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Fabric and Lace Definitions and Pronunciations


Allover Embroidery
An embroidered, printed, or lace fabric with a design covering most of the surface or in which a a single pattern or design is repeated so as to cover an entire surface.

Broadcloth
A fine, tightly woven plain weave fabric with a faint rib. Usually of cotton or cotton blend, but can be made with any fiber.
Brocade
[Pronounced "broh-keyd"] A fabric woven with an elaborate design, especially one having a raised overall pattern.
Bubble Tucks
Centered tucks that split open between stitches that squeeze the folds together.
Chenille Fabric
[Pronounced "shuh-neel"] A thick soft tufty silk or worsted velvet cord or yarn used in the manufacture of fabric, embroidery and trimmings.
Chiffon
[Pronounced "shi-fon"] Transparent fabric in a plain weave using tightly twisted yarns. Chiffon has a light to medium weight and has a limp quality that creates a very graceful drape and fluid movement.
Cluny Lace
Cluny lace is a bobbin lace style, worked as a continuous piece. It is a heavy plaited lace of geometric design, often with radiating thin, pointed wheatears (closely woven leaves). It is a guipure style of lace. Cluny lace originating in France. It appeared in the nineteenth century in Le Puy and Mirecourt in Lorraine, reputedly using designs from the Museum of Antiquities at the Hotel Cluny, Paris.
Courtesy Wikipedia
Cotton
High thread count 100% cotton yarns in a plain weave create a light weight, slightly sheer, and supremely soft fabric.
Cotton Batiste
[Pronounced "buh-teest"] A fabric with a graceful drape that is commonly used to make women's lingerie, dressy blouses, and handkerchiefs. This is a lightweight fabric and can be used as an underlining for dresses and nightgowns as well. To accommodate sensitive skin cotton batiste is used for newborn baby garments such as receiving blankets, wraps, onesies, and Christening gowns.
Cotton Interlock
A knit fabric that is extremely soft, very warm, and a little stretchy; making it perfect for baby garments. It is warmer than cotton jersey or rib knit because it is a double knit construction, making it thicker and heavier than a single knit.
Cotton Sateen
[Pronounced "sa-teen"] 100% cotton in a tight satin weave, making a very soft, smooth, mid-weight fabric with a subtle shine. Sateen has been a popular fabric since the early 1900s. In the early 20th century, sateen was often used for women's undergarments because of its durability and smooth feel.
Crepe
[Pronounced "kreyp"] Fabric with an all over crinkled, pebbly, or puckered surface resulting from the use of tight twist yarns, embossing, or crepe weave.
Crochet
[Pronounced "kroh-shey"] Needlework done with a needle having a small hook at one end for drawing the thread or yarn through intertwined loops.
Cut work
Cutwork or cut work, also known as Punto Tagliato in Italian, is a needlework technique in which portions of a textile, typically cotton or linen, are cut away either by hand or laser. The resulting "hole" is reinforced and filled with embroidery or needle lace.
Dobby
[Pronounced "dob-ee"] A mechanical part in a loom that controls the harnesses so as to permit weaving of small geometric figures into the fabric.
Eyelet
A lightweight fabric pierced by small holes finished with stitching and often laid out in flower like designs.
Filigree
[Pronounced "fil-i-gree"] An ornamental openwork of delicate or intricate design; a pattern or design resembling such openwork, such as a filigree of frost
Gabardine
[Pronounced "gab-er-deen"] A firm, tightly woven fabric of worsted, cotton, polyester, or other fiber, with a twill weave.
Linen
A plain, light weight, loose woven cloth made from flax fibers and noted for its strength, coolness and soft luster. Linen tends to wrinkle easily.
MaryJane Shoe
Trademark. A brand of young girl's low-heeled shoe of patent leather having across the instep a single strap that fastens at the side.
Matte Satin
Satin is a weaving process that causes light to reflect off diagonally "floating" yarns rather than being absorbed by the regular perpendicular intersections of yarns found in a plain weave. Satin can be made from any fiber, is smooth and tightly woven, and comes in many weights and degrees of shine.
Mercerize
[Pronounced "mərsərˌīz/"] Treat (cotton fabric or thread) under tension with caustic alkali to increase its strength and give it a shiny, silky appearance.
Mirror Organza
[Pronounced "awr-gan-zuh"] Woven in the same manner as regular organza, but with a sparkly shine for a dressy effect.
Netting
A very delicate, open, and light fabric created by twisting, knotting, or weaving threads together at regular intervals.
Nylon Tricot
[Pronounced "tree-koh"] Durable, lightweight, sheer knitted fabric using super fine synthetic fibers.
