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A to Z Challenge 2026 – Lacemaking, Looms and “L” Fabrics…

April 14, 2026April 14, 2026humanist55

“Choose any subject you would like to write about…” that is the object of the A to Z Challenge, and thinking of things that interest me is not a problem for me, but choosing a subject not only to write about, but to write in a way that other people will catch my interest – that is the real challenge! This year I turn to a subject, close to our skin if not our hearts, and yet, again, I wonder if this subject will get some people past the title on the list – dismissed as niche? For this year, my theme is What We Wear – Fabrics and Fibres

Compiling my research list of fabrics (which I will make available at the end of this A to Z) I encountered no less than 12 different types of lace and there are almost certainly more – it seems that every different location for lacemaking has evolved its own style…

Traditional lace making primarily uses natural fibers such as linen, silk, and cotton. Linen was a favored choice for its strength and fine texture in early lace, while silk provided smoothness and luster. Cotton became more prevalent in the nineteenth century and remains popular today due to its softness and breathability. In addition to these, precious metals like gold and silver were used for very valuable or decorative laces, and occasionally, wool was used for novelty laces

Lace is a delicate fabric made of yarn or thread in an open weblike pattern, made by machine or by hand. Generally, handmade lace is split into two main categories, needle lace and bobbin lace, although there are other types of lace, such as knitted or crocheted lace. Other laces such as these are considered as a category of their specific craft.

It might be said that lacemaking is all about the holes – in this respect, it achieves something which woven fabrics cannot easily do. Lacemaking is labour intensive – skilled labour at that and so lace is expensive! Lace is, with all its holes, transparent and so not something you would make clothes out of without an inner lining (unless you are very outré) but a little lace trimming on a negligée, brassiere, or edging a decolletage, can go a long way to suggesting more transparency than is actually there…. A bridal dress (suitably lined with an underskirt) has much the same purpose and as for priestly collars and ruffs – well, they are all about the finery and no expense spared!

Lace modesty panel, cleavage cover, décolletage cover, lace, post surgery cover,

A Victorian style, detachable, lace collar

Bobbin Lacemaking

In case you have ever wondered by what arcane process lace is made, this video gives a little taste…

Here is a site that illustrates a few types of lace…

The illustration to the right shows two lace bands of a type that was used as a decoration for traditional Dutch caps in the early 20th century.

And a more modern, crafty approach…
Chemical Lace fabric – By embroidering copiously over a soluble fabric which is dissolved away on completion, a fabric can be created even to the point of dress fabric!. I saw this done once with loads of random white free-style embroidery as a base and then green ivy leaves over the top – one needs to be sure that there are no weak points or else a fashion accident might ensue…

Lace, Alencon – Lace originating in France, it is characterised by its delicate tulle and motifs with a raised cord running around the motifs

Lace, Argentan – Argentan lace or Point d’Argentan is an 18th century needle lace from Argentan, Normandy, France. Argentella is derived from Argentan. Argentan lace exhibits a more prominent and larger pattern in contrast to its nearest variant, Alençon lace

Lace, Battenberg – a type of tape lace. It is of American origin, The original Battenberg lace used just one stitich: buttonhole picot. Other stitches that were later used include flat wheel (also known as spider or rosette) and rings or “buttons”

Lace, Burano (Venetian) – Burano Lace is traditionally made from fine cotton thread, which is resistant, flexible, and helps maintain the lace’s structure. Historically, however, it was also made with threads of linen, silk, and even gold or silver. The type of fiber used influences the lace’s final appearance and feel. The fine, white cotton used for Burano lace creates a light, ornate, and precious fabric that can be incredibly durable, lasting for many years with proper care.

Lace, Buratto – An Italian needle lace made by darning on a net. It is quite similar in appearance to filet lace but with one important distinction—it is darned onto a woven net, rather than the knotted net used for filet. Buratto tends to also be heavier in appearance due to the woven nature of the netting used.

Lace, Carrickmacross – a combination of cotton organdie and machine-made net, traditionally laid on top of a paper pattern. The organdie, a sheer but firm fabric, is appliquéd onto the net. Once the design is outlined with a couched thread, the excess organdie is cut away, revealing the delicate net underneath, which is then decorated with various needle-run and picot stitches.

Lace, Chantilly – If Chsantilly Lace is ringing a musical bell in the back of your mind – think The Big Bopper – later covered by Jerry Lee Lewis. If you ever wondered what made Chantilly Lace special – Wikipedia has it covered, of course… Named after the region of France in which it was established. Known for its delicate and dainty look, it is very popular today in bridal wear and lingerie (no wonder The Big Bopper sang about it!)

Lace, Guipure – often heavy and is characterised by not having tulle between the motifs.

Lace, Leavers – is characterised by its bold patterns, it is heavier than a Chantilly and usually lighter than a guipure. It still features tulle between the motifs like Chantilly lace.

Limeric Lace – a hybrid lace of embroidered needle lace or crocheted lace on a machine made net base. It is a ‘mixed lace’ rather than a ‘true lace’, which would be entirely hand made. Limerick lace comes in two forms: tambour lace, which is made by stretching a net over a frame like a tambourine and drawing threads through it with a hook, and needlerun lace, which is made by using a needle to embroider on a net background.

Tambour Lace – Tambour lace refers to a family of lace made by stretching a fine net over a frame[1] (the eponymous Tambour, from the French for drum) and creating a chain stitch, known as tambour, using a fine, pointed hook[2][3] to reach through the net and draw the working thread through. The tambour embroidery technique became popular in western fashion during the 18th century, particularly fashionable in the early 19th century when applied to net fabrics, creating a look similar to lace.

Tennerife Lace – Tenerife lace or “roseta canaria” is a needle lace style often found on the Canary Islands and sharing the name of the island of Tenerife.[1] Despite its name the origin of this lace is uncertain, and in Tenerife it may be referred to as Brazilian lace.

Types of Looms

We looked at the process of weaving on a loom in “A” Everything You Need to Know About Weaving (though that title may have been a bit of a stretch) but we didn’t cover the many types of looms. The picture below is from an excellent blog post that illustrates the main types of loom.

The backstrap loom is a simple loom developed by ancient civilizations and still used in many countries today. The warp is tied around a stationary object on one end and to the weaver at the other. The weight of the weaver keeps the warp taut. A skilled weaver can produce beautiful and complex patterns using a backstrap loom.

Looms can range from the tiny…

To the large – a Mechanical Dobby Loom…

I will not double up on these excellent guides and this is proving to be a long post, so onwards to…

“L” Fabrics

Lame (Lurex) – Can be any type of fabric that is woven with ribbons/yarns of metallic wrapped around or between yarns – the stuff of theatre dreams…/

from – Lame Fabric: Characteristics and Uses

Lanon – At the core of Lanon woven fabric’s appeal is its outstanding durability and tensile strength. Constructed using tightly interwoven fibers—whether natural, synthetic, or regenerated—this fabric resists abrasion, tearing, and stretching under stress.

Latex – made from the rubber tree, this fabric is very resilient and stretchy…

from 5 Most Common Mistakes with Latex Clothing and Their Fixes

Lawn – a fine plain weave textile, made with fine combed cotton. Terms also used include batiste and nainsook. Originally the name applied to plain weave linen, and linen lawn is also called “handkerchief linen”. The term lawn is also used in the textile industry to refer to a type of starched crisp finish given to a cloth product. The finish can be applied to a variety of fine fabrics, prints or plain.

