Chemnitz

kem'nits, the chief manufacturing town of Saxony. It is situated on the river of the same name fifty miles southeast of Leipsic. It is called the Manchester of Saxony. It leads the world in the making of hosiery. There are also large manufactures of calico, silks, woolen goods, and jute bags. Chemnitz lies at the foot of the Erzgebirge, and is a center for mining supplies and machinery. The population has grown rapidly since the Franco-German war and is now over 200,000. See Saxony

Chenille (she-nel') Cloth, a textile in use for curtains, portieres, and table covers. It is woven with a very fine cotton warp and a fringed cotton, wool, or silk thread for the weft. This gives a soft, fur-like effect. The fabric takes its name from the furry coat of the caterpillar, of which chenille is the French name. Until about 1890 Scotch and Austrian manufacturers had a monopoly of the American chenille cloth trade. The material was woven on hand looms and was necessarily expensive. Since that time power looms have been introduced for its manufacture and American factories now produce a superior and less costly cloth. The fringed thread or filling used for the weft is called "fur" or "chenille." It is not an ordinary thread, but a sort of cord made in the loom. Two or three warp threads of wool or cotton are used. The fine silk weft threads are allowed to project at either side beyond the warp, and are afterward cut. By twisting, this narrow web is made to assume the shape of a cord with the wefts projecting in all directions from the central warp threads. When figures are to be produced, this weft is dyed in various colors at short intervals or steps, arranged with such nicety that, as the weaving progresses, the colored parts fit into each other precisely, thus forming beautiful patterns. Silk chenille is used for a variety of fancy work. It is made in many sizes, from a thread scarcely larger than a fine yarn to that one-third of an inch in diameter. The larger varieties are "filled" very closely with the silk weft and are evenly trimmed.