CORONATION ROBES

Evening Star, Issue 22454, 26 September 1936, Page 25

CORONATION ROBES

TREATMENT OF ROYAL VELVETS Tho robes our new King will wear for the Coronation nest year _ will, of course, be made of velvet—rich, royal velvet, soft and lovely and gleaming, with an intricate design, no doubt, worked in untarnishablo gold or silver thread (states an exchange). This business of velvet weaving has more than a touch of wizardry about it since the velvet-weaver creates the supple, soft, downy substance we call velvet from the same thin silk threads from which crepe de chine or georgette is woven. A velvet loom actually consists of two looms, one passing horizontally over the other, approximately one-sixteenth of an inch apart, and the threads from the top loom pass down and through the under loom. Now comes the difficult part that calls forth all the skill and artistry of the velvet expert. A razor-like knife has to be passed through this sixteenth of an inch aperture without harming the surface or the material on either loom. The knife severs the cross threads between the looms, and it is all these millions of little cut ends of silk that form the soft pile of the velvet. And so difficult is this operation that, despite the expert skill and precision of the velvetweaver, hundreds of yards of velvet are ruined each year before they leave the loom. Different treatment, by the way, is given to the various types of velvet. Chiffon velvet is a plain, straight-for-ward velvet with a comparatively long Sile. Ring velvet, on the other hand, as a pile so short as to be almost immeasurable, and it is consequently more difficult to weave since the length of pile determines the space through, which the loom razor must pass. Panne velvet, again, has a long pile, and in order to impart to the material the shining, satiny surface that distinguishes this type of velvet, the pile is crushed by heated rollers when it leaves the looms. The lovely metal brocade velvets, such as will lie worn by King Edward at next year’s ceremony, are produced by weaving the coloured silk threads through a foundation of real gold or silver threads.