Linen – Linen is one of the big, natural, fibre/fabrics alnogside cotton and wool and its history goes way back into pre-history. Linen is very strong and absorbent, and it dries faster than cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments. Linen textiles can be made from flax plant fiber, yarn, as well as woven and knitted. Linen also has other distinctive characteristics, such as its tendency to wrinkle. It takes significantly longer to harvest than a material like cotton, although both are natural fibers. It is also more difficult to weave than cotton.

We all love the look of a crisp linen suit – at least before it is creased by a day’s wear, and what better example than Sean Connery in Diamonds are Forever…

https://bamfstyle.com/2015/05/07/bond-daf-creamsuit-pinktie/

Linen fibres come from the Flax plant with its fields of sky blue, and it is labour intensive to harvest, treat to extract the fibres in the longest, highest quality. It involves Retting, scutching, and heckling and you can find a good account of it here.

I met a man in Ireland, whose father had made his first fortune, by taking Irish Linen tablecloths and napkins, sailing to China, hiring a gunboat )to protect against pirates) and sailing up the Yangtse River to a village which specialised in hand-embroidering the monograms on the linen pieces. After the 2nd World War, when the linen trade in Ireland collapsed due to foreign competition, he made a second fortune selling Swiss Watches…

Lisle – a type of finish that was applied to obtain smooth and even yarns, largely employed for goods intended for underwear and hosiery. Yarns made with long-staple fibers such as Egyptian cotton were passed repeatedly and swiftly through gas flames. The action removed the fuzzy and protruding fibers. The finish adds smoothness, gloss, and evenness to the yarn. Another method of “lisle” was on finishing fabrics, in which hosiery fabric was treated with a dilute acid solution such as hydrochloric acid or sulfuric acid, the fabric was then tumble dried without washing at a temperature of a hundred degrees Fahrenheit. The acid and tumble exposure remove the loose ends and fuzziness from the fabric, which is subsequently neutralised with an alkaline solution to prevent further acid damage.
Lisle is a historic name, but “mercesiation” is still used today to obtain smooth fabrics…

Lisle stockings from the V & A Collections

I compiled a list of as fabrics, fibres and related items as possible (278 items), from several sources, the most comprehensive of which was Wikipedia. Since there are only 26 letters in the alphabet, I could not write in detail about every instance so I have taken snippets of text for the brief descriptions and linked to the source in the name of the item. I am indebted to all the contributors to those Wikipedia pages and the depth of knowledge to be found there…

A to Z Challenge 2026 – Knitting and Crochet and “K” Fabric

April 13, 2026March 20, 2026humanist55

I have a book from the 1950’s which is simply entitled “Stitchcraft” and it contains instructions for how to knit and crochet. Go into a large newsagents with a full selection of magazines today, and you will find magazines not just on Crochet, but Beaded Crochet, such is the sub-division of crafts in order to generate as much revenue from the world of crafters. In my book, you can find a pattern for making a knitted sweater but which has a panel of crochet worked into it – Sacré Bleu! Such mixing of crafts! Quelle horreur! Joking aside, There should be no hard and fast walls between all the various forms of stitchcraft! There! That is my rant, now back to Knitting and Crochet!

Knitting

Actually, before there was knitting, on two needles (Egypt, 11,000BC), there was nålbinding – literally ‘binding with a needle’ and involves using short lengths of yarn which are joined together as they come to an end and in which the whole length of the yarn is passed though each loop – the end result looks very much like knitting, andthis technique occurs in many parts of the world – in the desert of Judea, in a Mesolithic fishing village in Denmark, Egypt and in the Paracas and Nazca cultures in Peru. The technique was often used in the round, to produce socks and slipper-like wear and it survived in parts of Europe into the 50’s. With the advent of the internet, a renewed interest in nålbinding has ocurred! The thumb is often used as a way of setting up the stitches and the diagrams below show some of the different stitches used and the video shows you how to have a go yourself…

The earliest known true knitting is found in Egyptian socks from the 11th century CE. Interesting that the new form was used to develop the same product as the older nålbinding – socks! The earliest European pieces date to the 13th century and the early materials included cotton and silk, rather than wool and was not merely functional but often displayed high craftsmanship and served the elite and the Church. Silk would have been an expensive commodity having traversed the length of the Silk Road – all the way from China.

Knitting is the process of using two or more needles to pull and loop yarn into a series of interconnected loops in order to create a finished garment or fabric. The word is derived from knot, thought to originate from the Dutch verb knutten, similar to the Old English cnyttan, “to knot”
Wikipedia – History of Knitting

Some of the earliest European examples of knotting were by Muslim knitters employed by Christian families in Spain showing how the technique had spread from Egypt and through the Middle East and, although archaeological finds sometimes turn up fragments of knitting, being made of natural fibres, they are prone to being eaten by insects and so are hard to find preserved. And it’s not just the fabric but even the stitches could become lost – the two most common stitches today are knit and purl, and the purl stitch, though seen in the earliest Egyptian knitting, seems to have lost in its travels through Europe – appearing again only in the 16th century.

What makes knitted fabric so useful, is that it has a natural elasticity allowing a range of fit to size for the wearer. As a technique, it requires no more equipment than two needles and so is ultra-portable and indeed you will see people knitting on trains and buses indeed, anywhere, especially today, when knitting is no longer a functional source of clothing but rather a hobby craft.

Lydia with Presenter Tom Daley, in The Yarn Barn. Pic: Channel 4

The Olympic swimmer, Tom Daley, may have given men’s knitting a boost recently, but this photograph from the book “People Knitting: A Century of Photographs” by Barbara Levine shows that it has long been practiced by men as well as women!

The colourful style of American textile artist Kaffe Fasset

I am not going to try to cover the breadth of the world that is knitting, but here are some of the places it is going in the 21st Century…

The Evolution of Hand-Knitting Trends in Fashion

30 Knitting Patterns You Can Start Working on Right Away
By Sara Barnes on October 5, 2023

And of course, that staple of knitting – baby clothes – these booties don’t look to onerous tmewise – maybe even a person like me, who struggles to finish projects could manage these lol…

22 Easy Knitting Patterns for Beginners
By Mollie Johanson

Of course, the other way to complete a project quickly is to go “extreme knitting ” – very chunky yarns on enormous needles!

Chunky Knit Cocoon Blanket Cardigan No needles Handmade chenille or wool Pattern Only

Crochet

Hands up if your idea of Crochet is the “Granny Square”! I put mine up as my granny was certainly a crochet square afficianado! These little squares could eat up all those odd leftovers yarns from other projects, but tackled as serious projects – they could produce stunning blankets…

CROCHET PATTERN & VIDEO | Hygge Burst Blanket Pattern, Crochet Sunburst Granny Square, Vintage Inspired, Modern Crochet, Tweed Yarn
**NautiKrall**

Or go wild and free with a more contemporary look…

If you want to jump in to Extreme (Giant) Crochet – here is an introduction!

