Textiles usually take their names from the country, city, port, or province from whence they originated; from the names of the makers; and methods of weaving, dyeing, ornamentation, etc. The fixing of localities, methods, etc., is oftentimes guesswork. The textiles of to-day bearing the same name as those of the middle ages have nothing in common. Buckram was originally made in and called from Bokkara. In the middle ages it was costly, fine, and beautiful, used for church vestments, veils for covering lecterns, cathedral flags, and in the 16th century for the lining of velvet gowns. The coa.r.s.e, heavy, plain-woven linen or cotton material known as buckram today is used for stiffening, etc.
[Sidenote: Fustian]
Fustian, a kind of corduroy or velveteen, was originally woven at Fustat on the Nile. The warp was stout linen, the woof of cotton so twilled and cut that it gave a low thick pile. Chaucer"s knight in the fourteenth century wore fustian. In the fifteenth century Naples was famous for the weaving of fustians.
A cloth made in France at a town called Mustrevilliers was known as "mustyrd devells."
[Sidenote: Damask]
China is supposed to be the first country to weave patterned silks.
India, Persia, Syria, and Byzantine Greece followed. Those were known as "diasp.r.o.n" or diaper, a name given them at Constantinople. In the twelfth century, the city of Damascus, long famed for her beautiful textiles, outstripped all other places for beauty of design and gave the Damascen or damask, so we have in modern times all fabrics whether of silk, cotton, wool, or linen, curiously woven and designed, known as damask, and diaper, which means pattern, is almost forgotten, or only a part of the elaborate design on damask. Bandekin, a costly cloth, took its name from Bagdad. Dorneck an inferior damask woven of silk, wool, linen, thread and gold, was made in Flanders at the city of Dorneck.
[Sidenote: Muslin]
From the Asiatic city Mosul came the muslin used then as it is now throughout the world. So skilled were its weavers that the threads were of hair-like fineness. This was known as the invisible muslin, the weaving of which has become a lost art. To this beautiful cloth were given many fanciful and poetic names. It was woven with strips of gold and silver.
[Sidenote: Calico]
Calico derives its name from the city of Calicut in India. The city is scarcely known to-day; it was the first Indian city visited by Europeans.
In the thirteenth century Arras was famous for its areste or tapestry, "the n.o.blest of the weaving arts"; in it there is nothing mechanical.
Mechanical weaving repeats the pattern on the cloth within comparatively narrow limits and the number of colors is in most cases limited to four or five.
Silks and cottons are distinguished through their colors and shades.
Tarsus was a purple silk. Other cities gave their name to various shades, according as they were dyed at Antioch, Alexandria, or at Naples. Watered or moire silk takes its name from the finish.
From "canabis," the Latin name for hemp or flax, we have the word "canvas" to mean any texture woven of hempen thread.
To this list of fabrics might be added many others of cotton, linen, wool, and silk with new names, closely resembling the old materials, having greater or less merit.
The following lists of fabrics and terms may be helpful for reference:
Art linen--With round, hard twisted threads.
"Albert cloth"--Named for England"s prince, is a reversible all-wool material each side of different colors and so finished that no lining is required. It is used chiefly for overcoats and better known as "golf cloth," "plaid back," etc.
Armure--A cloth woven in miniature imitation of feudal metal armor plates, heraldic devices, diamonds, birdseye, and seeded effects.
Astrakhan--A woolen or silk material with a long and closely curled pile in imitation of the fur from which it is named.
Backed-cloth worsteds or other fabrics which are woven with an extra layer of warp or other filling underneath the face, usually for increased weight and bulk.
Batiste--The French word for lawn, fine white cotton or linen fabric. Sometimes printed.
Batting or padding, cotton or wool prepared in sheets for quilting or interlining.
Beaver--Similar to Kersey, but with a longer nap, soft, thick nap inside.
Bedford cord--A closely woven woolen or cotton cloth having a raised corded surface similar to pique, used for women"s suits.
Bonde--A loosely woven fabric with a curly, hairy surface, usually made with a jersey or stockinet body.
Bourette--An effect of weaving produced by fancy yarns showing in lumps at intervals over the face of the cloth; used for women"s and children"s suits.
Beverteen--A heavy cotton cloth used for men"s hunting garments.
Broadcloth--A fine woolen cloth with a glossy finished surface, the better grades being woven with a twilled back. It takes its name from its width. It is used for men"s and women"s wear.
Buckram--A coa.r.s.e, heavy, plain-woven linen or cotton material used for stiffening.
Buckskin--A stout doe skin with a more defined twill.
b.u.t.ternut--The coa.r.s.e brown twilled homespun cloth woven of wool prior to the Civil War--colored brown with dye from the b.u.t.ternut or walnut tree; used for men"s wear and for decorative purposes.
Cambric--Fine white linen, also made in cotton in imitation.
Camel"s hair--A beautiful, soft, silky fabric, usually woven like cheviot of hair of camel and goat.
Canvas--A linen, cotton, silk, or wool cloth of different weaves and widths, used for many purposes--clothing, as a background for embroidery, hangings, spreads, etc.
Canton flannel--A stout, twilled cotton cloth with a nap on one or both sides, used for clothing and decorative purposes.
Ca.s.simere--A general term for all-wool fabrics woven either plain or twilled, coa.r.s.e or fine, of woolen yarn. The pattern is always woven plain and distinct and the cloth is never napped.
Castor Beaver--A heavy, milled, face-finished, all-wool cloth lighter in weight than ordinary beaver.
Chinchilla--A thick, heavy, double woven fabric with a long napped surface curled up into little tufs in imitation of chinchilla fur; used for coats.
Clan Tartan--The plaids of the various highland clans of Scotland.
Clay--A name given to serges, worsteds, and diagonals woven after a process of J. & P. Clay of Haddersfield, England.
Coating--Those woolen and worsted fabrics most especially adapted to men"s dress and overcoats.
Corduroy--A thick cotton pile material, corded or ribbed on the surface; used for men"s, women"s and children"s wear.
Corkscrew-worsted goods--So-called from its fancied resemblance to the twists of the corkscrew.
Cotton worsted--All cotton or part cotton worsted-wove cloth.
Cottonade--Stout cotton cloth in imitation of woolen or worsted; used for men"s trousers.
Covert--A twill-woven cloth sometimes with full face, sometimes sheared to imitate whipcord.
c.r.a.pe cloth--A stout worsted fabric with surface in imitation of silk c.r.a.pe, used for dress coats.
Crash--A strong, course linen cloth of different widths, used for towels, suits, table linen, hangings, bed spreads; in fact, there is no end to the uses to which this textile can be adapted.
Cravenette--Cloths treated and finished before weaving by an improved process which renders them rainproof. A secret process owned by the Cravenette Company and by Priestly & Company of England and the United States.