TEXTILE GLOSSARY and fabric information
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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Use the above links to go directly to any of the alphabetically listed entries

A
Ailesham - fine linen cloth, plain woven.
Ajoure - an embroidery technique which creates open areas in often figured patterns.  Used on woven fabrics.
Alamode - silk fabric which is light and glossy
Alencon lace - French needlepoint lace comprising a floral design on a sheer net background. French version of the luxurious and popular 17th century Venetian needle lace.
Alliballi - Indian muslim popular in Regency times.
All over packed - meaning a printed fabric with flowers packed very closely together giving a rich, sumptuous feel.
All over one-directional - a fabric which has been printed with a distinct top and bottom to the pattern or drop. The reverse being all over non-directional.
All over set - a printed fabric with a formal layout with grids and designs. A static design.
All over tossed - a printed fabric in which the flowers appear to have been tossed over the cloth.
Amens - finely woven satin or broken twill. A double or treble thread warp crossed by single thread weft. Made in Norwich in 16th and 17th centuries but originally made in Amiens and used for gaiters etc.
Ancelia - fabric used in the past for dresses which has a hard twist cotton warp and a wool weft.
Angora - Angora wool is a soft fibre from the angora rabbit. Used for sweaters and baby clothes.
Anterine - worsted fabric of silk warp crossed by a heavier worsted thread such as mohair or cotton forming a cross rib.
Applique - decorative technique where fabric shapes are sewn or embroidered onto a base fabric.
Arborescent - a fabric printed with heavy, sinuous branches, exotic birds and flowers.  Used for home furnishings.
Ariele - woollen gauze
Armenian lace - also called Bebilla. A lace of mainly looped threads
Armistice Cloth - worsted cloth used after the Boer War
Armozine - corded, strong silk fabric
Assisi work - embroidery worked from a chart and originating from the nuns of Assisi.  Motifs often illustrating life of St Francis of Assisi on a pale cream linen with red and blue used for motifs.  The outline is stitched and filled with crosstitch.

B
Bad - there are Biblical references to this fine linen fabric.
Baddachin - a silk fabric, richly brocaded.
Ballymena - an irish hand woven linen.
Balzarine - a light cloth used for dresses having a cotton warp and worsted weft.  This cloth succeeded by Barage.
Bandle - a coarse, plain weave 2inch wide linen hand woven in southern Ireland.
Barage - open meshed, semi-transparent fabric. Silk and wool. Soft handle cloth. Also called woollen gauze or woollen grenadine.
Barathea - woven 24 inches wide and made from silk and worsted with a broken rib weave giving a pebbled appearance. A alternative or new name for Bombazine.
Barpour - a twill fabric of silk and wool, used for dress fabrics
Basket Weave - a variant of the plain weave formed by treating two or more warp yarns and/or two or more filling yarns as one unit in the weaving process. The yarns are laid flat and maintain a parallel relationship. Examples include monk cloth or oxford cloth.
Bassates - a type of Barathea.
Bast Fibre - Strong, soft, woody fibres such as flax, jute, hemp and ramie which come from the inner bark of plants.
Batik - a dyeing method in which wax, oil, resin, paraffin, rice bean paste or even mud is ued as a resist which is washed out after dyeing.
Batiste - a cotton muslin having a wiry finish.
Battavias - a 4-shaft twill silk cloth.
Battenburg lace - a type of renaissance lace usually trimmed with sequins, beads and line tape forming a clean scalloped edge
Bayadere - striped mix of silk, wool or cotton.
Bayeaux Lace - a French point ground lace which co-existed with Chantilly. The main differences lay in some design elements and in the preference for white over black threads.
Bayes - a woollen cloth with short staple carded fleece.  The yarn was not scoured after spinning (woven 'in the grease'). A softly spun weft was used with only a few threads to the inch but the warp would have a larger number of threads per inch so as to resist the stresses of weaving and to enable a high tension to be applied. After weaving the cloth was scoured and fulled.  Foot fulling was often used by the Dutch weavers who in all likelihood brought the skils needed to make this cloth with them when they left Ypres in the late 16th century to settle in England.  The raising of the nap was done using king teasels with the cloth finally being sent to the shearer to crop which gave a soft, down-like face to the cloth.
Bearskin - thick wool fabric with a shaggy nap produced in Norfolk (east England) in the 14th and 15th centuries.
Beaver - heavy wool overcoating, napped and pressed down to look like beaver fur.  Often used for hats in a plush form.
Bedfordshire Lace - floral lace composed of cloth-stitch trails connected by plaits and other design elements including sprigs of leaves.
Beds - an early heavy worsted cloth which was made in three sizes in the 16th century.
Beggar's Inkle - An 18th and 19th century term for a fabric constructed as Linsey-Wolsey.
Belchester - a velvet used for costumes.
Belle-Isles - glazed, worsted dress cloth with additional white weft floats producing floral spriggs on shaded warp-striped ground.
Binche - a lace originating from a Belgian town called Binche. It's characteristics are the snowballs or snowflakes which are worked in many different ways. It also lacks a gimp, which distinguishes it from Flanders or Mechlin.
Birdies - a plain weave, coarse linen from Kirriemuir, Scotland.
Black work - embroidery style first known in UK in the time of King Henry VIII and very popular in Elizabethan era.  Worked on a frame. Also known as Spanish work. Thought to have been introduced by Catherine of Aragon, one of Henry's wives.  Worked in black silk on a white linen ground, the most common designs being scrolls, vines and leaves.
Blanket Cloth - heavily milled thick woollen cloth used for both bed covers and clothes.
Blatta - a purple silk interwoven with gold.
Blistercloth - a woven or knitted fabric made from any fibre and made to form hollow bumps or blisters ver the face of the cloth.
Block Printing - one of the earliest forms of printing. A fourth century example exists which was discovered in an Egyptian burial site. This technique was established in Europe in the middle ages and by the 18th and 19th centuries there was a flourishing industry. There was little block printing in the United States until the late 18th century when, in 1774 there was printworks in Philadelphia. Different woods were used for the blocks made to print different kinds of patterns. Boxwood and holly were preferred for finely detailed patterns, pear for borders, walnut and lime for large scale prints. The designs stood out in relief on the wood and were carved. One block was carved for each colour on the finished print. The cloth was stretched tightly on a long padded table and the block face was pressed against a dye-saturated woollen sieve and then applied to the cloth. A strong blow with a wooden mallet to the back of the block transferred the design to the cloth. Pins which were called 'pitch pins' were nailed into the corners of the block. After each strike with the mallet, the printed would move the block on to the next undyed space on the cloth. The pitch pins helped in lining up the impressions. In France and England there was also a technique called 'picotage' or 'pinning' in which small brass pins were hammered into the blocks and used to create various densities of dots over the pattern, very useful for fine detailing and shading. The pins withstood the repeated mallet blows better than the wood of the block. This method of printing is now only used on a very limited scale for very expensive furnishing fabrics. See also Perrotine Printing.
Blondines - fancy, glazed worsted dress cloth with lace effects and shaded flowers produced by the use of extra warps on plain or diamond-pattern grounds.
Bobbin - Thread holders found in sewing machines. Lacemaking: Essential tool for lace making by hand.  Usually a stick-like tool made from a variety of materials (wood, ivory, bone, metal, glass, plastic) all having a slender upper section being an elongated spool and a lower section serving as a handle. Used in pairs. The spool holds the thread and the handle gives weight to keep the thread under tension and allows the lacemaker to work without touching the thread.  Shapes differ depending on country and area of origin and often bobbins are highly ornamented.
Bobbin Lace - is a form of off-loom weaving. The lacemaker uses a pillow upon which to make the lace and bobbins are used to hold the thread. The lace is made using a combination of twists and crosses to move the threads with pins.
Bocking - a coarse woollen flannel-like baize.
Boucle - a French word describing a looped or curly yarn. The name is also given to fabrics with looped or curly surfaces such as astrakhan
Bombazet - plain twill worsted popular for mourning dress in Regency period
Bombazine - a lightweight fabric with a silk warp and a cotton, wool or linen weft.  According to a source in Norfolk this cloth was created by the Dutch in 1575. This early version had a linen warp and a worsted weft, threaded to a 2/1 twill, woven grey and pieced dyed. See Barathea.
Bonnet strings - in the mid-19th century large quantities of fancy silk strings were produced in Norwich.
Boratoes - the Walloons living in Norfolk made plain, striped and purled cloths from 1678 until the mid-17th century.
Botany wool - also called Merino wool.  A fine wool made from worsted yarn.
Branscombe Point lace - Made from fine tape with very fine thread makinh up the fillings.  Originated in Branscombe, Devon. Similar to Battenburg lace.
Bridgewater - a light, wollen broadcloth.
Brighton weave - a honeycombe weave.
Brighton nap - similar to Bayes cloth but with knots on the face.
Brilliantines - a silk and cashmere fine weave.
Broadcloth - an all wool or worsted fabric which feels like a velvet.
Brocade - from the latin brocare meaning 'to figure'. Originally a heavy silk fabric with floral or silver thread and first produced in China and Japan. Now Brocades are woven with richly figured patterns emphasised by contrasting colours or by satin weave figures with plain weave or twill background. A Brocatine is a brocade with a raised pattern imitating embroidery.
Broche - a velvet or satin fabric having a satin figure on the face of fabric
Broderie Anglaise - Literally- English embroidery. The name is given to a type of cotton fabric embroidered with a design to form a buttonhole stitch outline which is then cut away. Broderie Anglaise is embroidered with white cotton threads. If a coloured thread is used this is often called eyelet work
Brillantine - a fine cloth of silk and cashmere.
Bugazeen - also known as calico.
Bruges Bloemwork - a bobbin lace of the 19th century originating in Belgium.  Named for the flower motifs found within the lace and the city of Bruges.
Brushed - a fabric with a hairy surface - either woven or knitted - made by raising some cloth fibres by wire brushes or teasels.  This makes for fabric softer and tends to cover up the structure of the fabric.
Buckinghamshire or Bucks Point lace - usually a continuous lace named after the area in England in which is was chiefly made.  It is characterised by use of point (light netting) and honeycomb backgrounds with cloth stitch and half-stitch elements with picots decorating the side. Also uses the tally (a woven decoration requiring two pairs of bobbins where one thred of one pair weaves between the other 3 threads) often as leaves.
Buffalo cloth - a heavy twilled woollen overcoating.
Buffins - a plain weave cloth, similar to Camlet and in production from 1587-1620.
Bunting - the use of 2-ply warps very close together meant this cloth could withstand wind and was, and still is, widely used for flags and street decorations.
Burano lace - from Italy.  A lace inspired by the waves of the ocean surrounding the island.  Burano is an old lace-making centre and the island lies off Venice.
Buratto - a counted canvas embroidery from Italy but finer and looser than needlepoint. Often used as a border trim on clothing and soft furnishings.
Burdies - a woollen fabric from Norwich, in the east of England.
Burn test - used (under strict conditions and controls) for identifying fibres. Different fibres react in different and distinct ways when burnt. Cotton burns steadily and smells like burning leaves.  The ash left is easily crumbled.  Linen takes longer to ignite than cotton and the fabric closest to the ash is very brittle.  Can be easily distinguished by blowing as you would a candle. Silk burns readily and smells like burning hair.  Not as easily extinguished. Wool is harder to ignite than silk.  It produces a steady flame but is more difficult to keep alight.  Smells like burning hair. Of the man-made fibres acetate (from cellulose) burns readily with a flickering flame than cannot easily be extinguished.  The burning cellulose drips and leaves a hard ash.  Smells like burning wood chips. Acrylic (from natural gas and petroleum) burns readily and leaves a hard ash.  It smells acrid. Nylon (from petroleum) melts then burns rapidly.  Smells like burning plastic. Polyester (from coal, air and petroleum products) melts and burns at the same time.  The melting, burning ash bonds quickly to any surface. Smells sweet and has a black smoke.  Ash is hard. Rayon (from cellulose) burns rapidly and leaves only slight ash.  Smells of burning leaves.
Bustains - a worsted made by weaving three of the traditional four treadles required.  A 2/1 twill cloth.
Butternut - a homespun woollen fabric from the United States.