I have a confession to make – I don’t know how to do standard crochet – BUT – I do do Tunisian Crochet, and this is how it happened… My sister Carol and I were sorting out my late mothers many knitting needles (she used to run knitting mornings at her retirement complex) and Carol spotted a pair of tortoiseshell needles she really fancied. At the same time, i picked up a large, knitting needle length piece with, seemingly, a crochet hook at one end. Noe crochet needles are usually short, because they hold only a few loops of wool at a time, so neither of us knew what this long needle was! Oh well, said Carol, you have that one and I will have these – and she added the tortoiseshells to her pile – sisters! You have to love them! Anyway, I eventually looked into what this strange beast might be and discovered Tunisian Crochet.
Tunisian Crochet is sometimes described as a cross between knitting and crochet in as much as it generates a width of fabric as wide as the needle used is long, and as deep as the number of rows you care you care to knit. Like knitting, there are a variety of stitches possible.

Fabric is worked in two passes instead of one

Multiple loops stay on the hook at the same time

The surface has strong vertical and horizontal structure

Finished pieces maintain shape exceptionally well

During lockdown, like many others, I explored craft and generated samplers of many kinds of Tunisian Crochet stitches…

Tunisian Crochet Sweater PATTERN: Raglan Yoke, Ribbing by **Hookloopsarah**

Ideal for blankets – you will need a needle with a long flexible extension to crochet this width…

“K” Fabrics

Double Knit – Thick jersey fabric made with twin needles where the stitches are interlocked together.

Knit Stitch – Stockinette – the most basic knitted fabric; every stitch (as seen from the right side) is a knit stitch.[1] This fabric has also been referred to as Knit or Knitted, Front, Smooth, Jersey, Plain, Vertical and Plain Sweater Fabric. In the round, stocking stitch is produced by knitting every stitch; by contrast, in the flat, stocking stitch is produced by knitting and purling alternate rows. Variations on this fabric can be made by twisting stitches (knitting or purling through the back of each loop on the needle instead of the front) on one or both sides; Barbara Walker calls these “crossed” (only knitted stitches twisted) and “twisted” (knits and purl twisted) Stockinette. Stocking-stitch fabric is very smooth and each column (“wale”) resembles a stacked set of “V”‘s. It has a strong tendency to curl horizontally and vertically because of the asymmetry of its faces.

Trichot – Machine Knitting – A macine form of knitting in which the yarn zigzags vertically, following a single column (“wale”) of knitting, rather than a single row (“course”), as is customary. Tricot and its relatives are very resistant to runs, and are commonly used in lingerie.

If you are a lady of a certain age, you may have been subjected to wearing knitted swimsuits – an experience, I am told, producing lasting trauma since the swimsuits, when wet, and due to the elastic nature of ordinary knitting, would sag unbelievably with the danger of a fashion accident… The swimsuit above is machine knit in Trichot which means that the vertically interlocking stitches do not sag when wet! From What is Tricot Fabric?

Khadi – A hand-spun and hand-woven natural fiber cloth, primarily from India. Khadi is typically made of cotton, but can also include silk or wool, which are all spun into yarn on a spinning wheel known as a charkha. It is a versatile fabric that is cool in Summer and warm in Winter.

A to Z Challenge 2026 – “J” is for Jersey, Jute and Jamdami…

April 11, 2026April 11, 2026humanist55

Jamdami

I am going to start with Jamdami, because, in many ways, it proceeds the techniques of Jacquard looms and machine Jersey Jacquard decorative fabric techniques which this post will cover. Jamdami is referred to as extra-weft ornamentation, on-loom embroidery, or discontinuous weft¹. Okay, let’s break down the jargon – on a loom which is set up for Muslin (a very fine fabric) portions of the weft are lifted up and threaded with a needle or very small shuttle to produce a design motif.

Left: *Close-up of* jamdani *weaving on muslin on the loom, showing the needle and the motifs akin to embroidery.* Right: Jamdani *weave on the* pallav (decorative end) *of a saree.*¹

This is a painstaking process and Jamdami was not cheap. Dhaka in Bangladesh was a centre of excellence and Daccia mul was so exquisite that when the city was under British rule, orders were given to cut off the thumbs of weavers to prevent competition with milled British fabrics.¹

*A rare* jamdani *piece with borders and* pallav *woven in a multitude of shades on fine cotton muslin.*¹

Amir Khusro, the famous thirteenth-century Sufi poet, described fine handspun, handwoven cotton so fine that 100 yards could pass through a needle, with a transparency more like water than cloth. He described a fabric so beautiful that it was likened to air, moonlight, clouds, and water: magnificent muslin. In reality, the fabric was so fine that several layers could pass through a signet ring, and it was so light that if washed and tossed in the air, it would dry before landing. Poetry, romance, royalty, legendary tales, trade worth a king’s ransom, secrecy, cutthroat competition—these are all part of the history of muslin and especially the decorative muslin known as jamdani.¹

Jacquard

There are a number of ways to introduce different coloured patches of colour into a fabric, we already encountered Intarsia under “I” – knitting, which changes yarn at the boundaries of a different colour and we also saw Jacquard under the decoration of Fabrics but when you have many repeated motifs in knitting, such as Fair Isle, then its easier to carry the yarn across the back (floats), which, however, carries the risk of snagging .

In this beautiful sweater brought for me from the Andes – in the top half you can see the repeated patterns including Llamas, whilst belowthe white line, i have folded it back to show a mirror immage of the reverse of the pattern showing the “floats” resultant from this form of Jacquard knitting.

The following video explains how to avoid long carry-over threads on the back of the work, which could be caught by fingers when putting on a sweater, say. Two techniques are mentioned – one is Ladder-backing which catches the carry-over threads (floats) at regular intervals and the other involves double knitting – a second layer of knitting behind the main layer in the second colour, which is then brought forward when required for the design. It raises the question of what is really the front and which the back of a fabric. for example, in a decorative fabric which is not for general wear, it might be fine to have, say, gold threads as floats across the front face without them being interrupted by warps.

Jacquard is also a feature of machine knitting, and in the next section, we shall see machines doing just that! In a way, machine-knit Jacquard is doing, effortlessly, in knitted form, what Jamdami weavers did so painstakingly on a loom…

Jersey – the fabric…

Jersey, named for the fisherman’s sweaters originating in the Channel Island of Jersey, is now given to a wide range of machine-knit fabrics and being knitted, it naturally has a very stretchy quality. Although originally knitted with wool, nowadays, cotton and synthetic yarns are used, and should they require more elasticity (being somewhat stifffer fibres), then Lycra, Spandex or elastane can be added (more of these later).

Arrangement of interlocking stitches in single jersey

So far we have seen a lot of woven fabrics – woven on looms, but in Knitting, we came to interlocked loops as a technique – one going back into pre-history, yet it was inevitable that, sooner or later, some ingenious fellow would work out how to mechanise the knitting process. As far back as the 16th Century, that fellow was William Lee was an Anglican clergyman, born in Calverton, Nottinghamshire. “By studying how the fingers of some local hand knitters moved, he came up with a ground-breaking mechanical device (the stocking frame knitting machine).”² Since then, a plethora of machines have developed and roughly 37% (and growing), of the world’s fabrics are knitted as opposed to woven. The video below shows some of the many types of knitting machines including ones that produce Jacquard decoration.

Note the many yarns being threaded into the machines – this is how most machine-knitting differs from hand-knitting – there a single yarn is worked backwards and forwards, row by row, whereas on these machines, every needle is fed a separate yarn which is passed onto the next needle with each pass.

