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Glossary Of Fabric Terms [43]

M Mackinaw Heavy dense water-repellent woolen cloth. It was used to make a short coat of the same name, sometimes with a doubled shoulder. These jackets have their origins on the Canadian frontier and were later made famous by American loggers in the upper Midwest during the mid-19th century logging boom. In Canada, the "Mac" is regarded as a marker of national identity and working-class values.
Macramé A form of textile-making using knotting rather than weaving or knitting. It was traditionally used by sailors, especially in elaborate or ornamental knotting forms, to decorate anything from knife handles to bottles to parts of ships. Nowadays it is mostly used in textile jewellery.
Madapolam Soft cotton fabric manufactured from fine yarns with a dense pick laid out in linen weave. Madapolam is used as an embroidery and handkerchief fabric and as a base for fabric printing.
Madras A lightweight cotton fabric with typically patterned texture and plaid design, used primarily for summer clothing such as pants, shorts, dresses, and jackets. The fabric takes its name from the former name of the city of Chennai in India. Both sides of the cloth must bear the same pattern. It must be handwoven, and hand-dyed after being spun into yarn. It is made in around 200 small villages in the Madras area.
Malimo Stitchbonding system which uses which uses crossed layers of warp and filling threads, which are knitted together by a sewing yarn to form the structure.
Marabou A certain type of down feather trimming. It takes dye well, making it a very versatile trimming for dress, and makes an effective substitute for fur. While marabou has been widely used as a fashion trimming since the late 19th century, it is also often used in fly tying for making up the lures used for fly fishing
Marquisette Sheer, lightweight mesh or net fabric with a leno weave. It can be made from almost any fibre: silk, cotton, wool, rayon, nylon, polyester and a blend of any of the above. It is used for dresses, curtains, and mosquito netting.
Matelassé Weaving or stitching technique yielding a pattern that appears quilted or padded. Matelassé may be achieved by hand, on a jacquard loom, or a quilting machine. It is meant to mimic the style of hand-stitched quilts made in Marseilles, France.
Melt Index Melt flow indexing is the most popular, and yet least accurate way to determine material viscosity. The melt flow index (MFI) is the measure of how many grams of polymer pass through a standardized capillary under a standard load over 10 minutes. The value obtained through the melt flow index test is a single data point. The melt flow index only tests the material at one shear stress, and temperature. In general, a higher melt flow index indicates a lower material viscosity.
Melting Point The temperature at which a material changes state from solid to liquid at atmospheric pressure.
Melton A cloth traditionally made of wool and is woven in a twill form. It is thick, due to having been well fulled, which gives it a felt-like smooth surface. It is napped and very closely sheared. Because of its dense texture it frays minimally or not at all. It is hard wearing and wind and weather resistant. It is mainly used for heavy outer garments and coats and for blankets.
Mercerisation A treatment for cellulosic material, typically cotton threads, that strengthens them and gives them a lustrous appearance. The process is less frequently used for linen and hemp threads. It devised in 1844 by John Mercer from Lancashire, England.
Mercerized cotton Cotton which underwent the process of mercerisation - a treatment which strengthens and gives a lustruous appearance to cellulosic materials.
Merino An economically influential breed of sheep prized for its wool. The breed originated in Spain, but the modern Merino was domesticated in Australia. Today, Merinos are still regarded as having some of the finest and softest wool of any sheep.
Mesh A loosely woven or knitted fabric that has a large number of closely spaced holes. Knitted mesh is frequently used for modern sports jerseys and other clothing.
Metallic fibers Manufactured fibers composed of metal, plastic-coated metal, metal-coated plastic, or a core completely covered by metal. Gold and silver have been used since ancient times as yarns for fabric decoration. More recently, aluminum yarns, aluminized plastic yarns, and aluminized nylon yarns have replaced gold and silver. Metallic filaments can be coated with transparent films to minimize tarnishing.
Microdenier Microdenier describes filaments that weigh less than 1 g per 9000 m.
Microfiber A synthetic fiber that is thinner than the threads usually used for woven fabrics. The result is an extremely soft, absorbent cloth suitable for cleaning scratch-sensitive surfaces. Unless otherwise noted, microfiber cloths are the best choice for cleaning picture frame glass or plexiglass.
Mill Run An item coming directly from a mill, especially without having been sorted. For example, mill-run carpets.
Millinery The designing and manufacture of hats.
Milliskin Milliskin is a type of fabric commonly used to make tights and dance leotards. Milliskin is characterized by being very light, thin, and stretchy
Minky The trading name of Vale Mill (Rochdale) Ltd., a company based in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom that produces cleaning cloths, mops, clothes lines and scouring pads. It was founded in mid nineteenth century.
Mis-pick Pick or filling yarn that has failed to interlace with the warp as a result of a mechanical defect in the loom.
