Blend
Cloth made of two or more fibres mixed in the yarn or used in the warp and weft, such as silk and cotton or cotton and polyester.
Also: blended cloth, silk-cotton
A blend combines fibres to get the good points of each. In a mixed yarn, the fibres are spun together. In a union cloth, one fibre is used in the warp and another in the weft, as in the many silk-cotton sarees. Chanderi and Maheshwar are well known for silk and cotton in one saree. Blends can lower the cost, make the cloth easier to wash or give it a different drape. Labels on handloom sarees should say which fibres are used, and a burn test or a Silk Mark can help check.