Types of Jersey

Single Jersey
Double Jersey
Interlock Jersey
Jacquard Jersey
Stretch Jersey

For a full description of these types of jersey, go to How to sew jersey fabric: Everything you need to know about sewing with jersey

You can see that some of these machines produce giant tubes of knitted fabric so that it is possible to make the torso of a sweatshirt (providing it is straight and not shaped) to be seam-free and the same with the sleeves – made in a smaller diameter tube, however the following video shows T-shirts being made but cut into panels to allow heat-transfer printing to be put on before stitching the garment up.

If you want to learn how to make your own T-shirt – if, for example, you have one that fits you better than most bought ones, this blog post will show you how… How to Make Your Own T-Shirt Pattern using jersey fabric.

A to Z Challenge 2026 – “G” for Gazar, Gauze and Gingham…

April 8, 2026March 15, 2026humanist55

Gauze

Gauze – The transparency of gauze, lends it, on the one hand to wedding veils and on the other, to wound dressings where a fabric that allows breathing without the fibres shifting. This is achieved by twisting the Weft threads after each timr they cross the Warps (as shown below) this locks the position of warp and weft in place and keeps the fabric stable but with very open structure.

Gazar

Gazar – If gauze is an old and functional fabric, even in the fashion sense, then Gazar is the polar opposite – a 20^th Century fabric brought into being to suit the very particular needs of an haute Couture fashion designer in order to create some iconic but hardly practical designs.

Gazar is a silk or wool plain weave fabric made with high-twist double yarns woven as one. Gazar has a crisp hand and a smooth texture. Balenciaga wanted a fabric he could sculpt and so he turned to Mr. Zumsteg, director of the Abraham company and a great collector of paintings, rightly thinking that he would understand the subtlety of his request. Together, they came up with an organza like fabric (another member of the guaxe family), stiff, unruly except in the hands of skilled seamstresses and it formed the basis of Balenciaga’s collections from 1960-68.

Alberta Tiburzi in Harper’s Bazaar, June 1967. Photo: © Hiro 1967

Cristóbal Balenciaga, 1967 | *Silk Gazar One Seam Bridal Gown with Matching Hat* | Photos Tom Kubin

Cristobal Balenciaga, Indigo blue silk gazar evening dress, 1965 Alain.R.Truong Cristobal Balenciaga, Indigo blue silk gazar evening dress, 1965 (CBM 2000.23 ab) 2016 Cristóbal Balenciaga Museum It belonged to Mrs. Rachel L. Mellon.

Of course, the often impractical, immodest, exorbitantly expensive, wonderful creations of haute couture are said to filter downwards to influence High Street design and occasionally, fabrics from the world of popular fashion, are taken up by Haute Couture and one such staple, is Gingham…

Gingham

Around since the 17^th century, and possibly named for the French town of Guingamp, gingham was originally striped but evolved into the ubiquitous checked or tartan (plaid) pattern which is simple to achieve on an industrial loom. Indeed, by the 19^th century, gingham was a staple product of Lancashire cotton mills.

In fact, Gingham was introduced to France from Malaysia, where it started being produced in Vichy, France, under the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte. In Spain the pattern is known as estampado vichy or cuadro vichy. With the industrial production of gingham, it became popular around the world and retained a special affection in the USA – so much so that on the one hand, the gingham shirt invited mockery, whilst on the other, haute couture rediscovers it periodically.

Judy Garland in her iconic blue gingham dress in The Wizard of Oz

Rei Kawakubo for her Comme des Garçons Spring/Summer 1997 collection. Known as the “Lumps and Bumps” collection…

Other “G” fabrics:

Georgette – (from crêpe Georgette) is a sheer, lightweight, dull-finished crêpe fabric named after the early 20th century French dressmaker Georgette de la Plante. Originally made from silk, Georgette is made with highly twisted yarns. Its characteristic crinkly surface is created by alternating S- and Z-twist yarns in both warp and weft.

Grenadine – is a weave characterised by its light, open, gauze-like feel, and is produced on jacquard looms. Originally produced in Italy and worn as a black silk lace in France in the eighteenth century, it is now woven with silk for use in ties.

For the most part, ties made from grenadine silk are solid in color with the visual interest being the unique weave.

Grosgrain – a type of fabric or ribbon defined by the fact that its weft is heavier than its warp, creating prominent transverse ribs.

A to Z Challenge 2026 – “F” for Fibres that make Fabrics and some “F” fabrics too.

April 7, 2026March 14, 2026humanist55

Before there were fabrics as we think of them today, that is, woven or knitted, there were skins, fur and leather and for fabrics to come about, the concept of “fibres” which could be combined to make a yarn – the basis of all fabrics, had to be conceived. The sources of fibres fell into two groups – animal and plant-based. One can imagine how plants such as cotton,simply cried out to find some way of making their fluffy bolls into some form that would allow them to be combined. The answer was of course, spinning… We all know about spinning wheels from fairy tales like Rapunzel, but before those quite elaborate inventions, there were simpler ways of spinning fibres – the spindle or drop spindle. What all spinning devices do, is to allow you take a pinch of, say, wool, and as you draw it out into a thinner configuration, the device spins the wool into a yarn, which causes the fibre to bind together into a yarn. The video below shows how to use a drop-spindle and the one after that shows some of the ways the process was elaborated on. As we said in the first post on Weaving – Stone Age tooolmakers grasped the significance of twisting, which increases strength by diverting part of any tensile strength into lateral pressure”.¹
The video below shows how to use the simplest and oldest form of spinning tool…

Next is a video which takes us through some of the more elaborate forms os hand-spinning tools, up to and including the spinning wheel.

These simple methods could work with animal or plant fibres and once a thin yarn was produced, then two or more thin yarns could be further twisted, or plied, together – hence 2-ply, 3-ply etc.

What happened after that, was simply increased mechanisation and in 1764, James Hargreaves of Lancashire, England, invented the Spinning Jenny, which could spin multiple yarns simultaneously which took the production of yarn from cottage industry where one yarn at a time was produced by hand, to a mill based industry.

In the 20^th Century, synthetic and semi-synthetic fibres were added to the possibilities, either by combining fibres in a blend with the natural ones to form blended yarns with improved performance characteristics, or used entirely on their own – I will cover them under “S”, but all I will say for now, is that synthetic fibres need not necessarily be spun since they can emerge as a coherent yarn in the first place and that due to the ability to extrude synthetic fibres at very consistent sizes, they can be used to relace or augment natural fibres from cotton to silk….

So what are the fibres that have clothed us for centuries? Well, on the animal side, the hairs from bovines, camels, goats (Angora, Mohair) horse-hair, rabbit, reindeer and of course sheep (wool) – all of which offer fibres straight from the hide, and, by a much more convoluted process, Silk, which is made from the unwound cocoons of the silk worm. Sinews and gut were also early sources of fibre. Even casein (milk protein) can be treated and spun into fibres.

A project of mine – knitted on large needles from Angora Wool – a very fluffy yarn…

On the plant side, nettles were an early source of fibre for string and rope whilst tree bark – bast, made early non-woven fabrics. Cotton, linen (flax), Jute, Sisal, Palm (Raffia) and Tow (coarse fibres extracted during the preparation of other fibres like linen) were the classic fibres, but today, bamboo, eucalyptus, soybean, aloe vera and even the dried leather from kombucha have been added to the repertoire! Some of these, are sources of cellulose and form the source material of the “semi-synthetics” which we will come to under “S”.