C
Calamanco - a cotton or worsted fabric having either twill, plain or glazed appearance. Noted as made in Norwich in 1594. A colourful cloth, with a hotpressed finish sometimes improved with the use of beeswax and a rubber. Used for men's clothing especially jerkins, breeches and waistcoats.  In the 18th and 19th centuries a wide variety of this popular cloth was produced and exported including brocade, figured, flowered, mock striped, sprigged versions.
Caledonian Silk - a fabric similar to poplin but with a silky feel and a check on white ground
Calendering - a finishing process comprising passing through steam heated rollers under controlling pressure. Fabrics made using this process include moire. Cold pressing was also popular in Northern Europe.  The fabric is rolled onto a wooden dowel and either rolled under pressure from a flat board held over it or placed under a wooden bed contained heavy weights such as stones.
Calico - name given to all types of cotton coming from the town of Calicut on the Southwest coast of India. In some parts of the world it has become synonymous with an inexpensive, printed cotton plain weave cloth where the print hardly shows on the back of the fabric. In Britain the term goes back to the 17th century and was used to describe a plain woven carded cotton cloth which retained a small, dark fleck. This became known as unbleached calico. Other cotton fabrics such as cambric, percale, chintz and muslin are sold as calico. Printed calico has a starched finish which disappears on washing
Cambric - First made in the early 16th century in Cambray, northern France.  It has a dense weave and hard finish. Retains most of its lustre even after washing.  It was originally made from linen yarn but was introduced in Ireland in the early 19th century as a cotton fabric.  Became a staple fabric in many countries for nearly 400 years. By the mid 1920s Cambric was less popular and it was said the fabric was too stiff for comfortable wear.  It was still used in good grades for some underwear and the cheaper grades were used for linens.
Camel Hair - soft, fine fur from the undercoat of the camel.  Used on its own but often combined with fine wool for overcoating.  Usually left in the natural colour or dyed a darker brown.
Camelion - a cloth with contrasting colours in both warp and weft.  A two-colour but untwisted weft.
Camelteen - a worsted and goat's hair cloth.
Camlet - a popular fabric in Regency times using silk or wool and hair with a plain or twill appearance. A large variety of cloths produced under thisname inclusing broad, checked, brocade, flowered, watered mohair, unglazed, shot, spotted glazed and many stripes. Figured camlet had figures stamped on them with hot irons.  Water camlet was first treated with water and then hotpressed leaving it marked and with a smooth lustre. Other names Harateen, Moreen, Grosgram, Groginette and Cheanis when finished using differing methods.
Canton crepe - soft, woven crepe fabric with small crosswise ribs.  Heavier than the similar crepe de chine
Carrickmacross lace - an Irish lace composed of embroidery and applique on a needle made (or now machine made) ground
Cashmere - from Kasmir goat down.  An expensive, luxury fabric due to the labour-intensive and difficult job of separating the long, coarse hair from the soft fibres. Can be blended with wool, coton or silk. A fine 2/1 twill weft faced cloth with more picks than ends. To finish the cloth was drawn out in length and shrunk in width which showed as much weft as possible on the surface.  Similar techniques employed to finish Coburgs, Henriettas and Paramettas.
Catalowne - a camlet made with a single yarn by worsted weavers using a warp of 2 twisted colours and the weft in a third colour.  The Walloons also produced this cloth in silk.
Challis - A lightweight fabric having a soft plain weave with a brushed surface. Often printed with a floral print and usually made of cotton, wool or rayon. Cloth 30 inches wide.
Chantilly lace French elaborate floral lace on hexagonal mesh ground outlined in heavy silk thread.  Usually made with black threads and in strips which are later stitched together with an 'invisible' stitch called racroc to give the ilusion of a large, continuous piece of lace.
Chambertine - Light fabric of line or wool.
Chambray - The fabric originated in the Northern French town of Cambrai near the Belgian border. A light, good quality cotton commonly made in stripes and checks. Usually constructed with a slightly coarser corded or combed cotton yarn in the weft than in the warp. It is woven in a plain weave and given a fairly hard finish
Charmeuse - satin silk weave with a crepe back.
Cheanis - a worsted cloth, sometimes watered, often used for furnishings.
Cheesecloth - Made for cheesemaking originally with the curds being pressed into the cloth with the same cloth being retained for the maturing process. later used for covering bacon or tobacco and has been popular since the late 1960s as a fabric for inexpensive shirts from India. It is also referred to as gauze or flag bunting and when starched can be called scrim.
Chenille - a type of very hairy, fuzzy yarn rather resembling a caterpillar. The resulting fabric is often called a luxury yarn as it does not have a great deal of strength. Can be made from wool, cotton or man-made fibres and is used in both the garment and soft furnishing industries.
Chenille embroidery - a style which originated in France and which was namedafter the fuzzy chenille yarn.  Examples worked by Marie Antoinette can still be seen.  Two types of chenille yarn are used.  The first is a soft, unwired chenille found more usually in older work and the second a coarser chenille used for couching or worked on large-holed canvas.  Worked on a frame with traced designs.  The ground may be wool.
Cheviot - a soft, fine wool heavier than serge.
Chiffon - Very sheer, airy lightweight fabric with highly twisted filament yarns. Originally of silk but now made from rayon and other man-made fibres.
China silk - plain weave silk of various weights.  This is the fabric which has the touch that most of us identify as silk.
Chinchilla cloth - heavy, spongey woollen fabric with a long nap which has been rubbed to produce a curly finish
Chintz - A glazed, plain weave fabric with a polished look. Usually of cotton.
Cire - with a lustrous, polished surface as if waxed.  Satins finished in this way as sometimes claaed shoeblack satins.
Clear Finish - applied to a woollen cloth which has been scoured and felted, raised or brushed and then cropped to remove the loose fibres from the surface
Cloth stitch - in bobbin lace a 'cross-, twist-cross' sequence which, when repeated gives the effect of woven cloth
Cluny lace - a simplified form of lace which has geometric designs and frequent use of braids decorated by picots and leaves.  Bedfordshire lace developed from this type.
Coburg - with a silk warp and worsted weft, threaded toa 2/1 twill this cloth was very similat to Paramatta. When made in a wool/cotton mix it resembled a twilled French Merino.  Introduced just after the marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and used extensively for coat linings and coarse dresses.
Cogware - coarse and narrow fulled and raised wool cloth. A worsted cloth of thisname made in Norwich during the reign of Edward II.
Copperplate Printing - From the late 18th century, this form of printing took over from Block Printing. In England there was several important printing firms using this method by 1765. The first to install a copperplate press in France was probably Christophe-Philippe Oberkamf in 1770. In this method the design was engraved on a flat copper plate which was rubbed with print dye. The dye is then wiped from the surface having been left in the incised lines of the engraving. Cloth was laid over this plate and pressure exerted by mechanical means to transfer the design. The presses were quite large and allowed printing of large scale designs. This popularised new style including the scenic toile which depicts finely engraved images.
Cordonette - a larger outlining thread found in needlelace.  Sometimes couched and stufed with other materials.
Corduroy - a cut weft pile fabric in which the cut fibres form a surface of cords or ribs in the warp direction. The cord can be of various thicknesses (Babycord being fine and Elephant cord bring rather thick and often used for heavy trousers.)
Cotoline - Silk and wool cloth.  Usually black.
Cotton - vegetable fibre obtained from the cotton plant. The chemical composition is almost 100% cellulose and the natural colour is cream. The fibre is from the plant's seed pod.  Cotton fibre is hollow in the centre and resembles twisted ribbon under the microscope. Can be ironed at high temperatures and takes dye well. Chlorine bleach can be used to restore white garments but this bleach may yellow chemically finished cottons. Cotton makes a strong fabric which is cool to wear.
Crash - a heavy cotton fabric with a slub yarn used for embroidery.
Crepe lightweight fabric having a crinkled surface which is achieved by the structure of the cloth, by chemical application or by the amount of hard twist in the yarns used. It can also be achieved by embossing.
Crewel - wool embroidered on a plain weave fabric, often linen. Design motifs are flowers, vines and leaves.
Crinoline - a cotton warp crossed with horsehair in a variety of colours and designs. Labour-intensive work as each horsehair had to be placed in the cloth by hand.
Cross dyeing - a woven fabric made of more than one fibre and each fibre dyed a different colour.
Crystal - silk warp and worsted weft to form fine and heavy ribs across the cloth.
Curl - 2-ply z-twisted yarn twisted loosely around an even finer z-twisted yarn which, when twisted anti-clockwise produced loops at intervals.  An all silk or silk-worsted cloth.
Curtrike - Worsted fabric from Flanders.