Openwork Lace
Ornamental or structural work, as of embroidery or metal, containing numerous openings, usually in set patterns.
Oxford Shoe
Also called an Oxford tie. A low shoe laced over the instep.
Organza
[Pronounced "awr-gan-zuh"] A plain weave fabric made of tightly twisted yarns in a sheer light weight fabric, with a crisp finish and soft luster. Usually constructed of polyester although any number of textile fibers can be used.
Picot
[Pronounced "pe'ko] A series of small embroidered loops forming an ornamental edging on some ribbon and lace. To trim with small embroidered loops.
Picoetta
An edge stitch for ornamental purposes using one or two needles
Pintucking
Narrow sewn rows of fabric that give a decorative raised look to a garment. Some christening gowns and outfits are made with pin tucking on the bodice for a more tailored look.
Pique
[Pronounced "peek"] A textured weave, available in many different patterns: vertical, horizontal or diagonal rib, birdseye (small diamonds), waffle (small squares), honeycomb, or wave. Usually tightly woven and constructed of cotton or cotton blend fibers.
PolyCotton Broadcloth
A tightly woven plain weave fabric in a 65% polyester / 35% cotton blend for a nice, wrinkle-resistant, no-shine finish.
Polyester Lining
Lightweight, tightly woven plain weave fabric utilizing a 100% polyester fiber. Soft, smooth and durable.
Ruche
[Pronunced "roosh"] A strip of pleated lace, net, muslin, or other material for trimming or finishing a dress, as at the collar or sleeves.
Satin
A weaving process that causes light to reflect off diagonally "floating" yarns rather than being absorbed by the regular perpendicular intersections of yarns found in a plain weave. Satin can be made from any fiber, is smooth and tightly woven, and comes in many weights and degrees of shine.
Shirring
To gather (cloth) on parallel threads into decorative rows
Silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from cocoons made by the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity (sericulture). The shimmering appearance of silk is due to the triangular prism-like structure of the silk fibre which allows silk cloth to refract incoming light at different angles thus producing different colors.
Silk Shantung
[Pronounced "shan-tuhng"] Heavy grade fabric of silk and cotton mixture. Instead of an intricate weave, shantung employs a very simple plain weave design with a ribbed effect. What allows the plain weave to produce the raised or ribbed sections of the fabric is the fact that slubbed yarns are used in the warp of the material.
Silk Dupioni
[Pronounced "doo-pee-oh-nee"] A subtly textured fabric woven from a double strand of silk yarn in a plain weave pattern. The yarn is uneven and varies in width, creating a series of natural horizontal "slubs", which should not be considered flaws, as they make up the unique character of the textile. It is light to medium weight, and has a crisp finish with an understated sheen.
Smocking
Smocking is an embroidery technique used to gather fabric so that it can stretch. Before elastic, smocking was commonly used in cuffs, bodices, and necklines in garments where buttons were undesirable. Today smocking consists of ornamental needlework on a garment that is made by gathering the cloth tightly in stitches. Honeycomb-patterned stitching used on gathered or tucked material for decoration. Many Christening gowns have a smocked bodice.
Swiss Entredeux Embroidery
Is a machine embroidered that is made into strips or insertions that will be fastened between two fabrics.
Taffeta
[Pronounced "taf-i-tuh"] Crisp, plain woven fabric with a very fine cross rib. Taffeta has a smooth texture with a soft sheen on the surface.
Tricot
[Pronounced "tree-koh"] A warp-knit fabric of various natural or synthetic fibers, as wool, silk, or nylon, having fine vertical ribs on the face (texture) and horizontal ribs on the back (smooth), used especially for making garments.
Twill Weave
One of the basic weave structures in which the filling threads are woven over and under two or more warp yarns, producing a characteristic diagonal pattern.
Tulle
A sheer net in a hexagonal mesh pattern (see netting description above). Has a light to medium stiffness and is often made from silk, rayon, cotton or nylon fibers. Tulle is most commonly used in formal wear, veils and costuming.
Venise Lace
[Pronounced "vĕn′ĭs" • Ven·ise lace ] Venise lace, also called Guipure lace throughout Europe, is a fine needlepoint lace that is stitched onto a dissolvable fabric. When the fabric is removed the remaining embroidery is delicate with a raised design.
Voile
[Pronounced "voil"] Soft, sheer fabric in an open plain weave that drapes and gathers very well. Has a light to heavy crisp finish.

  By Brian Pitcher