Styling Glossary

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S

Saxony:
A cut-pile carpet texture consisting of plied, heat-set yarns in a relatively dense, erect configuration, with well defined individual tuft tips.

Selvage:
The edge of the carpet. Most commercial carpets are shipped with the selvage on. Residential carpet is usually trimmed to the face yarn.

Set match:
Refers to a pattern in a carpet which continues straight across the installed carpet at right angles to the seams.

Shading:
Apparent color shade differences between areas of the same carpet caused by normal wear and/or random difference in pile lay direction.It is a characteristic of cut pile carpet. It is not a manufacturing defect.

Shearing:
Finishing process in cut pile carpet manufacturing to create a smooth carpet face. The shearing process can also be used to create texture, as in random shearing. See "Random sheared" or "Tip shearing."

Singles yarn:
One yarn end of either continuous filament yarn or spun yarn. Singles yarn is most often plied, twisted, or air-entangled with additional singles yarns to create a "two-ply," "three-ply" or "four-ply" yarn bundle.

Skein dyed yarn:
Singles yarn that has been skein dyed. Yarn is wound in skeins and dyed in dye vats. This method yields small to mid-sized dye lots, but has custom color advantages. See "Dye methods."

Solution dyed:
See "Dye methods."

Space dyed:
See "Dye methods."

Spun yarn:
Yarn that is made up of short lengths of fiber, either synthetic staple or natural fiber.

Staple fiber:
Also called staple. Short lengths of fiber which have been chopped from continuous filament in lengths of 4" to 7 1/2 ". Staple fiber must be further processed (spun) into yarn before it can be tufted/ woven into carpet. Nylon and polyester are examples of synthetic fibers available in staple form.

Stitches per inch (SPI):
Number of yarn tufts per running inch along the length of the carpet (as opposed to the gauge, which is the number of stitches across the width of the carpet).

Stock dyed:
See "Dye methods."

Suessen:
A trade name of a German manufacturing company and its continuous heatsetting process. In Suessen setting, dry heat is applied to twisted yarn. The heat builds bulk and locks twist into the thermoplastic fiber's "memory." See "Heatsetting."

Superba:
A trade name of a French manufacturing company and its continuous heatsetting process. In Superba setting, steam and pressure are applied to twisted yarn. Heat and pressure are applied to build the bulk and lock twist into the thermoplastic fiber's "memory." See "Heatsetting."