D
Dag-swain - Coarse, heavy fabric.
Damask - originally a firm Jacquard-pattered fabric made in China and introduced to the West by Marco Polo in the 13th century. The name is from Damascus, the centre of the fabric trade between East and West. These fabrics are reversible and contain a combination of satin and sateen weaves.
Denim - originally called Serge de Nimes after the French town from whence it was first produced. Has a single, tightly spun warp and weft threaded to a 3/2 twill.
Denmark satin - a stout worsted satin which was dyed black and widely used for footwear.
Devore - a process whereby certain chemicals are printed onto specially made cloths and which produce sheer areas in the fabric. For example, an animal fibre cloth can be embroidered with vegetable fibres. The wool is then burnt out with caustic soda or the cotton with sulphuric acid which leaves a very lacy structure.
Diamantie - a glazed, worsted dress cloth produced in the 18th century which was threaded to form small diamond patterns.
Dimity - a sheer, thin white or printed fabric with lengthwise cords, stripes or checks.
Dobby - a loom mechanism which selects the warp threads automatically according to a specific weave pattern. Usually small geometric or symetrical designs are woven on such looms and these are known as dobby patterns.
Dog Tooth - a checked pattern made by using four threads of a dark colour which are alternated by four threads of a lighter colour in both warp and weft and uses a 2-and-2 twill weave.
Doily - A woollen fabric.
Donegal - originally a thick, warm homespun or tweed yarn woven by Irish peasants in Donegal, Ireland.  Now used to describe the wool tweed of that name.
Dope dyeing - a chemical solution is coloured before making into a man-made fibre.  This is also known as spun dyeing or solution dyeing.
Dornix - linen warp and ground weft with a woollen spun weft forming bands of pattern.  This cloth produced using the leftover combings (noils) when producing woollen spun yarn. This cloth was widely used for early furnishings and vestments with much being exported.
Dorsetteens - worsted warp with linen or silk weft.
Dotted Swiss - A lightweight, sheer cotton or cotton blend with a small dot flock-like pattern. This pattern can be printed onto the fabric or can be woven into the fabric.
Double plain weave - one fabric made of two layers of plain woven cloth each made with its own warp and weft.  The two layers are linked by extra threads.
Dowals - Coarse, half-bleached linen from Saoulas in Brittany, France.
Dreadnought - early coarse wool fabric often used for outer garments. Similar to Bearskin.
Dresden - a fancy silk and worsted cloth of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Drill - a strong twilled cotton fabric often used for trousers.
Druggets - a plain worsted weave made smooth by a hotpressed finish.
Ducape - Heavy, corded silk.
Duchesse lace - a Belgian bobbin lace similar to Honiton lace in that the individual motifs are made and then connected by a bobbin made background.
Duck - heavy, durable and tightly woven fabric.
Dupion - a fabric made of an irregular raw, rough silk reeled from double cocoons. Now also made using man-made fibres.
Duroys - a worsted cloth used extensively for men's clothing.
Durrants - a heavy worsted made to imitate buff leather for jerkins finished by hotpressing.

