Part of the ‘Antique Fabrics’ series, this fabric isn’t necessarily extinct, but it was more popular in the past than the present. A sturdy fabric woven with a hemp warp and linen weft. Used for coats and harder-wearing clothes in the 19th century. Today, cretonne is a mid-weight fabric, usually cotton, printed with a floral motif. One… Read More »
Chambray is a plain-woven cotton with a colored warp and a white weft, very similar to gingham, although chambray is not often woven into checks. When it is, then it’s called a chambray gingham. Historically, it was woven from linen, today it’s made from cotton and cotton blends and it remains in popular usage. It’s closely… Read More »
Part of the ‘Antique Fabrics‘ series, this fabric isn’t necessarily extinct, but it was more popular in the past than the present. AKA drugget. A coarse, economical wool fabric (sometimes wool-silk or wool-linen). It was used for coats, breeches and waistcoats. Today it is still a coarse fabric, but with a cotton warp and wool… Read More »
Part of the ‘Antique Fabrics‘ series, this fabric isn’t necessarily extinct, but it was more popular in the past than the present. Lightweight, loosely woven plain-weave cotton or worsted wool fabric. Étamine is similar to cotton gauze and cheesecloth. Historically derived from a fabric used to sift flour, hence the name (the French word for sieve).… Read More »
Part of the ‘Antique Fabrics‘ series, this fabric isn’t necessarily extinct, but it was more popular in the past than the present. A soft twilled silk or wool, similar to foulard, but heavier. The twill texture is very pronounced. I’ve seen it listed as a dress and coat material in 19th century catalogs. Today, it seems… Read More »
Part of the ‘Antique Fabrics’ series, this fabric isn’t necessarily extinct, but it was more popular in the past than the present. Close napped, rough surfaced, wool fabric. Dense and hard-wearing, it was a popular choice for overcoats. It’s usually a twill weave, but can be plain-woven too. Originally made from the wool of Cheviot… Read More »
Silk shantung is a plain-weave silk fabric that’s often confused with silk dupioni. The name derives from the Shandong area of China. Both fabrics feature ‘slubs’ which are natural irregularities in the silk thread from the silkworms’ cocoons. Shantung is smoother than dupioni, with fewer slubs in the weave. From more than a few feet away,… Read More »
Silk dupioni is plain-weave silk fabric with a distinctive “slubby” surface. Those slubs are from the silkworms’ cocoons, and they add a bumpy, almost rough texture to the fabric. In any other silk, these slubs would be a defect but, in this case, they’re a feature. I sometimes wonder if it was created as a marketing… Read More »
Once you see some moiré fabric, you won’t forget it. It’s a plain-weave fabric which has been treated to give the surface of a fabric a wavy, watery look – which is why it has also been called watered silk. You’ll also see it called moiré taffeta by some retailers, as taffeta is often used as… Read More »
I mentioned velveteen briefly during the section on velvet, because they’re so closely related. Like velvet, velveteen is a napped fabric. Like velvet, the pile – the fuzzy part – is on a non-stretchy base. So what’s the difference between velvet and velveteen? Velveteen has a shorter pile than velvet, which makes the fabric physically… Read More »
Fabric For Cosplayers