Silk or silk-like

Once a name with a registered trademark, barathea is a silk or silky manufactured fiber fabric with a broken rib weave.

Note that wool barathea is unrelated.

Uses: Ties, cravats, dresses

A plain weave fabric made with thicker (or grouped) weft yarns and fine and more numerous warp yarns. The result is a very noticeable horizontal rib with a silky surface. The weft is often cotton while the filament warp is silk or a manufactured fiber. The name is from Bengal, India.

Uses: Dresses, coats, suits

See also:
Faille
Grosgrain
Ottoman
Rep
Taffeta

An elaborately-patterned fabric woven on a jacquard loom since the early 19th century, brocade uses color, texture or both to emphasize its figures. The figures and ground may be of contrasting weaves such as satin on plain weave. Brocade is not considered reversible; the reverse is often distinguished by long floating threads.

Brocade was originally made in Asia, of silk with gold or silver threads, and it may still be silk or a manufactured filament fiber with metallic threads. The original looming was done manually.

Uses: Evening wear, accessories, household items

See also:
Brocatelle
Damask

Burn-out (burned-out, burnt-out) fabric is woven of more than one fiber type, then printed with a chemical that will destroy the surface fiber, leaving the ground intact. The result is a fabric patterned with a distinct surface and ground. The ground is usually sheer.

Velvet is probably the most common type of burn-out fabric. Dévoré (literally “devoured”) velvet is synonymous.

Uses: Evening wear, bridal, scarves

See also:
Burn-out velvet
Dévoré velvet
Façonné velvet
Velvet

A soft, lightweight, flowing silk fabric, charmeuse is now also made of manufactured fiber. With its semi-lustrous satin face and dull back, it compares to crepe-back satin, except it is lighter, less glossy and is used only with the satin side out. The name is French for “charming woman.”

Uses: Blouses, evening gowns, dresses, lounge wear, lingerie and high-quality linings

See also:
Crepe-back satin

Chiffon is French for “rag,” but this very sheer fabric is the most elegant of rags! Originally silk, chiffon is also now made of polyester, nylon or rayon as well. It is a loose, balanced plain weave with tightly twisted single yarns in both directions. It has a subtle crepe texture, and is as light and thin as can be.

Chiffon is sometimes also used to describe the lightness of a fabric, such as chiffon velvet (a light soft velvet) and chiffon taffeta (a glossy, light, soft taffeta).

Uses: Scarves, lingerie, blouses and evening wear

See also:
Georgette
Mousseline de soie

Very similar in their qualities, China silk originates from China, while habutai is Japanese. Habutai means “soft as down” in Japanese. Both are extremely soft, fine, light and lustrous fabrics, usually in a plain weave. China silk can be dyed, while habutai is more often left a natural ecru and can be slightly irregular in its fibers.

Uses: Very light blouses, lingerie, linings

Ciré (French for waxed) is fabric given a hot calendering finishing treatment with wax applied to the fabric, resulting in a highly polished surface. When this treatment is given to taffeta, the fine ribs flatten and run together. Ciré is both the name of the finishing treatment and the name of cloth treated with this effect.

See also:
Taffeta

French for “blistered,” cloqué is sometimes anglicized in spelling to clokay. It is made the same way matelassé is made, but has a smaller puckered pattern.

Uses: Eveningwear

See also:
Matelassé

The name means crepe of China, and originally the fabric was silk, later polyester, nylon, rayon or acetate. The light to medium weight fabric is of plain weave construction which is subtly crepe textured due to the crepe twist of the weft yarns. The warp yarn is low twist, finer and much more plentiful than the weft.

Uses: Blouses, linings, dresses, evening wear, lingerie

Lustrous on one side and with a crepe texture on the other, this light to medium weight fabric is called crepe-back satin when its glossy side is its face, and satin-back crepe when the dull side is the face. It can be called crepe satin or satin crepe as well. Sometimes the contrasting sides of the fabric are both used on the outside of a garment. Characteristically silk, it can be made of rayon or manufactured fibers.

Uses: Blouses, dresses, evening gowns, lining

See also:
Charmeuse
Satin

Damask differs from its jacquard relative brocade in that it can be reversed, although the reverse will feature the woven-in pattern in “negative.” Damask is characteristically one color but two different weaves, to set the patterns apart from the ground. If the pattern is satin on the face, it will be dull on the reverse. If two colors are used, these will be reversed on the back of the fabric.