E
Eccentrics - fine-lined distorted geometric prints. In the nineteenth century these were often called excentrics. Claimed to have been created due to an accident loading fabric incorrectly onto a roller at the factory of Messrs. Simpson and Co in 1820. The resulting fabric became very popular and a machine called a Perkins Eccentric Lathe was used to design these patterns mechanically. Seldom seen since the nineteenth century except as interpreted in some of the bold, large Op Art patterns.
Eolienne - very lightweight ribbed fabric having a silk warp and a hard twist botany weft. Not seen since the nineteenth century.
Eponge - from the French for sponge and used to describe a soft, uneven and usually loosely woven cloth from cotton, wool or spun man-made fibres.
Evenweave linen - an art linen of varying weights and used for counted thread or drawn thread work.  Also used in Florentine embroidery.
Everlastings - strong, twilled cloths - very closely woven which were dyed black and used for ladies' shoes.

F
Fearnought - early coarse woollen fabric similar to Dreadnought and mainly used for outer garments.
Felted fabric - woven or knitted cloth usually made of wool which is milled with warm soapy water to produce a more solid fabric.  Impervious to rain and wind. Melton or loden fabrics.
Ferrandine - originally an all silk cloth but later made using a silk warp and a weft of wool, hair, cotton or linen.
Ferret weavers - see narrow wares.
Filet lace - made from embroidery on net.  The net can be handmade of knotted loops and then stretched to take the design. Filet crochet imitates this style.
Filoselle - the Dutch weavers used all silk for this cloth but an all worsted version was produced soon after by the Worsted Weavers in Norwich.  In the 17th century the width was measured in Flemish ells but soon after this English measures were used.
Flanders lace - Belgian lace characterised by a dense ground requiring many bobbins.  Also uses a thicker thread as an outline called a gimp
Flannel - a soft woollen cloth the name taken from the Welsh gwlanan. Traditionally used for underclothes and miner's shirts. Also used for the women's red petticoat that features in traditional Welsh costume. Usually a plain weave but nowadays there is more variance in weight and texture of flannel and some can be found with a twill weave or even striped. Commonly used now for trousers or blazers and sportswear
Flax - Linum Usitatissimum the fibres of which plant are used to make linen.  The fibres are found in some 30 bundles containing 10-14 fibres around a woody core. The word comes from the Old English fleax. The term flax is used for the fibre or yarn whilst the name for the threads or fabric is linen
Floral - richly coloured, delicately petalled roses and patterns of roses delicately sharp thorns are both reduced to florals. Includes all the gatherings of the garden including grasses. Agricultural produce such a fruit and vegetables were considered a conversational subject as were nuts, pinecones etc. Trees are also conversational but leaves were classified as florals as was wheat. If a floral theme was abstracted from nature they were considered conversational.
Florentine - a silk twill often used for men's waistcoats.
Floreta - a glazed, worsted dress cloth (18th and 19th centuries).
Foulard - lightweight twill weave fabric often of silk with a small all-over print and a solid background. Used in men's ties. Today the name refers more to the patterns than the fabric. Traditional colours are deep reds, blues and greens and include the very popular Paisley foulards.
Freehand lace - or Free lace this is a bobbin lace which does not use pins in the ground or design area.  Probably more popular in rural areas where pins were scarce and fish bones or wood chips were used.
Frieze - early coarse wool fabric which was heavily felted. In the finishing process the nap was twisted to produce burrs. The woven cloth was stretched and treated with a honey and water solution, applied with a board encrusted with sand and glue. The cloth was then put over a roller with very fine short wire points. A superior fabric was called Frizzado .
Frocs - a coarse woollen rwill for peasant's garments in France.
Fulling - finishing process in which the cloth is treatred with moisture, heat and friction.  This causes considerable shrinkage and renders the fabric compact.  Heavily treated fabric can appear as felt.
Fustians of Naples - made with jersey yarn or a linen ground and a jersey pile and woven 1 yard wide. Produced with either cut or uncut pile or even cut at differing lengths.

G
Gabardine - From the old Spanish word gabardina which means 'protection from the elements'. The best cloth is made from worsted wool. The fabric has a very steep twill on the face which is not seen from the reverse. It can be woven very tightly to give a smooth, waterproof and hardwearing cloth
Galatea - strong cotton woven to resemble linen. Popular in Regency times
Galloon lace - double edged lace with a usable border on both sides which can be separated for matching border trim.
Gartering - a tape or braid tied round the leg to support stockings.
Gimp - a thicker thread used to outline designs in bobbin lace
Gingham - lightweight washable fabric, originally linen but later cotton, which is woven into checks, plaids or stripes
Granite - fabric resembling chenille often used in headdresses.
Grenadine - an open silk or silk/worsted dress cloth.
Gros de Naples - a corded Italian silk resembling Irish poplin
Grosgrain - firm, closely woven ribbed fabric. Often used for ribbons.
Grosgram - a coarse cloth of silk or mohair and often stiffened.
Grosgrinet - a fine, watered camlet.
Ground - in lacemaking, a background or area between design elements. Usually a type of netting.  A good indicator of the origin of a lace example

