CORONATION ROBES.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 300, 3 December 1936, Page 2

CORONATION ROBES.

TREATMENT OF ROYAL VELVETS, t 1 AN INTRICATE PROCESS. The robes our new King will we’ar or the Coronation next year will, of jourse, be made of velvet —rich, royal ’elvet, soft and lovely and gleaming, with an intricate design, no doubt, worked -In untarnishable' gold or silver thread. This business of velvet weaving has more than a touch of wizardry about it since the velvetweaver 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, and passing horizontally over the other, approximately one-six-teenth 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 of the material of 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 tho soft pile of the velvet. And so difficult Is this operation that, despite the expert skill and precision of the velvet-weaver, 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, straightforward velvet with a comparatively long pile. Ring velvet, on the other hand, has 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.