Glossary Definitions for Words beginning with "S"

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Sanforized
Fabrics bearing this trademark shrink no more than 1% due to compressive shrinkage.

Sateen
A cotton fabric with a satin weave and lustrous surface. Used for both home and apparel.

Satin Weave
A weave with wide and regularly spaced threads, resulting in a smooth, shiny side and a dull back. Used in dress clothing.

Saturated Color
The pureness of a color either in brightness or dullness.

Saturation
The point where no more can be absorbed, dissolved or retained, such as fabric that has been infused thoroughly with water or dye. Also indicates the purity of a hue. The higher the saturation, the purer the hue (not including any additional colors.)

Schiffli
A fabric with vine like pattern produced by the Schiffli machine.

Scotchguard
A stain repellent used on fabric for water and oil-based stains.

Scouring
The removal of impurities such as natural waxes, fats and dirt from a fabric by means of washing with a detergent such as Kieralon.

Secondary Color
When two primary colors are mixed in equal proportions to make a third color. Orange, Green, and Purple are secondary colors.

Seersucker
A light thin cotton fabric with a woven crinkle achieved by altering tension in the warp yarns. Made durable and washable with generally no need for ironing.

Selvage
The thin edge of a woven fabric that runs parallel to the warp and prevents raveling.

Serti Technique
The Serti (closing or fence) technique is the silk painting technique where designs are formed with gutta or water-based resists, which are applied to usually white silk that has been pre-washed, dried and stretched (on a stretcher). Once the gutta or water-based resist has dried, paint or dye is applied within the resist border. The Gutta or resist acts as a barrier for the dye or paint-keeping the color within the outlined areas of the design and allowing you to achieve sharply defined borders. Without this barrier, the dye or paint would flow into more of an abstract, undefined pattern. After the dye or paint has been properly set, the clear gutta or resist is removed and a defining line, the color of the original fabric (usually white) remains. Colored guttas and resists are also available that are meant to remain in the fabric.

Shade
Another name for hue, obtained by adding black to the dye.

Shantung
A medium weight silky fabric with uneven and nubby slubs (thick lumps) generally used for dresses.

Sharkskin
A matte finished fabric made with a crisp rayon basket weave.

Sheers
Lightweight, translucent fabrics, usually silk or synthetic.

Sheeting
A woven carded yarn cloth in medium and heavy weights. When the thread count is low, sheeting is defined as muslin. When the thread count is greater than 180 and the yarn is combed the sheeting is defined as percale.

Short Liquor Ratio Dyeing
Direct dyeing or painting techniques.

Silk
A protein fiber made from the cocoon of the silkworm. It has been widely used for centuries to make fabric, yarn, or thread. The quality usually depends on the length of the filaments, defects, and type of weave used. Silk takes color easily with a wide range of dyes and processes.

Silk Noil
Also known as raw silk. It's flannel-like and, as with cotton flannel, it softens and gently fades over time. Strong and soft for a silk, Noil is perfect for machine washable garments.

Silk Salt
Use with silk paint or dye, sprinkle it on to create floating, cloud-like effects.

Silk Screening
(Serigraph) A method of printing on fabric using a silk or synthetic screen, a stencil, screen filler drawing fluid, or photo emulsion and printing ink.

Size
A water bath for putting paints on which has been thickened with carrageenan, or methylcellulose.

Sizing
A finish that adds body to fabric. Starch is an example of a sizing.

Slub
An abnormally thick area in a yarn or fabric.

Soda Ash Fixer
Sodium Carbonate. Used with Procion Fiber Reactive dyes to fix them (make permanent). A powder that is mixed with the dye bath or used in a pre-soak for tie-dye.

Sodium Acetate Crystals
An acid forming salt that works as a leveling agent for some acid dyes.

Sodium Alginate-High Viscosity
Low solids sodium alginate thickener for all reactive dyes. Primarily used for cotton. May also be used for silk and synthetics when type of pattern painted or printed does not require fine line definition as in block printing. It makes it easier to stamp, paint and stencil with thin dyes and paints.

Sodium Alginate-Low Viscosity
High solids sodium alginate thickener for all reactive dyes. Primarily used for silk, wool & synthetic fabrics when fine line definition is important. It makes it easier to stamp, paint and stencil with thin dyes and paints.