H
Hardanger embroidery - much worked in Denmark and Sweden and can be tarced back to ancient Asia and Persia when it was worked in silk on a gauze net.  The modern work is mainly of Norwegian origin and is worked in squares.  Drawn thread work may be included.
Harlequin - a fancy, glazed worsted with small checks.
Harris Tweed - perhaps the best known of all the tweeds. Comes from the Isle of Harris and Lewis off the west coast of Scotland. Traditionally the yarn is spun centrally in the island towns and then distributed to outlying weavers to return to the towns for finishing. It is made exclusively from Scottish wool which are very tough. Simple weaves are used and it comes in 27-28 inch widths (a narrow width fabric). In 1909 the Harris Tweed Association was formed and the orb mark was registered as a trademark. It is ideal for suits, jackets or upholstery and is very hardwearing.
Hedebo embroidery - a white work which originates in Denmark.  Worked on white linen or less usually cambric or muslin.  Areas of open work are filled with lace stitches and solid embroidery which often takes the form of satin stitched leaves.  Buttonhole edging used to finish straight or scalloped edges.
Henrietta - firth made in 1660 in honour of Maria, Queen consort of Charles I. A twill faced cloth with a smooth back.
Hemp - a bast or stem fibre from the Anglo-Saxon henep. The plant is called Cannabis Sativa from which we also get the word 'canvas'. Hemp has been known as a textile fibre for some 500 years, especially in China, Persia and Japan. It is a tall plant growing up to 10 feet tall with a 1/2 inch stem. It is cut in the field to be retted (rotted) by dew and is processed similarly to flax. The fibre is a creamy white to yellow-brown. It is as strong and lustrous as flax and can be spun into yarns resembling flax although more coarse. It is also used for string, cord and rope.
Herringbone weave - a 2 directional weave producing a chevron or zig-zag effect.  Also known as feather, arrowhead or pointed twil weave.
Hessian - Jute cloth suitable for embroidery with wool or for use in applique work.  Also used as a backing for rag rugs.
Honeycombe weave - producing a 3-D cellular structure waffle weave. See Brighton weave.
Honiton lace - a lace with very fine threads with motifs later added to a bobbin-made ground.  The wedding veil of Queen Victoria was made from this style of lace.  Originated in Honiton, Devon, UK. The Honiton Bobbin used is a straight, slim bobbin with a point at the end.  No weights are required due to the fineness of the threads.
Hooded bobbin -  in bobbin lacemaking a style of bobbin used in Germany.  The thread is wound on the neck and protected by a barrel-shaped hood which slides down over the top.
Hopsack weave - also called basket weave. A square weave using 2 and 2 or 3 and 3 interlacing structure.
Hotpressing - pressing cloth between glazed boards and hot metal plates which resulted in a highly glazed surface to the cloth.
Huckaback weave - for making towelling having a slight 3-D effect.  Can be woven from hemp, linen or cotton.

I
Irish crochet - style of crocheted lace with fine threads. Composed of separate design motifs connected by a chain and picot ground.
Irish stuffs - made at Norwich in 18th and 19th centuries with narrow stripes or checks.  Silk and worsted.
Ikat - From the Indonesian term mengikat meaning to tie off or to bind. A dye-resist process where small bundles of yarn are tied to prevent dye penetration
Imperial Gauze - an open gauze with a white warp and a coloured weft
Indiennes - a term used in 18th and 19th centuries for any Eastern printed or painted cloth
Indigo - a deep blue dye from the plant of the same name but now produced synthetically
Ipsiboe - a yellow crepe fabric popular in Regency times

J
Jacconet - a thin cotton fabric somewhere between muslin and cambric latterly called nainsook
Jacquard - an intricate method of weaving invented by Joseph marie Jacquard in the years 1801-4. A mechanism at the top of the loom holds and operates a set of punched paper cards, each with a different motif. The punched perforations control the action of one warp end for the passage of one pick. These looms allow for large, complicated designs such as a floral or large geometric. Damasks, brocades, brocatelles and tapestries are all examples of woven jacquards.
Janus cord - black wool and cotton ribbed fabric.
Jaspe - an effect made by weaving a cloth using two tones of the same colour yarn in a random warping order. This effect can be made by twisting two single threads of a similar colour but contrasting tones together and using this in the warp.
Jonc - a linen fabric from France.
Jute - A bast or stem fibre. Comes from Sanscrit meaning 'matted hair'. Comes from two similar plants called corchorus capularis and corchorus olitorius. Trading in Jute from Bengal commenced from 16th Century. Jute grows 5-16 feet tall and 1/2 to 3/4 of inch thick stem/ Unprocessed 64% cellulose. Fibres are 4-7 inches long. The stalks are first rotted (retted) in water then the bark is peeled off making ready for softening

L
Lace - decorative openwork fabric with sensitive use of spaces and solids. Can be achieved with the use of bobbins, crochet, needles or machine.
Ladine camlet - a fancy glazed dress cloth with additional warp stripes.
Lahar - Cloth witha soft, light cotton warp and a silk weft.
Lappet - this form of weaving is done on a special loom able to produce an extra warp, figure or pattern into the foundation fabric.  This has the appearance of bring embroidered.
Lawn - a fine, light cloth or carded, combed line or cotton yarns. It has a crease resistant, crisp finish.
Leno weave - an open weave which produces stable, transparent gauze fabrics.
Lincoln Green- from the county town of Lincolnshire in Britain where the Lincoln long wool sheep originates. A very large breed of sheep which has the longest, most lustrous and strongest of wools. It is a stout woollen cloth once made by weavers in that area many years ago and dyed green. Used by archers and huntsmen. It is said that the legendary Robin Hood wore Lincoln green and that the jacket lapels of the dress uniform of the Sherwood Forester Regiment are of Lincoln green
Linen - Made from the fibres of the woody stem of the flax plant. These fibres are stronger and more lustrous than those of cotton. Linen fabrics are very cool and absorbent but wrinkle very easily unless blended with other fibres. Linen is one of the oldest textile fibres. It is smooth and lint free.  Has a lustre which is from the natural wax content.  Linen wrinkles easily but also presses easily and, like cotton, can be boiled without damaging the fibre.  Has poor elasticity and does not spring back readily so wear can be displayed in collars, hems or any area iron creased when laundered. For many rural families in earlier centuries linen was needed for clothes, bedding and grain sacks.  Most of the backbreaking work in making linen fell to the women.  The flax seed was sown in March or April and were harvested in August.  The plant grew quickly to about 1m tall.  To make good quality linen the flax needed to be hand harvested by either pulling or cutting the stalks very close to the ground. The flax seeds were removed by passing the stalks through a rippling comb made or iron or wood and studded with nails.  The pectin that bound the plant fibres together was disolved by bring rotted or retted. To do this the plant stalks were laid out on the grass for several weeks, turning them regularly to let the dew finish the rotting process.  Sometimes the stalks were submerged in a local pond and weighted.  This method was faster, taking a few days.  After retting the plants were dried in the fields.  This halted the retting process which, if left unchecked, would lead to the stalks becomming brittle and unusable for cloth. If the weather was not suitable for drying special ovens were used which dried the stalks at very low temperatures. When dry the fibres were ready for scutching or swinging. Small bundles of stalks were dragged across a nail-spiked board which removed the woody fibres leaving only the soft flax strands. These were twisted into braids ready to be spun.
Linen twill - a fabric traditionally used for Jacobean or crewel embroidery.
Linsey - a coarse fabric from wool and flax. Made in Linsey, Sussex, England.  Also called Linsey-Woolsey.
Lis'er'e - design created using coloured warp threads brought up on the fabric face and leaving loose yarn on the back. Woven vertically to give a vertical stripe effect.  Victorian in appearance with embroidered style patterns.
Little Joans - see Bunting.
Loden - the name comes from the German loda meaning hair cloth. Traditionally woven in the Tyrol region of Austria. It is a sturdy fabric which has been made in the same way for almost 1000 years. It was only made with sheep's wool but now comprises Australian sheep's wool, Alpaca, mohair and camel hair. Once the cloth is woven it is shrunk by about one-third of it's original width. It is then raised, sheared and brushed. Traditional colours are black, red and white although green is now very popular.
London shrinking process - worsted cloth is given a wet treatment, allowed to shrink and then dried without tension.  This process was originally carried out in London, England when Yorkshire woven cloth bought by London tailors was unrolled and left on Bermondsey Common overnight to become saturated by the morning dew.
Loughreas - an Irish linen cloth from Galway on the west coast of Ireland.
Love - a thin silk fabric popular for ribbons having narrow sateen stripes.
Lumbard - a woollen fabric.
Lumberdine - a sheer black gauze fabric.
Lutestring - a thin corded silk fabric with a glossy finish.
Lyre - a good quality woollen cloth.