Mixed Fiber A textile fabric composed of two or more kinds of fiber.
Mocado A woolen pile fabric made in imitation of silk velvet.
Mock Leno Also known as imitation leno, the term refers to a variety of weaves of ordinary construction which produce effects that are similar in appearance to the gauze or leno styles obtained with the aid of doup mounting. These weaves are generally produced in combination with plain, twill, satin or other simple weaves or even with brocade figuring, to produce striped fabrics, which bear a very close resemblance to true leno fabrics.
Mockado Woollen pile fabric made in imitation of silk velvet from the mid-sixteenth century. Mockado was usually constructed with a woollen pile on a linen or worsted wool warp and woollen weft, although the ground fabric could be any combination of wool, linen, and silk. Mockado was used for furnishings and carpeting, and also for clothing such as doublets, farthingales, and kirtles.
Modacrylic A manufactured fiber in which the fiber forming substance is any long chain synthetic polymer composed of less than 85% but at least 35% by weight of acrylonitrile units. aThey are soft, strong, resilient, and dimensionally stable. They can be easily dyed, show good press and shape retention, and are quick to dry. They have outstanding resistance to chemicals and solvents, are not attacked by moths or mildew, and are nonallergenic. Among their uses are in apparel linings, furlike outerwear, paint-roller covers, scatter rugs, carpets, and work clothing and as hair in wigs
Modal A type of rayon, a semi-synthetic cellulose fiber made by spinning reconstituted cellulose, in this case often from beech trees. Modal is used alone or with other fibers (often cotton or spandex) in household items such as pajamas, towels, bathrobes, underwear and bedsheets.
Mohair A silk-like fabric or yarn made from the hair of the Angora goat. Both durable and resilient, mohair is notable for its high luster and sheen, which has helped give it the nickname the "Diamond Fiber." Mohair takes dye exceptionally well. Mohair is warm in winter as it has excellent insulating properties, while remaining cool in summer due to its moisture wicking properties. It is durable, naturally elastic, flame resistant and crease resistant. It is considered to be a luxury fiber, like cashmere, angora and silk, and is usually more expensive than most wool that comes from sheep.
Moire A fabric with a wavy (watered) appearance produced mainly from silk, but also wool, cotton and rayon. Silk treated in this way is sometimes called watered silk.
Moisture Regain It is defined as the weight of water in a material expressed a percentage of the oven dry weight of the material.
Moleskin A heavy cotton fabric, woven and then sheared to create a short, soft pile on one side. The word is also used for clothing made from this fabric, as well as adhesive pads stuck to the skin to prevent blisters. Clothing made from moleskin is noted for its softness and durability. Some variants of the cloth are so densely woven as to be windproof.
Monofilament Shortened from monofilament fishing line, it is a fishing line made from a single fiber of plastic. Most fishing lines are now monofilament because monofilament fibers are cheap to produce and are produced in a range of diameters which have different tensile strengths. It is manufactured in different colors, such as clear, white, green, blue, red, and fluorescent.
Monomer The beginning molecule used in making a polymer, a chemical substance that is the integral part of artificial fibers.
Mood or Image Board A type of collage consisting of images, text, and samples of objects in a composition, used by designers and other creative artists for visualizing their ideas.
Moquette Derived from the French word for carpet, is a type of woven pile fabric in which cut or uncut threads form a short dense cut or loop pile. As well as giving it a distinctive velvet-like feel, the pile construction is particularly durable, and ideally suited to applications such as public transport.
Mordant A substance used in dyeing to fix the coloring matter, especially a metallic compound, as an oxide or hydroxide, that combines with the organic dye and forms an insoluble colored compound or lake in the fiber.
Motif In the textile arts, a motif is a smaller element in a much larger work. It can be of any size, but usually all the motifs in any given work are the same size. The patterns and stitches used in a motif may vary greatly, but there is almost always some unifying element, such as texture, stitch pattern, or colour, which gives the finished piece more aesthetic appeal.
Mouflon Airy, soft, lightweight woollen fabric, with a dense, unlevelled pile which conceals a twill weave. Produced from carded yarns, and used for ladies' fashionable coats. The name is given by the moufflon, a wild sheep which is indigenous to some Mediterranean countries.
Multifilament Also referred to as The Super Lines, it is a type of fishing line. It is a braided line which is made up of a type of polyethylene, an extremely thin line for its strength. By weight, polyethylene strands are five to ten times sturdier than steel. This type of fishing line is expensive, sometimes four times the cost of equivalent monofilament.
Mungo A fibrous woollen material generated from waste fabric
Muslin A cotton fabric made in various degrees of fineness and often printed, woven, or embroidered in patterns, especially a cotton fabric of plain weave, used for sheets and for a variety of other purposes. It gets its name from the city of Mosul, Iraq, where it was first manufactured.