A raising card is used to raise
cloth
Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...
. Raising is the technique used to produce the
nap of cloth. Originally, only
woolen
Woolen (American English) or woollen (Commonwealth English) is a type of yarn made from carded wool. Woolen yarn is soft, light, stretchy, and full of air. It is thus a good insulator, and makes a good knitting yarn. Woolen yarn is in contrast t ...
cloth was raised, but now
flannelette and other
cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...
fabrics are also raised. Raising is one of the last steps in the
finishing process for cloth. It teases out the ends of the fibers in the cloth to produce a nap.
The raising was first done using the dried fruit pod of a
teasel
''Dipsacus'' is a genus of flowering plant in the family Caprifoliaceae. The members of this genus are known as teasel, teazel or teazle. The genus includes about 15 species of tall herbaceous biennial plants (rarely short-lived perennial plants ...
plant, then technology moved on and raising cards were created. A raising card is a brush with metal bristles, similar to
hand cards and to the original teasel pod.
The process was mechanized during the industrial revolution, and the raising machine (the Gigmill) looks and works much like the large carding machines, in that it has a large main roller with several small ones positioned around it. The small ones rotate quickly, in either the same direction or opposite of that of the cloth.
After the raising process, the
nap is uneven. In order to gain an even surface, the nap is then sheared, or cut, to the desired height.
External links
Gigmill image
Textile arts
{{Textile-arts-stub