M
Macabre - a lightweight silk and wool fabric.
Malbrouk - a wool serge also known as Marlborough.
Maltese lace - a bobbin lace from Malta usually made with cream silk.  Similar to Bedfordshire lace but using the Maltese or St John's Cross motif.  Leaves tend to be rather wide.
Mangle cloth - a tight, smooth woven cloth usually about 3 yds long and a yard wide.  Used 60-100 years ago with old roller ironing presses or mangles.  Mangle cloths were used to protect other fabric as it was passed through the mangle.
Marble cloth - a cloth made to resemble the veining of marble.
Marcella - a cotton quilting or coarse pique fabric.
Marengo - a French black wool fabric shot with white.
Marly - a lightweight linen fabric.
Marry-muff - coarse fabric.
Mecklenburgh - a heavy wollen cloth with a floral pattern in silk.
Medium weight linen - used for tablecloth embroidery.  Threads to be used should be stranded twist or cotton.
Mechlin lace - a French/Belgian bobbin lace with a distinctive hexagonal ground
Mercerisation - a treatment for cotton yarn or fabric in which the yarn is immersed in caustic soda and later neutralised in acid. This results in a permanent swelling of the fibre and gives an increased lustre on the surface together with increased strength. Discovered by John Mercer in 1844.
Merino - wool from the Merino sheep. The best Merino comes from Italy. A fine wool made from worsted yarn
Merino crepe - a silk and worsted fabric having a shot effect.
Messallawny - a woollen fabric.
Messolinas - an early linen warp and jersey weft finished by brushing the surface.
Milanese lace - a type of tape lace from Italy. Of dense appearance, with no ground and made up of narrow, flowing very decorative strips sewn or plaited together.
Mocado - a pile cloth of silk and wool or linen.
Mohair - from the Angora goat from Turkey, South Africa and Southwest U.S.A. It is a luxury fibre and has lustrous, soft qualities. When spun up to fine counts and used with silk or woollen warps it makes a smooth cloth often used for suiting. Twisted into loops and then brushes, it becomes very hairy and is used for weaving scarves, rugs or as a knitting yarn. Will not matt when washed.
Mockado - a 16th century pile cloth used for cassocks, doublets, gowns etc and to cover stools and chair seats.
Moncahiard - a blade silk and wool cloth from France.
Moravian work - cutwork having buttonholed edges. A forerunner of Broderie Anglaise
Moreen - a heavy fabric with horizontal filling and a moire finish.  It was used for upholstery and skirts and was woven wither in worsted or cotton.
Mountmellick work - from the town of the same name in Ireland.  Started by the charitable Society of Friends and taught to peasants as a way for them to earn a living.  A form of white work with no open or drawn spaces.  Very little thread shows on the wrong side of this work.  Bold, floral designs favoured and the worked finished with a heavy buttonhole edge or a knitted fringe.
Muscarets - a striped warp threaded to produce small geometric figures.
Muslin - fine, thin and semi-transparent cotton.

N
Nainsook - a delicate muslim fabric.
Nankeen - yellow tinted cloth.
Nap - the fibrous surface produced on the face of the cloth by brushing or raising with either teasels or wire brushes.
Narrow wares - this trade also called parchementary and the products were parchment laces.  Tapes, garters, ribbons etc.  Also called ferrets which derives from loom laces made of ferret silk. Weavers producing these wares called ferret weavers.
Needle lace - made with a needle and thread. An outline thread is couched on the paper design and the lace built up with other stitches connecting the outline thread.  The backing is then cut away leaving only the lace motif. See Venetian Point and Alencon lace
New Pitsligo lace - still made in the small Scottish town it is named after. A modified Torchon style of bobbin lace.  Some edging patterns have a pin-less ground.
Noil - a type of silk fabric created by short fibres from the innermost part of the cocoon. Similar appearance to hopsack but much softer.
Norwich crepe - a worsted and silk fabric.
Nylon - The first truly synthetic fibre produced in 1938. It is very strong and has excellent resilience, better abrasion qualities and is very flexible

O
Ombre - a term used to describe a woven cloth design with stripes normally in the warp and ahding from light to dark.  Produced by using yarns dyed in various tones of the same colour.
Organdie/Organdy - stiffened, sheer, lightweight plain weave fabric with a medium to high yarn count. Has a crisp finish. Used in blouses, sheer curtains and dresses
Organza - crisp, sheer, lightweight plain weave fabric made of silk, rayon, nylon or polyester. Often used in ladies evening and wedding wear.
Orleans - an inexpensive cloth produced in the 1830s in Norwich to compete with those produced in the north of England.  It had a fine cotton warp and a worsted weft.  Similar to coburg, paramatta and poplin. Also known as Lustre Orleans.
Outing flannel - soft, twill or plain weave fabric napped on both sides. Used for baby clothes and nightwear
Oxford - fine lightweight cotton or blend in 2 x 1 basket weave version of plain weave. Mainly used for short fabrics
Osnaburg - medium to heavy tough coarsely woven plain weave fabric of cotton or cotton blends. Low grades for sacks and bags whilst higher grade fabric can be used for ticking, slipcovers and workwear.
Olyets - first produced in Lille in 1496, the Walloons in Norwich were soon producing their own version with linen warps and jersey wefts.

P
Packing whit - woollen fabric.
Paduasoy - strong and rich silk velvet fabric.
Palmyrenne - a wool and silk mixture union cloth with a shot effect.
Paramatta - fabric having a silk warp and cotton, wool or linen weft popular in Regency times for mounring dress. Similar to Bombazine.
Paolis - plain shaded ground with small weft brocaded figures.
Parchementary - see narrow wares.
Parragon - double camlet type of cloth used for undergraduate gowns in 17th century.
Pag lace - a needlelace made on the Croatian island of Pag.
Patola - a dyeing process when both warp and weft are tie dyed to create a pattern.
Peau - From the French for skin and meaning a variety of fabrics with a downy nap.
Percale - lightweight, closely woven cotton fabric that can be printed in dark colours. Often used for sheeting.
Peropus - white and changeable worsted cloth made from 1615 and in very large quantities.
Perpicuanas - a strong woollen cloth similar to serge.
Perrotine Printing - The Perrotine Press was invented by Louis-Jerome Perrot of Rouen.
Philoselle - a silk fabric.
Picot - Tight decorative loops used in lacemaking, crochet and knitting.
Piece dyeing - where the finished piece of cloth in dyed.
Pile - from the latin pilus meaning hair.  The pile of the fabric is that extra yarn which projects from the main structure of the cloth. Pile can be cut or uncut and should not be confused with the nap of a fabric.
Pill - a tangled ball of fibres that appear on the surface of a fabric as a result of wear and tear including friction
Pique - Medium-weight fabric, either knit or woven, with raised dobby designs including cords, wales, waffles, or patterns. Woven versions have cords running lengthwise, or in the warp direction.
Plaids - a large variety produced in 19th century and Scotch plaids enjoyed a good trade with America.
Plain weave - the most basic of weaves using a simple alternate lacing of warp and weft yarns. Any type of yarn made from any fibres can be manufactured into a plain weave fabric.
Plangi -similar to tie-dyeing.
Plommet - a worsted and silk or worsted and linen cloth.
Plum Mennet - a fine and delicate wool cloth.
Plush -a cotton, silk, camel or goat-hair cloth with a softer and longer pile than velvet.
Poult de Soie - pure and rich corded silk fabric
Pricking - in bobbin lacemaking this is the card which carries the pattern. Composed of dots which are pricked to receive the pins that hold the stitches in place.  In needlelace it refers to the act of adding holes to a needlelace pattern to allow the needle to pass through
Princess lace - a tape lace made on net with decorative tapes. Also called Renaissance lace
Poplin - a plain weave cotton with a crosswise rib.
Prunella - strong worsted cloth threaded to a 2/1 twill.
Puncetto lace - an Italian knotted needlelace originating in Valesia in the Piedmont area.  Composed almost exclusively of geometric designs