Fabrics beginning with F:

Faille – is a structured fabric characterised by very fine ribs, it is usually made from silk.

Faux Fur, Leather and Suede – these are all fabrics woven to simulate the appearance of other substances.

Felt – felting is a method of producing fabric without weaving by matting, condensing and pressing fibres. It allows fabric to be shaped directly into 3-dimensional shapes such as hats. Although initially produced from natural fibres, felting is a technique that works with almost any kind of fibre. It is fire-retardant and self-extinguishing; it dampens vibration and absorbs sound; and it can hold large amounts of fluid without feeling wet.

Boy George wearing one of his iconic Felt hats

Fibre Glass – Glass Re-enforced Plastic (GRP) begins with a matted fabric composed of fine glass fibres which are welded together with a plastic resin to make such things as sailing boats.

Fishnet – is a machine knitted fabric with a diamond shaped hole pattern and has become a staple of hosiery and especially beloved as part of punk fashion.

Siouxsie Sioux photographed by Joe Bangay , 1981

Flannel (and Flannelette) – is a soft woven fabric of varying fineness. Flannel was originally made from carded wool or worsted yarn, but is now often made from either wool, cotton, or synthetic fibre. Flannel is commonly used to make tartan clothing, blankets, bed sheets, sleepwear, and several other uses.

Jenny Agutter waving her red petticoat to prevent disaster in the Railway Children (1970) https://katedaviesdesigns.com/2023/11/02/red-hats-and-petticoats/

Fustian – Fustian means thick cotton cloth – an old fabric, it ranges from straightforward twilled fabric such as denim, to cut textiles that are analogous to velvet and have names such as velveteen, moleskin. In the first fustian fabric, which dates back to the medieval ages, cotton was used for the weft, and linen was used for the warp. It would appear that the phrase quickly lost some of its distinctiveness and eventually came to be used to designate a coarse cloth that was made of wool and linen.

Fustians such as Corduroy, that have added long fibres as well as Faux Furs, require special looms that incorporate the additional fibres which after weaving in, are cut to produce the ridges in the corduroy.

Corduroy: This modern diagram shows the warp (3) and the long (red-4) and short (green-5) weft threads; traditionally the knife (1) and the guide (2) are attached and the cutting motion is upwards.

World Textiles by Mary Schoeser – A Concise History, Thames & Hudson world of art 2003 pp. 10

A to Z Challenge 2026 – “D” for the Decoration of Fabric

April 4, 2026April 6, 2026humanist55

Almost as soon as the art of weaving or knitting fabrics was mastered, then the possibilities of creating decorative effects with the craft, blossomed. Mary Schoeser in her World Textiles – A Concise History¹, says of the period between 3000BC and 400BC, that although normally categorised historically as the Bronze and Iron Ages, they might equally be termed the Dye and Loom Age. Whilst it is true that iron shears were necessary to shear livestock for fibres to make fabric, the technological and chemical developments are at least as impressive and important as those in Metallurgy.

**Ciba 9: Dyeing and Tanning in Classical Antiquity**

Dyeing is the simplest of ways to decorate a fabric and if the fibres/yarns are dyed first, before weaving, then the second way of producing decorative effects becomes possible by using different coloured yarns in the same piece of cloth – think stripes, plaid. Tartan not to mention fabrics that use different colours for warp and weft and that is before you use the lifting of some selective warps to give a design. There is alternating stitch patterns in knitting or weave types in weaving, introducing thicker threads – the variety of ingenuity is incredible!

Beyond dyeing, there are ways of embellishing fabrics such as embroidery, adding in beads, using a fabric as a base for some other technique – lacemaking, needlepoint tapestry, hooking or rag-rugging, but let’s start with the advances in chemistry brought about by dyeing.

There are three types of Dye which are each suitable to be applied to different types of fibre using different chemical methods:-

Reactive Dyes: Primarily used for cellulose (plant derived) fibres such as cotton, linen and semi-synthetics like rayon, where the dyes form strong covalent bonds with fibre hydroxyl groups (-OH) resulting in high, wet, fastness of colour.

Direct/Acid dyes:- Utilise hydrogen bonding and Van der Waals forces, to attach to proteins (animal derived) – amino acid groups attract dyes through ionic interactions.

Disperse Dyes:- Non-water-soluble dyes used for hydrophobic synthetic fibres like polyester, dyes which are absorbed as a solid solution under high heat and pressure.

Of course, the early dyers didn’t know the meaning of all this chemistry, they discovered things empirically, no doubt early results were a result of accidental contamination, but the dyer’s vats became the crucible for chemical experimentation. Other chemical factors which were discovered and deployed in dyeing include:-

pH Adjusters: Acids or bases (eg. Acetic acid, urine, caustic sods) crucial to initiate bonding of dyes to fibres.

Electrolytes: Salt (NaCl or Na₂ SO₄) used to force dyes out of solution and onto the fibres

Mordants: Metal ions (Aluninium, copper, iron) which act as a bridges between natural dye molecules and fibre – these illustrate how empirical learning can occur as simply conducting dyeing in different containers made of different metals would produce more or less effective results.

Let’s look at just one dyeing process – that of wool, to understand what happens…

The illustration shows the three stages of wool dyeing, firstly the Dye Approach, in which wool is added to the dye solution and heated up. The dye molecules immediately coat the wool surface but water then moves into the fibre making it swell up and allowing the dye to better penetrate the fibre. Dye Migration – the dye molecules move in and out of the fibre and even themselves out, migrating from darker to lighter areas until an equilibrium of molecules both in the wool fibres and the solution is reached. Dye Fixation – the wool is temporarily removed form the dye bath and a mild acid is added such as citric acid – a mordant that lowers the pH of the bath so that when the wool is returned to the dye bath, the dye molecules are forced to bond with the wool fibre – the bath is heated slightly more and “cooked” for another 60 minutes until the bonding has occurred both on the surface and inside the wool fibres.

**Some tanneries, such as that in Fès, Morocco, still rely on vat dyeing to tan leather.**

and a more modern version from an article on standardisation-of-dyes

Textured Weaving Effects are the next simplestway of decorating fabric and we have already encountered the Twill Weave which has produced such classic fabrics as Denim, a tough working fabric which in terms of dyeing, may be warp dyed, undyed, or dyed after weaving – more of denim when we get to working fabrics… but corduroy, cambric (basket weave), and Georgette (made with highly twisted yarns) are all examples of textured weaving.

Next, patterns may be woven in – Damask, for example, which at its simplest, achieves patterns with a limited or single coloured yarn by varying the weave texture between satin and plain.

https://tableclothsonline.co.uk/shop/fabric-per-metre/damask-rose-white-fabric-per-metre/

Another fabric in which highly patterned effects are woven in on the loom, is Jacquard – using a Jacquard loom. Producing tough, brocade like fabrics often used for furnishing and curtains.

https://sewport.com/fabrics-directory/jacquard-fabric

Once you start introducing different coloured yarns you are into a world of plaids and tartan before you even start on more complicated weave patterns like houndstooth.

*Clan MacDonald Tartan and Clan Campbell Tartan*

Plaid knickers for the true gentleman of the countryside or golf course.

