Weaves: Chenille
A carpet weave, known as "patent axminster" was invented at Glasgow, Scotland, by James Templeton, in 1839. Mr. Templeton had been engaged in manufacturing Paisley shawls and turned his attention to adapating some of the methods connected wit the Paisley shawl production to the weaving of carpets. This resulted in the "patent axminster" carpet, or what we now call chenille. At the time of its invention, it was a laborious hand-process, but has since become the product of power-looms.
Chenille is a class entirely by itself, as it differs radically, in construction, from every other machine-made carpet. It has great possibilities for the reproduction of design, is not limited as to the number of colors employed, may be made in any size and shape, without seaming, up to 30 feet width.
Two looms and two processes are required in weaving chenille. This is the only machine-made pile carpet which has its pattern woven across, or weft-wise of the fabric. In this respect it resembles hand-knotted carpets. Chenille isi made in many different qualities, varying from about 25 tufts of cut-wool or worsted to the square inch, up to about 120 tufts. It may have a pile from 3/8 to 3/4 of an inch high. In rare cases, where extra thickness is desired for exceptionally large rugs, a pile of from 1 inch to 1 1/2 inches may be made. Chenille may also be woven with either wool or worsted yarns. The finest qualities are, of course, made of worsted.
The first, or weft-loom, used in the chenille process, is strung with a warp of fine cotton or linen threads arranged in groups; that is, there are several threads close together, alternating with rather wide spaces. These spaces are approximately twice as wide as the height of the pile desired. After the loom-pattern is finished, it is cut into strips. The wooll or worsted which is to form the pile of the rug is woven (in the succession of colors called for by the strip of painted paper) into a flat, blanket-like piece of fabric, caught together by groups of the fine warp threads already mentioned. This flatly woven fabric is then cut into strips by sharp revolving knives, exactly in the middle of each wide band which occurs between the groups of warp-threads. These strips are then ironed or steamed so both cut-edges of yarn point in the same direction. These strips, instead of being flat, are now V shaped. The cluster of warp threads is at the bottom of the V and both sets of cut-ends are at the top of the V. This is the chenille, which is French for "caterpillar", which is closely resembles. The separate strips of chenille are fastened together, end to end, keeping them in proper sequence to form the design of the carpet. They are now ready to be woven into the rug, by means of the second, or setting-loom. The best qualities are made with a strong wool back, which gives splendid wearing qualities, in addition to a luxurious resilience under the feet. The chenille strips are caught into the web of the ground fabric, at the bottom of the V, and firmly fastened into the material by a strong cotton catcher-warp.
This entire process produces a fabric with a cut-pile of almost any desired depth, having a substantially woven back and able to withstand almost any amount of wear.