Q

R
Railroading - used to describe the orientation of the pattern's direction.  When viewing a railroaded pattern, the filling yarns are in the vertical direction, while the warp yarns are in the horizontal.  Some industries prefer railroaded patterns.  An upholsterer may prefer a railroaded pattern as yardage can be reduced
Ramie - a bast fibre, similar to flax which comes from the stalk of a plant grown in China. It is a dark green plant - a non-stinging nettle and grows up to 8 feet tall with a thick 3/4 inch stem. It is highly lustrous, dyes well and is twice as strong as flax. The fibres are removed by hand or hand-operated machine before the plant dries out and is not retted (rotted).
Rashes - twill woven silk or woollen cloth
Rayon - fibre from regenerated cellulose derived from wood pulp, cotton linters or other vegetable matter. There are two very common processes used today for the production of rayon: the cuprammonium process and the viscose process
Rep - fabric with thick cord and horizontal ribbing
Rep-Sarcenet - a fabric somewhere between fine cut velvet and corded silk
Reticella lace - an early form of needlelace
Roller Printing - the machine facilitating this method was patented by Thomas Bell in 1783. The designs were engraved on metal rollers. In 1785 a 6-colour roller installed near Preston, England was doing the work of 40 hand-blocked printers. A similar machine at the Oberkamf mill at Jouy-en-Josas, France in 1797 printed 5000 yards of cloth a day compared to 30-100 yards using the old block printing method. These new machines had taken over by the 1820s. The designs were transferred to the rollers by a pantograph, whose diamond point cut through an acid resistant varnish with which the rollers were coated. The roller was then placed in an acid bath and the lines of the design were exposed on the roller. The printing press ran cloth under the engraved rollers in one, continuous ribbon. Since the 1950s most rollers have been engraved photographically - a process which did away with the skilled engraver. Modern machines print up to 18 colours at a time but cost usually ensures that most fabrics are printed with no more than 8 colours! Modern machines turn out 1200 yards an hour.
Ripplecht - a cotton fabric.
Rough Browns - poor quality linen.
Russell - a corded cloth using worsted spun yarn.
Russian lace - a very narrow tape lace with intricate plaited grounds and fillings

S
Sackcloth - printed sacking was a uniquely U.S. product. During the Depression of the 1930s someone came up a clever merchandising idea of printing gay allover patterns on sacks of chicken feed. Flour and grain sacks had long beed bleached and converted into clothing by poor rural women but this offered a far more appealing alternative - when a bag of feed was bought a "free" yard or so of cheerful fabric was also obtained all ready to sew
Sarcenet - fine silky fabric in either plain or twill weave. Often used for linings.
Sateen - a fabric made from low lustre yarns such as cotton. The fabric has a soft, smooth finish with a gentle sheen
Satin - fabric made with a satin weave construction, a basic weave characterised by long floats of yarn on the face of the fabric. Traditional fabric for evening wear and wedding garments. High lustre yarns are used for the weave which also have a low amount of twist. True satin weave fabric always has the warp yarns floating over the weft yarns.
Saye - an all-worsted cloth made in huge quantities and piece dyed.  Many weights produced and used for clothing, bed hangings, curtains etc.
Schneeberger lace - a bobbin lace from East Germany which has a modern, open effect with wide use of leaves
Screen Printing - a fine mesh cloth is tightly stretched on a frame and this receives the design. The pattern is defined by painting out the background with a protective varnish. Colour is applied by a squeegee, which presses through the screen onto the cloth below. Each colour requires a separate screen. Nowadays most screen printing uses a photographic process to 'engrave' the design onto the screen. Commercial silk screen printing by hand began in the 1920s. By the 1950s many Western mills capable of fully automated screen printing with flatbed machines producing 350 yds of fabric per hour of up to 20 colours. Good for capturing free, painterly brush strokes from an artists rendering. In the 1960s the flatbed machine was challenged by the rotary screen printer which essentially transferred the screen from silk to fine metal mesh shaped into cylinders.
Seersucker - woven fabric which has modified tension control. Some warp yarns are help under a controlled tensions at all times during weaving whilst others are in a relaxed state and lead to a puckered, striped effect
Serge- one of the oldest fabric names, derived from the Latin serica which implies that this was once a silk fabric. Today is implies a hard wearing worsted cloth with a twill weave. Usually has a smooth face although tends to shine with wear due to hard twist and compact weave structure. Holds a crease well. Serge de Sattin - a mohair cloth.
Shagreen - a silk cloth used for linings.
Shalloon - loosely woven worsted with a twill on both sides. Often used for linings.
Shoddy - cloth which has been reconstructed from shredded rags and old yarn (usually wool).
Shot fabric - a cloth with a warp of one colour and weft of another.
Sicilienne - a fabric with a silk warp and a fine cashmere weft.
Silesia - a fine brown glazed fabric often used in Regency times for lining.
Silistrienne - a coarse wool and silk mixture cloth.
Silk- a natural filament produced by the silkworm in the making of it's cocoon. Most silk now collected from cultivated silkworms. The silkworms feed on mulberry leaves. Around 1 kilometre of silk produced from each cocoon which is first placed in boiling water to kill the larvae and soften the filament.
Single cloth - made from a single thread of yarn in both warp and weft.
Space dyeing - the yarn is dyed in 2 or more colours usually spaced out in a random manner. This can be done by the tie-dye method similar to preparing ikat warps and wefts.
Stament - a coarse worsted cloth.
Swanskin - a fine woollen cloth in a plain weave made with worsted yarn (18th century).