The fabric gets its name from Damascus, Syria, a trade hub where this silk fabric from China was introduced to Europe. Starting in the 15th century, European damasks were made of linen; both staple fiber and filament fiber damasks are made still. Table linens of cotton and blends are often damask.

Uses: Table linens, household decorations, towels, wraps, evening wear, accessories

See also:
Brocade
Jacquard, woven

A plain weave, rather lustrous and crisp silk fabric with pronounced irregular ribs formed by slubbed yarns. The slubs are formed by the spinning of silk from a double (from which the name derives) silkworm cocoon, which can’t be unwound evenly in the reeling process, leaving thicker spots in the filaments. The slubbed ribs are usually horizontal (in the weft) but may also be vertical (in the warp). Doupioni silk is naturally an ecru shade but is often dyed in bright and/or iridescent colors.

As compared to its close relative shantung, doupioni silk is heavier in weight, with more pronounced slubs.

Uses: Blouses, dresses, skirts, suits, neckties

See also:
Pongee
Shantung
Thai silk
Tussah

Heavy and luxurious very lustrous satin made of fine filament yarns in a tight satin weave. Originally always silk, duchesse can be rayon, polyester or acetate.

Uses: Evening gowns, bridal

See also:
Peau de soie

A plain weave fabric with pronounced, fairly flat crosswise ribs and a silky, somewhat lustrous surface, faille is the name given to such fabric in a range of weights. The weave is constructed with heavier (or grouped) weft yarns and finer and more numerous warp yarns. The warp fibers are usually filament (silk, manufactured fibers) while the weft is usually cotton or cotton blends, sometimes wool or silk. Faille may be used for moiré.

Taffeta’s ribs are even finer, while bengaline’s are heavier than faille’s.

Uses: Evening dresses, skirts, under skirts, spring coats, suits

See also:
Bengaline
Grosgrain
Moiré
Ottoman
Rep
Taffeta

A 2/2 twill weave fabric originally from India, it is presently made of silk—as it was originally—as well as rayon and other fibers. Foulard features a plain ground and one of a variety of simple, small geometric prints. These are recognizable as characteristic prints for a necktie. Foulard is the French word for scarf.

Uses: Neckties, scarves

See also:
Surah

Gazar is alternatively called gaze, the French word for gauze. Gazar is a fine, sheer, crisp silk fabric which may be in a leno weave, but most commonly is in a plain weave. The fabric is more crisp than chiffon and georgette, but less than organza.

Uses: Formal wear, bridal, dresses, interfacing or facing for lightweight fabrics

See also:
Ninon
Organza

A sheer, dull, easily draped fabric originally of silk—now also manufactured fibers and even wool—in a balanced plain weave. The crepe texture is achieved by highest twist yarns in both warp and weft. Every one to two yarns the direction alternates from S-twist to Z-twist. It is much like chiffon, only slightly more crepe-textured and heavier. Georgette is named after a late 19th-century French fashion designer named Madame Georgette de la Plante. Georgette is also called crepe georgette and georgette crepe.

Uses: Blouses, evening wear, lingerie, millinery, curtains and scarves

See also:
Chiffon

Best known in ribbon width, grosgrain may also be fabric. It shares with other horizontally-ribbed fabrics a plain weave with heavier weft yarns and finer and more plentiful warp yarns. As compared to faille, the ribs are rounder. The warp is characteristically silk or rayon with the weft being cotton, sometimes silk.

The name comes from the French gros (coarse or large) and grain (grain or texture).

Uses: Ribbon for trim, hatbands; fabric for dresses, skirts, spring coats

See also:
Bengaline
Faille
Ottoman
Rep
Taffeta

With a name meaning “padded” in French, matelassé has a distinctly blistered, wadded or quilted look with raised areas of fabric. The texture is achieved in weaving, which is done on either a jacquard or dobby loom. The crepe-twist yarns used shrink in the wet finishing process, causing other yarns to puff out from the surface.

Matelassé may be silk, manufactured fiber, wool or cotton (the latter two mainly for upholstery and other household uses).

A cheaper matelassé-look fabric is made by shrinking the backing of a layered fabric—puckering the surface which is attached to the backing at regular intervals. Embossed fabrics can also achieve similar looks.

Uses: Dresses, eveningwear, outerwear, also home decorating

See also:
Cloqué
Crepon
Embossed fabric