The present invention provides thickened fabrics and reinforcements for
use as a spacer or reinforcement for a matrix system. The fabric includes
in a first embodiment a woven fabric comprising weft and warp yarns
containing glass fibers. A portion of the weft yarns are undulated into a
sinusoidal path forming a generally "C" shaped bridge between adjacent
warp yarns which results in an increased thickness for the fabric. The
fabric is coated with a polymeric resin or bonding agent, for
substantially binding the weft yarns in the undulated condition. This
invention also includes methods for making such fabric by increasing the
thickness of a woven or non-woven material by such methods as applying
tension to warp yarns having opposite twists during weaving operations,
or using unbalanced yarns, for example.