T
Tabbinet - a watered silk and wool cloth. Also called tabin.
Tabby - coarse silk taffeta.
Tabby weave - also called plain weave. A simple form of interlaced warp and weft.
Taborats - striped and shaded worsted cloth with decoration applied by a second warp to produce small dots or floral spriggs.
Taffeta - glossy silk with a wavy texture. From the Persian word tafta meaning a glossy twist. These fabrics are made from high twist silk or, more recently, man-made fibre yarns giving a crisp, paper-like appearance.  In medieval Europe, taffeta was used to describe a variety of likghtweight silks. In modern times it usually means a plain weave cloth with a fine, smooth, crisp lustrous or matt finish.  It usually has a fine rib across the width making it possible to emboss a moire effect into the fabric. Taffeta chameleon or shot silk was widely used for dresses, curtains, upholstery and umbrellas. Antique taffeta  is a stiffened taffeta with an iridescent effect. Faille taffeta had a more defined rib.
Tally - in bobbin lacemaking a woven decoration found in the ground or as part of the design.  Made from two pairs of bobbins.
Tamise - a soft wool cloth with some silk yarn.
Tambour lace - lace made using machine-made net (tulle) as a base and a crochet-style hook.  There are two main types of this lace, Limerick (made mostly in Ireland) and Coggeshall (made mostly in England). In the former the designs are outlined with the hook and the fillings made with a needle whilst in the latter the entire design is made with the hook.
Tammy - a thin, high quality plain worsted which may be glazed on both sides.
Tatting- a form of lace made from knots using a shuttle and thread.  The working thread is  knotted around the carrying thread so as to let the knots be pulled up into rings or chains.  Picots are often added and can be used to join the rings or chains together.
Teneriffe lace -  comprise many small medalions formed from a wheel or small round pillow.  The medalion base is a wheel of spokes which are then darned in a lacy pattern.
Therese - a dotted gauze for hats.
Ticking - tightly woven, durable fabric, usually of cotton and used for covering mattresses, box springs, pillows and work clothes. It can be woven plain, satin or twill construction. Comes from the Latin theca meaning a cover or case. Woven traditionally from dyed yarn in a combination of thick and thin stripes on a white background using a 2-and-2 twill or herringbone weave. Can be given a water repellent finish. Was at one time called bedstout or bed tick. Limoges are brightly coloured bed tickings with a hard glazed surface. Limoges also refers to coarse hemp cloths used for bags in France. Commonly used for pillowcases, mattress covers and bolster covers.
Tiffany - a very fine silk gauze.
Toile de Jouy - style of fabric originating in the village of Jouy-en-Josas near Paris.  The designs resemble finely engraved etchings and use one colour on a solid ground.  Designs usually have a narrative element such as pastoral scenes or classical mythology
Toilonette - a fine wool fabric rather like merino
Torchon lace - a bobbin lace identified by a 45 degree angle between the pinholes and the horizontal and often geometric in design with wide use of fans and diamonds.
Toys - coming from the dutch word tooi meaning 'fine attire'.  Threaded to small patterned point twills and woven in contrasting colours.
Tripes - a weft pile cloth with a linen ground with jersey, silk or a jersey/silk mix pile.
Tukes - a coarse linen or cotton fabric.
Tulle - fine silk netting. A net fabric at one time made of pure silk but can now be made from man-made or cotton fibres. A hexagonal mesh is a distinctive feature and it was first made on machinery in Nottingham in 1768.  The invention of the bobbinet machine in 1809 helped the industry to expand and a factory opened in Tulle, France. Tulle crinoline isa pleasted fabric made with graduated sized mesh.  Tulle is also known as malines lace and is used for dressmaking, milinery and theatrical costumes.  It can be difficult to launder the fabric.
Turkey work - a knotted pile fabric with a linen or hemp warp.  Often floral designs.
Turin Gauze - raw silk gauze (woven)
Twist - the number of turns and the direction that two yarns are turned during manufacture. The yarn twist brings fibres closer together and makes them compact, helping the fibres adhere to one another and increasing the strength of the yarn. The direction and amount of twist determines appearance, performance and durability. Generally expressed as turns per inch (tpi), turns per centimetre (tpc) or turns per metre (tpm)

U
Up the roll - Describes the orientation of a pattern's direction. An up the roll pattern has the warp yarns in the vertical direction while the weft yarns are in the horizontal
Union - a plain weave fabric which is woven from two or more different fibres, a linen weft and a cotton warp being very popular.  In England there is a further definition which is of a cloth made from a cotton warp and and shoddy (see entry) weft and often used for overcoats.

V
Valenciennces lace - a French bobbin lace which is highly decorative and complex.  The ground is made up of tiny plaits which cross each other without the aid of pins as a guide.
Vat dyeing - this is considered a more colour-fast way to dye.  Vat dye is a type of dyestuff and does not refer to the process of dyeing in this case.
Venice lace - often has a high profile and is made using needlepoint techniques rather than embroidery. It is a heavier weight lace and the patterns vary from floral to geometric. Each pattern or motif is attached to others by bars made of thread.
Venise - a very fine damask table linen with large floral designs.
Venetians - a worsted weft with a warp of one end of the same colour as the weft to 2,3 or 4 ends of a contrasting colour.  An unglazed cloth.
Velvet medium weight cut pile fabric in which the cut pile stands up straight. Woven using two sets of warp yarns, the additional set making the pile
Victoria crepe - cotton crepe fabric
Vigogne - a twill wool fabric in various neutral colours.
Virli - a wool fabric.
Viscose - the most common type of rayon
Voile - crisp, light, plain weave cotton-like fabric made with high twist yarns in a high yarn count construction. Used in dresses, sheer curtains and blouses
Vermicular - from vermiculatus (worm casts). This coral like design used since Roman times. Carved on stone as surface ornamentation, it passed into Western traditions of fabric design and was often seen used as a background motif

W
Wadmol - early coarse fabric used for work clothes and saddlecloths etc. Said to have been used  to trade for Icelandic fish.
Warp - in woven fabrics, the yarn running lengthwise and interwoven with the weft yarns.
Warp knit - a type of knitted fabric construction where the yarn is formed into stitches in a lengthwise manner. Warp knits are less elastic than weft knits. An example is the tricot knit.
Warp prints - If the warp yarn was printed with a pattern before the weft was woven into it the finished design would be blurry with softened edges. A cumbersome and expensive technique yet now mimicked by a commercially printed effect. Most common at the end of the 19th century into the 1920s and most unusual today.
Weft - in woven fabrics the filling yarn that runs at right angles to the warp yarn.
Weighting - a process used in silk manufacture where salt is used to add weight to a fabric.
Whipcord - has a steeper twill than cavalry twill. The cord of this fabric is emphasised by the warp threads in the face of the cloth. Bulkier than most cords, suitable for overcoats. Rugged and hardwearing. Also known a artillery cloth.
Winceyette - A plain woven cloth using soft cotton yarns, raised on one side. A warm washable fabric used for nightclothes and bedlinen. Produced in Lindsey, Suffolk, UK
Wool - from the fleece of sheep although can also be fleece from alpaca, angora, cashmere goat or vicuna. The fibre made minute overlapping scales which give it a felting property. It is strong and resilient, soft and very warm. It also wicks away moisture
Worsted fabric - tightly woven fabric using only long staple, combed wool or wool blends. The resulting fabric has a hard, smooth surface. An example is Gabardine. A Statute of 1467 lists the following worsted cloths in production at that time: Beds, Monk's Cloth, Canon's Cloth, Double Motleys, Single Motleys, Double Worsted Tenyards, Half Double Worsted Sixyards and Roll Worsted.
Woven in the Grease - a term meaning that the yarn was not scoured after spinning.

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Yarn dyeing - the yarn is dyed before being made up into fabric.

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Zardozi work - where gold or silver threads are used on luxury fabric such as velvet or satin to appear as embroidery
Zari - in making brocade, the use of metallic threads twisted over cotton or silk.
Zephritis - a lightweight silk fabric.