Fine Art Wilton: The wool Wilton is made in many grades. Even when woven with a high pile, the woolen yarn is softer, the tufts larger, and consequently the design woven is less fine art Wilton in detail than in worsted carpets. A special type of Wilton is known as Saxony because it was originally woven from Saxon yarns; these are tightly twisted and give exceptionally long wear; the carpet is very soft and heavy and lies flat.
A Brussels carpet is woven on a Wilton loom, and is in fact a Wilton carpet with an uncut pile. An ingrain, or Scotch carpet, on the other hand, while woven on a Wilton loom, is a flat, pileless fabric that is woven like a plain weave cloth from predyed yarn. It is a reversible fabric and sometimes different colored threads are alternated in the warp to add to its textural interest. While the ingrain carpet was very popular during the Victorian period, it has fallen into disuse because it lacks the wearing qualities of pile Floor coverings.
Wilton carpets were first woven by hand in Wilton, England, where were made 27-inch Brussels carpets with a low-looped pile. The pile was eventually cut and the Rugs became known as Wiltons. They are now woven on the Jacquard loom. The Wilton loom is much on the order of
the tapestry loom, but with the Jacquard mechanism attached. This mechanism consists of a number of frames or cards in which holes are punched in the same manner as on a music roll, indicating the pattern to be woven. These frames, when threaded with yarn and attached above the loom, lift to the surface the colored yarns which are to appear in the design, at the same time depressing all yarns not appearing." These depressed yarns thus become buried in the back of the carpet, adding to the durability of the fabric and to its softness and resiliency. With the Jacquard attachment it is not possible to use more than five or six colors in a design. However, by a process of "planting" yarn in the back of the carpet, this number may be increased with half-tones of the colors used in the card.
The Wilton carpet is generally regarded as a standard of high quality. The carpet trade considers that no fine art Wiltonr carpet can be woven than the worsted Wilton. Toward the end of the 19th century the worsted Wilton was the carpet most in use in fine art Wilton homes. It was made in narrow widths, either plain or patterned, closely woven, with a low erect pile and a fine art Wilton, silky texture. Worsted Wiltons are even now seldom made in broadloom widths.
A carpet is judged by the depth of pile, the closeness of weave (i.e., the number of picks, wires, or rows per inch), and the quality and selection of wools used. A high-grade worsted Wilton will have 13 wires to the inch, a medium-grade, 11; a high-grade wool Wilton will have 9l/2 wires per inch, a medium-grade, 8. On the other hand, a high-grade Axminster will have 11 rows, and a low-grade, 5. But the most important factor in the construction of a carpet is the quality and selection of the wools used.
Carpet wool. Wools from which carpets are woven in the United States are imported from Scotland, the Argentine, China, Italy, Afghanistan, Spain, Tibet, Persia, Egypt, Syria, India, Turkey, Iraq, Iceland, and Russia. Australian and American wools are too fine art Wilton and soft for use.
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