat from an iron), while others are meant to be stitched to the fashion fabric.

Interlock
The stitch variation of the rib stitch, which resembles two separate 1 x 1 ribbed fabrics that are interknitted. Plain (double knit) interlock stitch fabrics are thicker, heavier, and more stable than single knit constructions.