CHIFFON. In dress fabrics, one of the most delicate, gauze like and transparent of all silk tissues. Chiffon consists of a plain woven texture produced from very fine and hard-twisted warp and weft of corresponding denier (counts), with a corre sponding number of warp threads and picks per inch, and a soft dull finish. So very delicate and flimsy is the chiffon texture, that it is easily distorted and pulled out of shape.
The term chiffon has different meanings in different countries. Thus, in France, it signifies a rag; in Rumania, a bleached cotton shirting ; in Germany and Austria, a stout, fine, plain woven linen fabric with a smooth finish, and used for shirtings and other gar ments for underwear; in England, chiffon net (also nun's veiling) signifies a very fine and delicate quality of silk net used as lace and for veils. Chiffon twist signifies a hard-twisted silk thread spun with about 5o or more twists per inch, and used in the production of chiffon tissues.