| 17TH CENTURY FABRICS AND SWATCHES |
Alençon Lace
Point d’Alençon |
A delicate needlepoint lace manufactured in France in the late 17th century (circa 1665) |
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| Batiste |
A thin plain weave fabric of cotton or linen |
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| Baudekin |
A rich embroidered fabric originally made with warp of gold thread and woof of silk. Sometimes, more fully, Cloth of Baudekin or Cloth of Baudkin (Today we call it brocade) |
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| Broadcloth |
A tightly woven, plain weave cotton fabric usually characterized by a slight ridge effect in one direction |
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| Brocade |
Originally a fabric of silk, satin or velvet variegated with gold and silver or raised and enriched with flowers, foliage and other ornaments. It resembles embroidery and is woven on a jacquard loom. The threads do not appear on the surface but are carried across the width of the fabric on the reverse side |
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| Broderie Anglaise |
A style of cutwork depicting flowers, leaves and stems done entirely in eyelets which was used to embellish clothing and linens. Sometimes edges were finished with a satin stitch |
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Buckram
Buckram Lining |
A - Heavy woven material stiffended with glue or other substance and used inside the crown of certain caps to lend shape and is sometimes used as a backing
B – A firmly woven fabric usually of hemp, linen or cotton. It was used for inexpensive garments, linings and stiffening of collars, gowns and tops of sleeves |
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| Calico |
A finely woven cotton cloth named from Calicut, India. It was first brought to England by the East India Company in 1631. The name calico is generally given to any plain white cotton and sometimes linen cloth |
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| Cambric |
Very fine white linen used for linings and corset bodices |
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Cendal
Sendal
Syndale |
A silk material resembling taffeta made in various qualities and sometimes even mentioned as a luxury fabric, sometimes only as a cheap lining material. It was widely used during the Middle Ages but by the 17th century it was used ONLY as lining |
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| Chambray |
A light-weight fabric woven from either cotton or silk which incorporates a coloured warp (usually white) with a solid coloured weft |
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| Chiffon |
A light-weight, extremely sheer, airy and soft silk fabric |
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| Chintz |
A painted or stained calico imported from India in the 17th century, usually made of cotton and glazed to produce a polished look |
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| Cloth of Gold |
A warp of coloured silk or wool thread and a weft of gold thread, wire or strip were interwoven to make cloth as well as lace |
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| Cloth of Silver |
A warp of coloured silk or wool thread and a weft of silver thread, wire or strip were interwoven to make cloth as well as lace |
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| Cotton |
A versatile fabric woven from cotton fibers available in varying weights |
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| Coutil |
Twilled cotton fabric in a herringbone weave with a close texture and sometimes patterned often used in corsets |
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| Crape |
A thin transparent gauze-like silk or cotton fabric without any twill and mechanically embossed to have a crisped or minutely wrinkled surface |
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| Cypress |
An extremely transparent blend of silk and linen used for partlets, foresleeves and neckwear |
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| Damask |
Originally a silk fabric made in Damascus woven of only one colour with patterns of flowers, branches and animals in a satin finish contrasting with a slightly textured taffeta background. Multi-coloured damasks are called Lampas |
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| Dimity |
A cotton fabric, with stripes or pattern, especially produced for the corset trade |
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| Doeskin |
Leather made from the skin of doe, deer or goat, used especially for gloves |
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| Felt |
A fabric made from wool, hair or fur in which the fibers are locked together in a process utilizing heat, moisture and pressure to form a compact material which is then used in the making of hats and gloves. There are 3 types of hat felt – Wool Felt, Fur Felt and Beaver Felt (by the early-mid 1600’s the beaver's European breeding grounds became exhausted, after which time North America became the main supplier of skins to the trade) |
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| Flannel |
A medium-weight fabric typically woven from cotton or wool in either a plain or twill weave, with a soft hand and has a soft, fuzzy surface |
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| Fustian |
Strong cotton, linen or flax cloth with a light-weight silky feel which was very popular for linings and gowns |
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| Gauze |
A very thin, transparent fabric of silk, linen or cotton with a loose weave |
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| Grosgrain |
A plain weave cloth with a prominent rib effect usually of silk or cotton |
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Gros Point Lace
Point de Venise
Venetian Lace |
A very expensive heavy lace from Venice, Italy which was the most fashionable material amoung aristocrats and royalty in the 17th century and usually held together with a ribbon or cravat string or sewn into a pre-formed bow and fall because it was too heavy to be tied accurately |
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Indiennes
Chite |