Troon Houndstooth

This example of houndstooth clearly shows the classic, two-colour weave pattern.

Once a fabric is finished, in can then be embellished with further stitched patterning – Embroidery:- The word embroider has come to mean the addition of anything to anything in order to make it more attractive, detailed, or meaningful – but originally it meant stitching additional threads onto a material. There is so much to say about Embroidery that I am going to give it, it’s own slot tomorrow and Printing on fabrics will be covered when we get to “P”…

P.S. As Anne M. Bray points out in the comments below, I misssed out Ikat – one of the oldest fabric dyeing techniques – in Ikat, either the warp threads or the weft threads, or both which is the most complex, are bound together in bundles pre-weaving, and treated with wax in patterns that resist the dye and create a pattern in the weave. the patterns have a blurry quality which is quite different to patterns printed on after weaving…

Also from Anne – this excellent link to her SpyGirl: Know Your Plaid…

The decoration of fabric merits n A to Z of its own, but I will leave it there and cover a few “D” fabrics.

Damask Fabric with the pattern woven in. It is reversible, hardwearing and usually made with cotton, silk or linen.

Dimity Collective term for figured cloths of harness loom decorated with designs and patterns. It is a strong cotton cloth with various stripes and illustrations. Dimity is bleached or washed after looming, less often dyed—unlike fustian, which is usually dyed.

Dobby (see also Piqué) a woven fabric produced on the dobby loom, characterised by small geometric patterns and extra texture in the cloth, The warp and weft threads may be the same colour or different. Satin threads are particularly effective in this kind of weave as their texture will highlight the pattern.

Double cloth is a lightweight, sheer cotton fabric, having at least two warp threads thrown into relief to form fine cords. Chiefly, dimity is fashioned into white bed upholstery and curtains, though it is occasionally imprinted with a colourful pattern. Dimity was historically made of silk or wool; however, since the 18th century, it has been woven almost exclusively of cotton.

Double Crepe Heavy textured fabric that is drapey, usually made with silk and wool fibres

Double Georgette Heavy denser version of georgette, characterised by its texture and transparency.

Duchesse Satin weave construction it is a structured cloth characterised by its high shine on one side and matte on the reverse

Dupioni a Plain weave cloth, is characterised by the slubby effect created when raw yarns are woven with more refined silk yarns.

World Textiles by Mary Schoeser – A Concise History, Thames & Hudson world of art 2003 pp. 28

Gratitude

April 3, 2026April 3, 2026humanist55

Dear Mum and Dad
I carry you in my heart and head
for I neither believe
and most certainly hope
that you not looking down
from some heavenly crows-nest

for most of your lives
you did not believe either
and your latter-day church going
was, I think, more social
– a way to integrate in
the many places you moved to

but your taking us to church
not only gave us the choice
but sharpened my scepticism
into a personal humanist credo
according to which
I carry you in my heart and head

I thank you, Mum
for refusing to teach me to cook
reserving that for my sisters
and for launching my student cuisine
with the gift of a Sabbatier knife
and the condescending choice

of “Cooking in a Bedsit”
which made me seek out
the racier author Elizabeth David
sailing round the Med with her married man
garnering recipes to change
the cooking of a nation

and Dad, though you never
took me sailing, you taught me
to whip finish a rope and splice an eye
to coil a cable neatly and I took
pride in your designing a dinghy
and slipped into design too

I carry you in my heart and head
but I wanted to make concrete
these, amongst many things
I am grateful you gave me
– to put them out into the world
just as you birthed and shaped me…

You can read more about my parents in my last year’s A to Z
https://how-would-you-know.com/a-to-z-2025-challenge-dad-draughtsman-designer/
https://how-would-you-know.com/a-to-z-2025-challenge-elsie-jill-mum/

Over at dVerse Poets Pub, Laura Bloomsbury in Meeting the Bar: Critique and Craft, invites us to write an Epistolary Poem, either as a Verse Epistle, or, as I have chosen to do, a Prose Poetry Epistle. I will also share this with my Ten Things of Thankful group…

A to Z Challenge 2026 – “C” Fabrics and King Cotton

April 3, 2026March 31, 2026humanist55

This A to Z is about both “fabrics” and the “fibres” that make them, but there are some fabrics where the fibre is synonymous with the fabric – silk, wool, and perhaps most of all Cotton. Different species of cotton were present and utilised to make fabric in both New and Old Worlds – the earliest being in Peru, but also in the Middle East and wild species of cotton grew in South Asia and beyond – but the archaeological record is mainly limited to hot, dry countries where the cotton fibres did not rot away and were preserved for the record.

GW Researcher Identifies Oldest Textile Dyed Indigo

European countries came to know cotton fabric comparatively late and through trade with Arab countries where it had been woven for thousands of years, and yet, geopolitically, cotton, through slavery and the industrial revolution, would change the world. “King Cotton”¹ was a term coined by by Southern US politicians and authors to describe the economic, political, and social dominance of cotton production in the American South. It signified the crop’s supremacy as a cash crop and its vital role in the global economy, particularly in supporting slavery and driving Southern confidence in secession. The cotton produced in America was shipped to England, in particular, where it powered the Industrial Revolution and turned out cheaper cotton fabric that in turn, fuelled the British Empire.

Previous to the 19^th Century, the largest producer of cotton, the fibre and the fabric, was India². From the late 17th century to the early 18th century, Mughal India accounted for 95% of British imports from Asia, and the Bengal Subah province alone accounted for 40% of Dutch imports from Asia². Calicos and Chintzes (see below) from India became so popular that in the 18^th century, the government tried to outlaw their use for clothing or domestic purposes – not least because, the trade, facilitated by the East India Company, was one way – India had no use for many British goods and so vast quantities of gold and silver were heading to India.

Meanwhile, in newly independent America, the machine that transformed cotton production by mechanising the preparation of the fibres and replacing a labour intensive process, was the Cotton Gin³. Many attempts to create such a machine had been made, but the modern mechanical cotton gin was created by American inventor Eli Whitney in 1793 and patented in 1794. Cotton grows in “bolls” where some dozen seeds are tightly enclosed amongst the cotton fibres and must be removed before the fibres can be spun into a yarn.

So great was the export flow of cotton from America to France and Britain, that Southern slave owners were convinced they had the leverage to guarantee those countries support in the forthcoming Civil War, largely fought around the issue of slavery.(Cotton Diplomacy) They were incorrect, as European mills turned to importing cotton from India and Egypt, and although slavery came to an end, the trade in cotton did not and America resumed supplying Europe with the raw material and the trade with Egypt was dropped leading to a financial crisis there which led, in part, to it’s absorption into the British Empire.

However, by the 19^th century, the East India Company imposed protectionist policies combined with the Industrial Revolution in Britain, turned India from the main supplier of manufactured cotton goods, into a supplier of raw cotton and a massive market for the now cheaper British goods of all kinds – though not so much fabrics where local industry held it’s own.⁴

In the 20^th century, the arrival in America of the Boll Weevil from Mexico, caused a Cotton Famine before it was brought under control and this issue, together with the advent of mechanised picking methods finally eradicated the need for human picking, the former slaves, now turned share-croppers, were no longer needed and many moved to urban industrial centres like Chicago.

