Velvet is made by carrying the threads of the warp over a rod called a needle, so as to produce a series of ridges or (ribs,'' much as in the last paragraph; and then cutting all these ridges by a sharp instrument passed in as the (needle° is withdrawn. This cutting leaves the threads standing up to form the nap or pile, but they are left of different lengths or heights, and, therefore, the whole surface is most care fully sheared and sometimes this shearing is helped by singeing. Fustian, velveteen and corduroy are made by the same process. Plush is a material of the same character and pro duced in nearly the same way. When the ribbed surface is left without being cut, the term "un cut velvet° is used. This may be used for a part of the surface, while other parts are fully cut and brought to the smooth surface com mon to velvet. In this way most elaborate patterns are produced — figures being in the velvet pile upon the ground of uncut velvet. Again this may be carried further in producing what is called "pile upon pile') velvet, in which the pile of one part of the pattern is relieved upon the shorter pile of another part of the pattern and this again upon the uncut back ground. It is evident that such stuffs are of great cost. The beauty of the pattern may also be enhanced by the use of different colors. Thus the velvets of Genoa and of Venice of the 17th century and modern copies of the same may have a general surface or back ground of a satin-like texture, upon which the flowers and leaves of the pattern are raised in uncut velvet in ridges made of projecting loops, and upon this again is relieved a pat tern of cut velvet, smooth and uniform in sur face; both these surfaces, the uncut and the cut velvet, being woven with three, four or five colors, the threads being dyed beforehand dark and light green, crimson, buff and the like. The resulting pattern will be of extraor dinary richness, effective at a distance and also near at hand. Such pieces made in Ven ice at the close of the 19th century would cost about 60 francs a yard when woven 20 inches wide.
The further elaboration of decorative weav ing by the introduction of other materials than those of twisted threads, is also of importance. Thus "gold thread,'" as it is called, is commonly made of silver wire gilded and then pulled out or drawn,D the silver and gold together, until it is very fine. This is apt to tarnish, the ex tremely thin gold disappearing with wear, and the silver not having the power of resisting im purities in the air. To avoid this, where a per manently metallic effect is desired, gold paper is used by the Orientals, the paper being some times brown, as it shows on the reverse side of the stuff, and the gilded surface showing on the right side. The less expensive Japanese brocaded silks are often woven in this way. On the other hand, the tarnishing of the me tallic gold thread often adds a special charm to the effect of ancient stuffs.
As textile fabrics have been used by all men more advanced than the most degraded savages, the history of textiles is of infinite extent. Even textiles of decorative purpose, those woven in a somewhat complicated way, are of unknown antiquity. Decorative stuffs
have been found in Egyptian tombs of very early epochs. The tombs of the lost races of South America have been found to contain beautiful weaves. The earliest painted vases found in Egypt show boats with sails, and although some of these sails were perhaps of skin, there are others iv which the evident purpose has been to show a woven material Western Asia has always been the home of the most beautiful designs in weaving, for at a very early time the people of the great plain through which the Tigris and the Euphrates run were producing fabrics with the most varied and splendid patterns. This tendency to use the Asiatic feeling for color decoration in work with the loom took two different forms in later times. The carpets and rugs woven with pile were brought from Syria into Europe at least as early as the 8th century A D., and at a later time they were somewhat common in Europe, as is clear from the earlier Italian paintings, in which rugs of unmistakably Eastern design are seen to cover the foot-stool or the throne of a sacred personage. Other heavy stuffs used in the West for floor cloths and also for door and window curtains under the general name of kelim are woven with out pile, the patterns being, therefore, much simpler, akin to those described above in con nection with gingham and especially with twilled materials. Brocades of different kinds, and also solidly woven, very durable silk stuffs made with threads dyed of different colors, but woven in such minute patterns that the thread nowhere shows as broche on the surface, have been made for so many hundred years that the time of their introduction is hardly ascertained. Cotton stuffs woven in a similar fashion with very pretty effects of simple patterns are but little imported to Europe, but their use in the East adds a great charm to the popular cos tume. Finally the printing of cotton cloths with wood blocks has been practised for cen turies, the pattern being admirably drawn and composed and the colors always interesting ex cept where the effect of European commerce has been, first, to substitute the cheaper chemi cal dyes of Europe for the more permanent and more beautiful dyes of the East, and, secondly, to debase the color design through the orders given by the agents of Western import ing houses. The growth of a beautiful textile industry in Europe and the United States is made difficult by the rapid changes of fashion which themselves are brought about by the great desire of large manufacturers to produce the material and the effect which will attract buyers. This tendency is aggravated by the un willingness of the great dealers to keep in stock fabrics which are out of fashion, because they are very numerous, because a considerable stock of any one would be a troublesome thing to house and to show on occasion, and because "it costs too much to sell" goods that are not in constant demand. Everyone knows how often the material which at a certain time he found to be exactly what he needed cannot possibly be obtained a few years later. See WEAVING.