Sodium Bicarbonate
Bicarbonate of soda or more commonly known as baking soda. A mild alkali used to set reactive dyes by steaming or ironing.

Sodium Bisulfate
Colorless to white crystals that form a very strong acid when dissolved in water. It can be used with Kiton acid dyes or to burn out cellulose from cotton and cotton blend fabrics. It is corrosive to skin & eyes in solution.

Sodium Bisulfite
Used to make Anti-chlor.

Sodium Hydrosulfite
Used as a reducing agent for preparing Synthetic Indigo Dye. Also used as bleaching agent for dyes.

Sodium Hypochlorite
Bleaching agent, household bleach commonly contains 3.2% Sod. Hypochlorite.

Sodium Sulphate
Also known as Glaubers salt which is used in place of common salt when dyeing wool, nylon and silk with acid dyes. It is used with procion fiber reactive dyes with any dye containing the color turquoise to increase color yield.

Solution Dyeing
A method where the dye is added to the synthetic material in a liquid state before spinning it into a yarn.

Soutache
A type of narrow trim round braided onto herringbone.

Spectrum
The array of colors arranged by their wavelengths. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.

Spinning
The drawing, twisting, and winding of newly spun yarn onto a bobbin or spindle.

Squeeze Bottles
Used for squirting dyes and paints onto fabric, especially useful for tie-dye.

Steam-Fix
A method of setting or fixing silk dyes using heat and steam from a steamer. Steamed colors are more vibrant, brilliant and permanent than those fixed chemically.

Steam-Set
A method of fixing or setting silk dyes using heat and steam from a steamer. Steamed colors are more vibrant, brilliant and permanent than those fixed chemically.

Steamers
A metal container, usually stainless steel, that either sits on the stove top or is electric powered, that uses steam to set dyes onto silk. You can make your own steamer with a large pot or a stove pipe.

Stencilling
A process of printing images using a metal, plastic or paper stencil (flat, cut-out image or lettering), a rubber roller, or a brush, and paint or ink.

Sticky Wax
Used as a resist in batik. Sticky wax is a synthetic bee's wax that doesn't crack during the batik process.

Stitch Resist
A resist line is made by stitching and gathering the fabric to keep the dye from saturating those areas.

Stock Solution
Dye and water are measured and mixed according to certain ratios.

Stop-Flow
Also called No-Flow Primer, Anti-Diffusant, and Anti-Fusant. It keeps the dye or paint from spreading on silk so you can freehand paint without a resist. Some are used with silk paints, others with silk dyes. Paint it on before you paint your color.

Stovepipe
A straight slim-cut pant leg which is seamless and creaseless.

Stove Stop Steamer
Used for steam setting silks. A stainless steel cabinet that sits on the burners of your gas or electric stove and includes a water compartment. It comes with a rod that you can roll up to 19 yards by 36" of fabric at a time.

Strie
A fabric with irregular stripes or streaks of very similar color.

Striped Sateen
Alternating strips of dull and shiny sateen.

Sublimation
Chemical conversion of a solid substance directly into vapor by the means of heat without becoming liquid. On cooling the substance re-solidifies.

Suede Charmeuse
A luxury silk that is very expensive, fine heavyweight, double-sided, pure silk. One side is finished to a buttery polished satin, and the other is softened to the texture of the smoothest suede.

Super Clear
A liquid gel thickener used with dyes and paints for painting or stamping on fabric. Good for beginners, easier to work with than sodium alginate thickener.

Surface Design
This includes all forms of applying dye to fibers such as silk-screening, and painting.

Synthetic
Fabrics or materials made from manmade fibers, such as: nylon, polyester, acrylic, and acetate.

Synthetic Dye
Any dye that is chemically derived or man-made.

Synthetic Fiber
Fabrics that are chemically derived such as polyester.

Synthrapol
A concentrated liquid wetting agent and surfactant compatible with all dye classifications. Use with Soda Ash to scour fabric before dyeing. Also recommended for the final hot wash of reactive dyes, especially tie-dyes as it keeps the excess dye from staining light and white areas. Pre-wash to remove invisible starches, lubricants, dirt and oil that can interfere with the dyeing process, and to remove excess die particles, keeping them from depositing on other colors in the fabric.

Systematic Dyeing
The fiber, dye, and dye assistants are each measured according to each other in order to achieve consistent results.

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