So when you think of Cotton, think not only of the versatile fabric that it undoubtedly is, with an ancient lineage to boot, but as a game changing, empire building and crushing geopolitical force…

“C” Fabrics:-

Calico – cheap cotton fabrics from Kozhikode, then known as Calicut, in India, found a mass market among the poor in Europe. A heavy plain woven textile, it is made from unbleached, and often not fully processed, cotton and may also contain unseparated husk parts. The fabric is coarser than Muslin, but less coarse and thick than Canvas or Denim. It’s cheapness comes from its unfinished and undyed appearance. When glazed, calico becomes Chintz which can then readily take decorative printing.

Chintz – The import of cheap calicos and chintz from India, was an enormous threat to the manufacturers of Woolen and Worsted fabrics for which 18^th century England was famous. In 1700, the first attempt to suppress these imports, lobbied for by the wool industry in towns like Norwich, was the Calico Act which banned the import of Calico prints⁵ (Chintz). So the East India Company simply switched to unprinted calico – Greige or “grey” fabric. Greige cloth was already being produced in the newly mechanised mills of Lancashire so they received a boost from the Calico Act and sent their cloth to London to be finished. Griege or grey fabric can refer to any unfinished woven or knitted fabric, cotton, wool silk or any other kind. The Lancashire mills often used grey cloth with linen warp and cotton weft, known as fustian.

Chintz. Block printed cotton. India, 18th century.

Early Indian Chintzes were hand painted which graduated to wood-block printing – a technique that spread to England but was eventually relaced by a printing technique in 1783 that used copper rollers invented by Thomas Bell. Production in Lancashire shot up from an estimated 50,000 pieces of 27 metres (30 yards) to 20,000,000 pieces in 1850!⁵

From an excellent article that tells the full story of Chintz fabric including the derogatory term “Chintzy” and the reason chintz became “The floral fabric that was banned”

Chintz fabric is still popular today and is often associated with furnishing and curtain fabrics in which context it has given rise to the word “chintzy”, meaning fussily floral décor.

Contemporary curtain fabric from Terrys – featuring a Jacobean design.

There are a great number of other “C” fabrics including:-

Camberwick – or Candlewick is made from a traditional weaving technique called candlewick. This technique involves using a soft, thick yarn that is woven into a loose, looped pattern to create a raised, textured surface. Typically used for bedspreads.

Camel Hair – specifically refers to the fur from the body of a camel, but more generally refers to the fibre (and cloth) that may be made from either pure camel hair or a blend of camel hair and another fibre. Camel hair coats were considered a status symbol…

Camlet, Cannequin, Chine and Crash will be covered in H for Historic Fabrics

Canvas and Cheesecloth will be covered in W for Working Fabrics

Cavalry Twill, Clocqué, Cordura will be covered in M for Military Fabrics

Challis (Challie, Chally) – a soft and lightweight, woven fabric originally made from a silk/wool blend but can also be made from a single fibre, natural or synthetic.

Chambray and Cambric – Chambray, though the same type of fabric as Cambric, has a coloured warp and a white weft, though it may be “made from any colour as you may wish, in the warp, and also in the filling; only have them differ from each other.”⁶Originally made from linen but later cotton too.

Change will be covered in O for Other fabrics

Charmeuse, Crepe Back Satin – Similar in nature, Charmeuse satin fabric is known for its lightweight, silky-smooth surface and high-gloss sheen. It feels incredibly soft against the skin, making it a popular choice for lingerie, slinky gowns, and blouses. The front side shines with a brilliant luster while the back is matte and slightly dull.
Crepe back satin is generally heavier than charmeuse. It offers better structure and slightly less fluid drape, making it easier to sew for tailored designs that need a bit of body without being stiff.

Chenille

The name is given both to the fabric and the yarn fromwhich it is made – a fuzzy, soft pile yarn which gets its name from the French word Chenille meaning caterpillar refers to the furry look of the yarn.

Chiffon

Plain weave fabric. It can be made of any fibre and is a very soft, drapey and transparent fabric.

Chino

Twill fabric originally made from pure cotton. The most common items made from it, trousers, are widely called chinos. Today it is also found in cotton-synthetic blend

Cloth of Gold

Cloth of gold or gold cloth (Latin: Tela aurea) is a fabric woven with a gold-wrapped or spun weft—referred to as “a spirally spun gold strip”. In most cases, the core yarn is silk, wrapped (filé) with a band or strip of high content gold. In rarer instances, fine linen and wool have been used as the core.

Corduroy

Whilst a Twill weave produces fine ridges, in Corduroy, a special loom introduces a weft pile that make ridges called wales thus creating a very strong and durable fabric. Many are the corduroy trousers I have worn until the pile ridges have worn away and still the underlying fabric is sustained… However, I shall speak more about corduroy under F, for Fustian.

Crêpe

A fabric with a crisp appearance and particularly associated with mourning clothes. It is woven of hard-spun yarn, originally silk “in the gum” (silk from which the sericin had not been removed).
The Wikipedia entry for Crêpe (textile), details an enormous number of variants of Crêpe whilst the Silk Society list of fabrics has this to say: a weave defined by its uneven surface, it is the twisted yarns that create the texture. It is usually made from fibres such as silk and wool and comes in many different weights.

Cretonne

Originally a strong, white fabric with a hempen warp and linen weft. The word is now applied to a strong, printed cotton cloth, which is stouter than chintz but used for very much the same purposes. It is usually unglazed and may be printed on both sides and even with different patterns.

Crochet and Tunisian Crochet I shall deal with these under K for Knitting and Crochet.

David Christy’s – Cotton Is King (1855)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_cotton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_gin
“Cotton – a history”. New Internationalist. Vol. 399. 1 April 2007.
Turnbull, A History of Calico Printing in Great Britain, 1951.
Bronson, J. and R. (1977) [First published in 1817]. Early American Weaving and Dyeing: The Domestic Manufacturer’s Assistant and Family Directory in the Arts of Weaving and Dyeing. New York: Dover Publications. P 21.

A to Z Challenge 2026 – Brands, Blends and “B” Fabrics

April 2, 2026March 31, 2026humanist55

In the course of researching this A to Z, I unearthed 233 different kinds of fabric, some historical, some staples of haberdashery to this day, and some the product of the latest technology – but some names jumped out because they are brand names that have become synonymous with particular fabrics, even though others have copied them (think the way all vacuum cleaners were, for a long time Hoovers) and so here are a few…

Brands

In 1888, Lewis Haslam, a Lancashire mill owner and politician, together with a couple of doctor partners, experimented with creating a fabric that trapped cells of air within the warp and weft of cotton fabric – a fabric that would help keep you warm in Winter and equally, insulate you against excessive heat in Summer. The company grew steadily, with the Women’s Land Army wearing Aertex shirts during World War 2 and British Army forces wearing them in North Africa and the Far East. Soon after the war, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret were reportedly wearing Aertex and by the 1960’s, Aertex were making a whole range of School Uniforms and Sportswear across the board. The England Football Squad wore Aertex in the 1970 Olympic Games.

Charvet

The world’s first ever shirt shop, Charvet was founded in 1838. Since the 19th century, it has supplied bespoke shirts and haberdashery to kings, princes, and heads of state. Thanks to the renown of its ties, charvet has become a generic name for a certain type of silk fabric used for ties.

