In the piqué family but of heavier weight, bedford cord features vertical cords usually padded with stuffer yarns. It may be made of cotton or cotton blends—sometimes wool—or with a wool face and a cotton back. It is asserted that the fabric comes from New Bedford, Massachusetts (it had a thriving late 19th to early 20th century textile industry), hence its name.
Uses: Riding habits, uniforms, slacks, suits, coats
See also:
Piqué
Warp piqué
One of the piqué fabrics, made in cotton or cotton blends and with a small, distinct raised pattern on its face. Birdseye piqué’s pattern is a tiny diamond shape, reminiscent of a bird’s eye. A similar but somewhat larger oval pattern is called bullseye piqué.
Also written bird’s-eye piqué, bird’s eye piqué.
Uses: Dresses, blouses, sportswear, children’s clothing
See also:
Piqué
Broché is a French term for brocade, or figured, and broché coutil is coutil with a jacquard pattern in its closely woven herringbone twill.
Uses: Corsets
See also:
Coutil
See Birdseye piqué
Clip spot (clip-spot, clip-dot, spot-dot) is a weaving technique that involves extra weft yarns, usually of a contrasting fiber and/or color from the plain ground. The extra yarns are woven into the ground in a generally small pattern. Later the floats, carried on the back of the fabric, are clipped. The surface will appear to be embroidered, and the back will show these cut ends. Clip spot may also be made with extra yarns in the warp instead of the weft.
This is one method for making dotted Swiss, called American type.
See also:
Dotted swiss
Lappet weave
Swivel weave
Exceptionally strong, closely woven cotton or cotton and rayon blend fabric usually with a herringbone twill weave. The name is French, derived from “drill.”
Uses: Corsets, brasseries
See also:
Broché coutil
Drill
A plain weave, sheer fabric with ribs at regular intervals in both directions (the warp and weft). The ribs are made by weaving two or more threads together as one. Crossbar dimity is made of cotton or a cotton blend and may be printed or plain. The name dimity is derived from the Greek dimitos, double thread.
Tissue gingham is crossbar dimity outlining gingham checks.
Uses: Dresses, blouses, skirts, aprons, lingerie, curtains
A group of distinctly patterned fabrics of Scottish origin, originally designed for the livery of large estates in the second half of the 19th century. The patterns are of small checks and groups of checks, woven in a right-hand twill weave and mostly of one color with an undyed light color. Some have up to three dyed colors. Historically made of wool, now the patterns can be found in any fiber.
See also:
Glen plaid
Gun club check
Houndstooth check
Prince of Wales
Shepherd’s check
Tartan
Dobby is a type of decorative weave produced by a special attachment on a loom. The characteristic dobby patterns are small, geometric, straight-edged and regular in their repeat.
Dobby is also the name of the attachment which allows additional yarns to be woven into a fabric by controlling the action of a number of harnesses, creating dobby weave fabric. Dobby may also refer to a loom with the dobby attachment.
Compare dobby to jacquard weave, which is characterized by large-scale and curving patterns.
Traditionally made of a fine plain weave cotton—now sometimes a blend with manufactured fiber—dotted swiss always is covered in small dots placed at regular intervals. These can be woven in, flocked or printed. Colors may be introduced, although the most common is all white. The original and finest was first made in Switzerland on a swivel loom. Other woven varieties are clip-spot (spot-dot, clip-dot or American dotted swiss) and lappet woven.
Flocked dots are made by applying tiny fibers with glue. Neither the flocked nor the printed versions of dotted swiss are as durable as the woven varieties, although they are less expensive to produce.
Uses: Blouses, dresses, wedding gowns and curtains
See also:
Flocked fabric
A lappet-woven pattern with cut threads on the face of the fabric of at least 1/4” in length, giving the appearance of eyelashes. True to all lappet weaves, the pattern is fairly small and at regular intervals, with floats seen on the fabric’s reverse.
A light to medium weight balanced plain weave fabric usually of cotton or a cotton blend, gingham is most characteristically one color with white in even checks, called gingham checks. Tissue (very lightweight) gingham can have corded edges between the colors (see crossbar dimity).
The name gingham is thought to come from the Malay ging-gang, meaning “striped.”
Uses: Dresses, blouses, house dresses, aprons, pajamas
See also:
Check
Crossbar dimity
Shepherd’s check
Originally wool in a right-hand twill weave, distinct block-patterned glen plaid patterns are now woven in any fiber, although still often in wool or wool blends.
Gleann is the Gaelic word for valley, and in the rugged Highlands of Scotland the valleys were where most homes were established. Glen plaid, as it is usually called in the United States, is synonymous with Glen Urquhart. In the UK it is called glencheck or glen check. Castle Urquhart overlooks Loch Ness in the Great Glen of the northern Highlands.
Uses: Suits, coats, slacks, skirts, scarves, jackets, dresses, hats
See also:
District checks
Houndstooth check
Prince of Wales
Shepherd’s check
Tartan
Part of of the twill-woven wool, or wool blend checked fabric group, gun club check is woven in three colors in an even pattern.
Uses: Suits, jackets, coats, skirts
See also:
District checks
A reversing (broken) twill weave which creates a zigzag pattern, resembling a fish backbone. Originally always wool—now wool or blends—herringbone may be a tweed with that fabric’s characteristic slubs. The twill may be one color, but it is probably best known in two colors, creating zigzag stripes. Also called chevron weave.
Herringbone twill has been known to inspire printed patterns in imitation.
Uses: Coats, suits, jackets, skirts
See also:
District checks
Tweed
Honeycomb is a fabric that resembles a real honeycomb in having raised ridges and hollows. It is related to all the other fabrics with small dobby-woven textures, and is very similar to waffle cloth.
See also:
Birdseye piqué
Huckaback
Piqué
Waffle cloth
Houndstooth is a crooked check made in a twill weave and usually of one light color and one dark. The yarns are arranged in groups of four. The name derives from the pattern’s resemblance to a canine tooth. The pattern occurs in glen plaid, Prince of Wales and other district checks.
Originally wool, houndstooth (also called dogtooth) may be made of any fiber in two or three colors. The pattern may also be imitated in a print.
Uses: Suits, coats, skirts, dresses, scarves, slacks, jackets
See also:
District checks
Glen plaid
Prince of Wales
Shepherd’s check
Tartan
Dobby woven and with a small textured pattern, huckaback is an absorbent fabric, usually of cotton and in narrow widths ideal for hand towels. It may have a pattern or word (think hotel name) woven into one end. Huckaback’s texture also makes a good ground for embroidery. It is related to all the other fabrics with small dobby-woven textures.
Use: Hand towels
See also:
Birdseye piqué
Honeycomb
Piqué
Waffle cloth
Many cotton fabrics are woven in Madras, India, but the name by itself is used to describe a plain weave hand-woven fabric usually with a plaid, striped or checked pattern. The vegetable dyes used are often not permanent, and one of madras’ characteristics is its softened colors from dye bleed. This is not only expected but encouraged; some weavers keep their threads wet to create dye bleed even in the weaving process. If a similar fabric is made anywhere but Madras, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has for decades required that it is clearly marked as an imitation.
Uses: Shirts, dresses
Natté is French for “plaited” or “braided,” and natté fabric has the appearance of basket weave with interwoven yarns. However, instead of being a plain weave, the fabric is made using dobby loom control, and the open-work of the yarns is held more firmly than a basket weave.
See also:
Hopsacking
Mock leno