Light-weight cotton fabrics printed in bright colours, exotic drawings which were imported from India. The name Indiennes was given to all Eastern painted and printed cloths no matter their country of origin. Painted linen was known as Chite and named for Chitta, India from where it originally came. King Louis XIV forbade them to be purchased because they drained so much money from France, though through Marseilles, which was a “duty free” port, they still found their way into the country. Indiennes and Chites were the pre-runners to the fabric know as Toile de Jouy which was later produced in Jouy, France around 1760 |
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| Jacquard |
A collective name for any fabric which is elaborately woven in an intricate variegated weave or pattern such as Brocade, Damask and Tapestry and done by hand until the invention of the Jacquard Loom in 1801 by Joseph-Marie Jacquard in Lyons, France |
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| Lawn |
A light, fine cloth made using carded or combed linen or cotton yarns. Linen lawn is synonymous with handkerchief linen. Cotton lawn is a similar type of fabric, which can be white, solid colored, or printed |
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| Leather |
An animal skin dressed for use in clothing and shoes and can be in varying weights |
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| Linen |
A fabric made from linen fibers obtained from inside the woody stem of the flax plant which are much stronger and more lustrous than cotton as well as being very cool and absorbent |
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| Linsey-Woolsey |
A loosely woven, plain cloth of linen yarn and wool |
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| Lisserie |
A fine Jacquard woven stripe imitating silk and embroidery with the figuring and color in the pattern coming from the warp |
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| Matelassé |
A medium to heavy-weight luxury fabric made in a double cloth construction to create a blistered or quilted surface with a pattern woven into the fabric |
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| Moiré |
A corded fabric usually made from silk which has a distinctive water-marked wavy pattern on the face of the fabric (circa 1660) |
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| Muslin |
A fine thin cotton fabric first imported into England in 1670 from Mosul in Kurdistan |
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| Oragandy |
The sheerest of cotton fabrics and sometimes stiffened |
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| Organza |
A crisp, sheer fabric made of silk |
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| Osnaburg |
A medium to heavy-weight coarsely woven fabric usually made of cotton. Lower grades of the unfinished fabric were used for industrial purposes such as bags, sacks and pipe coverings while the higher grades of finished fabric was used for mattress ticking, work wear and apparel |
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| Paisley |
Paisley, a tear-shaped, scroll-like pattern bedecked with a leafy motif, is believed to date as far back as the 11th century with shawls woven in the Kashmir region of Northern India. Elite Europeans sought the paisley shawls of Kashmir around the 15th century with the demand then tapering off until it soared in popularity again in the 19th century when Napoleon returned from Egypt with gifts of paisley shawls for his Empress, Josephine who loved them so much she soon had a collection of 60 of them and set a trend in fashion |
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| Percale |
A fine calico cloth in colours |
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| Sarcenet |
A plain soft fluid silk in a taffeta weave which came in two thicknesses and is mentioned in literature as a princely fabric for shirts |
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| Satin |
A traditional light to medium-weight fabric utilizing a basic type of weave where the warp threads float over up to eight weft threads that are then tied down on one weft thread yielding a smooth, slick, lustrous surface |
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| Silk |
A natural filament fiber produced by the silkworm in the construction of its cocoon which is then woven into a soft, smooth cloth. Most silk is collected from cultivated worms while Tussah silk, or wild silk, is a thicker, shorter fiber produced by worms in their natural habitat. All silk comes from Asia, primarily China and comes in different weights and textures |
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| Suede |
Very soft leather made from calfskin with a napped surface making it soft |
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| Taffeta |
A smooth, crisp lustrous, medium-weight, plain-weave fabric with a slight ribbed appearance in the filling (crosswise) direction made of silk, wool or linen. Silk taffeta gives the ultimate rustle |
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| Tapestry |
A heavy, hand-woven ribbed fabric featuring an elaborate design depicting a historical or current pictorial display by using coloured filling yarns only in areas where needed and that are worked back and forth over spun warp yarns |
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| Ticking |
A tightly woven, very durable fabric made of cotton and used for work clothes, covering mattresses and pillows and can be made by using a plain, satin or twill weave construction originally of a blue and cream vertical striped fabric to make “ticks” |
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| Tiffany |
A thin gauze-like blend of silk and linen and was used as the first lining to be seen in a slashed doublet and for neckwear in much the same way as lawn |
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| Velvet |
A medium-weight cut-pile constructed fabric, in which the cut pile stands up very straight, woven using two sets of warp yarns and is a luxurious fabric with a high luster and smooth hand making it soft to the touch |
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| Voile |
(Pronounced FOIL)
A sheer, transparent fabric, often with a stiff finish, of cotton or silk and used originally for veils |
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| Wool |
Usually associated with the fiber or fabric made from the fleece of sheep or lamb it ranges from very light to very heavy-weight with different softnesses suitable for uses in carpets to undergarments. The term "wool" can also apply to all animal hair fibers, including the hair of the Cashmere or Angora goat or the specialty hair fibers of the camel, alpaca, llama, or vicuna |
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