Duffel, Loden cloth, Melton

Duffel, Loden cloth and Melton are all durable, heavyweight wool fabrics primarily used for cold-weather outerwear like coats and capes, but the Duffel Coat in particular – named for the town of Duffel in Belgium, where the original duffel fabric was made from a coarse, black wool – became famous when the British Royal Navy adopted the duffel coat, known for its toggle closures and roomy design. It is worth noting that wool retains excellent insulation properties even when wet.

The Gabardine Mac

The “Mac” or Mackintosh, was invented in 1824 by Scottish inventor Charles Macintosh and was a rubberised fabric, but the Gabardine Mac was developed by Thomas Burberry using his patented gabardine fabric in 1886, which was durable, water-resistant, and breathable. Gabardine is characterized by a strong, warp-faced twill weave, which creates a prominent diagonal rib on one side and a smooth surface on the other andtThough not fully waterproof, the very tight weave makes it shower proof. Another Englishman whose brand, like Burberry, is still going strong, was John Emary patented a water-repellent fabric in 1853, founding Aquascutum and gaining success with his “Aquascutum Wrapper.”

Humphrey Bogart in “Casablanca” from Outfit Narrative

Gannex Another iconic waterproof coat made famous by Prime Minister Harold Wilson, was the Gannex, made here in West Yorkshire bonding a nylon waterproof outer coating to a woollen lining.

Other well known “brand” names of fabrics include

Gore-Tex

Grenfell Cloth Ventile

Blends

Viyella claimed to be “first branded fabric in the world” and it was a blend of 55% merino wool and 45% cotton in a twill weave, which segues us nicely from brands to blends. When you blend two different fibres, in this case wool and cotton, you get a combination of the properties of each – much like alloys in the world of metal, and like alloys, sometimes a small amount of one constituent can make a big difference to the overall behaviour of the mixture. In the case of Viyella, wool is soft and stretchy, prone to shrinking if washed too hot but with good insulating properties whilst cotton is stronger and stiffer, so the resulting mix is a soft dress-weight fabric that was more resistant to shrinkage than any comparable pure wool alternative. Viyella also made clothing using their new blended fabric, firstly as a separate company but then combined and offering a franchise operation, allowing other companies the right to produce under the Viyella trademark. This was also something of a first and Viyella became one of the largest fabric companies in Britain with 40 factories.

The original blend is no longer made and Viyella, in financial difficulties in 2009, was eventually bought by Austin-Reed.¹

The term “blended fabric” is not new, in antiquity, fibres were combined to enhance the suitability of textiles for daily use; for instance, silk was blended with cotton or linen to improve durability and of course, cost is also a consideration since silk is much more expensive than either cotton or linen. Large-scale production of blended fabrics, however, commenced only with the Industrial Revolution.

Here are some common blends, Polyester-Cotton (Polycotton), Wool-Synthetic Blends, Cotton-Spandex. Silk-Synthetic Blends and Rayon Blends and we shall examine these later on.

Below is a table of straightforward fibre properties:

Property	Cotton	Wool	Silk	Polyester	Nylon	Acrylic	Elastane
Origin	Natural (Plant)	Natural (Animal)	Natural (Animal)	Synthetic	Synthetic	Synthetic	Synthetic
Strength	Medium	Low	High	High	Very High	Medium	High
Elasticity	Low	High	Medium	High	High	High	Excellent
Moisture Absorb.	High	High	Medium	Very Low	Low	Low	Poor
Warmth	Fair	Excellent	Good	Fair	Fair	Good	Good
Breathability	Good	Good	Fair	Poor	Poor	Poor	Poor
Durability	Good	Medium	Good	Excellent	Excellent	Good	Excellent
Crease Resistance	Poor	Good	Fair	Excellent	Excellent	Good	Excellent
Biodegradability	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
Cost	Low	Medium-High	High	Low	Low	Low	High

Today, many more factors go into designing a fabric blend, sustainability (environmental concerns), enhanced breathability, cost-effectiveness, versatility, aesthetic and textural properties, skin-friendliness, geo-political issues and trade concerns, and lastly, recyclability. As we go through the many fabrics we will encounter various blends and under “F” we will be considering the constituent Fibres but for now we have defined the principle of blending.

“B” Fabrics

Bobbinet or “True Tulle”, is important as a ground for making lace. This long sought mechanical method of making tulle, was previously carried out very laboriously by hand as part of lacemaking, which we shall come to with “L”…

The structure of Bobbinet, which is made by looping the weft thread around the vertical warp thread².

Bobbinet (métier bobin) schematic. The bobbinet framework consists of:
A – Warp beam
B – Lace take up roller
C – Represents the combs or guides, with two brass-bobbins in their carriers.³

Bombazine is also a blend of fibres, silk and wool, though more recently (and cheaply) cotton and wool. Quality bombazine has a silk warp and a worsted weft – t is a twill weave which gives it a very fine corded appearance. Made ever since, the 16^th century, black bombazine has traditionally been used for mourning wear, right through to Victorian times – perhaps because, whilst subdued in colour, the silk nevertheless gave the fabric a subtle shine so not without a little glamour…

It is possible that Bombazine is still being made but I couldn’t definitively track it down.

Bouclé refers to both a yarn and the material woven, or knitted with it. To make the yarn, two stands of fibres are combined by spinning, with one strand (the Anchor) being kept taut and the other loose (the Effect strand) so that the effect one wraps around the anchor in a series of loops.

Above, Bouclé yarn being made and on the below is woven Bouclé fabric. (Wikipedia)

1. Viyella – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viyella

2. Bobbinet – The Textile Research Centre

I compiled a list of as fabrics, fibres and related items as possible (278 items which I will make available at the end of the A to Z), from several sources, the most comprehensive of which was Wikipedia. Since there are only 26 letters in the alphabet, I could not write in detail about every instance so I have taken snippets of text for the brief descriptions and linked to the source in the name of the item. I am indebted to all the contributors to those Wikipedia pages and the depth of knowledge to be found there…of the item. I am indebted to all the contributors to those Wikipedia pages and the depth of knowledge to be found there…

17th March: Ten Things of Thankful

March 17, 2026March 17, 2026humanist55

Ten things for which I give thanks this week…

1 – In my personal Springwatch – the bulbs in the garden continue to flourish – the Daffodils are out, including some Soleil D’Ors and somewhere in the middle of this picture, a shy, Snakeshead Fritillary is about to open…

2 – on the subject of flowers, the local florist has a nice sign and a well-dressed shop..

3 – but not a patch on the wedding dress shop whose windows are framed by a mass of flowers on the outside and a cornucopia of ornamentation inside, between the wedding dresses…

4 – I have completed 10 out of 26 A to Z entries but I shall have some time this week to get seriously stuck in – I want to be free on holiday to read other peoples posts and not be writing mine lol!

5 – Barbara was finally persuaded that we should buy her a mobility scooter – as she said to her daughter, half the problem was not being able to accept that she was actually 79 years old, and such a device is entirely appropriate! I shall be picking it up tomorrow…

6 – Only 3 full working days before the holiday!

7 – It is my local town ‘s- Keighley Library live poetry group meeting tonight…

8 – I will make homemade Corned -Beef Hash when I get home – a new favourite of both of us…

9 – Planning to do some painting in the Netherlands…

10 – the weather today is very warm!

Wishing you all a great week