Appliqué
A decoration or ornament made of pieces of fabric, embroidery or other materials sewn (applied) onto another piece of fabric to create designs, patterns or pictures.
Bobbin lace
Bobbin lace is a lace made by braiding and twisting lengths of thread, which are wound on bobbins to manage them. As the work progresses, the weaving is held in place with pins set in a lace pillow, the placement of the pins usually determined by a pattern or pricking pinned on the pillow. Bobbin lace is also known as pillow lace and bone lace, because early bobbins were made of bone or ivory. Bobbin lace is one of the two major categories of hand-made laces. The other one is needle lace.
Chantilly Lace
Chantilly lace is a handmade bobbin lace named after the city of Chantilly in France, which is famous for lace and porcelain. The lace is dating from the 17th century, before the most famous silk laces. Chantilly lace is known for its fine ground, outlined pattern, and abundant detail. The pattern is outlined in cordonnet, a flat untwisted strand. Half-and-whole stitch fill is used to achieve the effect of light and shadow in the pattern, mostly flowers. The best Chantilly laces were made of silk and were generally black, which made them suitable for mourning wear. White Chantilly lace was also made, both in silk and linen. The lace was produced in strips approximately 4” wide and then joined with a stitch that left no visible seam.
Charmeuse
A man-made, silk-like fabric used in various lingerie items. It is preferred over silk because it does not have to be dry cleaned. It is originally French in origin. A satin finished silk fabric.
Chenille
Chenille is a fuzzy fabric with caterpillar appearance. Chenille will look different in one direction compared to another, as the fibers catch the light differently. Chenille can appear iridescent without actually using iridescent fibers. The yarn is commonly manufactured from cotton, but can also be made using acrylic, rayon and olefin.
The chenille yarn is manufactured by placing short lengths of yarn, called the pile, between two core yarns and then twisting the yarn together. The edges of these piles then stand at right angles from the yarn’s core, giving chenille both its softness and its characteristic look.
Many chenille fabrics should be dry cleaned. If hand- or machine-washed, it should be machine-dried using low heat, or dried flat. To avoid stretching, it should never be hung.
Chiffon
Chiffon, from French word for a cloth or rag, is a lightweight, balanced plain-woven sheer fabric woven of alternate twists crepe yarns. The twist in the crepe yarns puckers the fabric slightly in both directions after weaving, giving it some stretch and a slightly rough feel. Chiffon is made from cotton, silk or synthetic fibers. Chiffon can be dyed to almost any shade desired, solid or printed with designs. Under a magnifying glass it resembles a fine net or mesh which gives chiffon some see-through properties.
Chiffon is most commonly used in evening wear, especially as an overlay, giving an elegant and floating appearance to the gown. It is also a popular fabric used in ribbons, scarves and lingerie. Like other crêpe fabrics, chiffon can be difficult to work with due to its light and slippery texture.
Chiffon must be hand washed very gently. Since chiffon is a light weight fabric that frays very easily, bound or French seams must be used to stop the fabric from fraying.
Cotton
Cotton is a natural, soft, staple fiber that grows in a form known as a boll around the seeds of the cotton plant, a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world. The fiber most often is spun into yarn or thread and used to make a soft, breathable textile, which is the most widely used natural fiber cloth.
Crushed velvet
Velvet with a not shiny, crinkly look.
Denier
A unit or fineness for rayon, nylon, and silk fibers, based on a standard mass per length.
Embroidery
Ornamentation on fabric or garment with needlework. An embellishment in which colored threads are sewn onto the fabric to create a design. Embroidery may be done either by hand or machine.
Eyelet
A type of fabric with patterned cut-out designs, around which stitching or embroidery is applied to prevent the fabric from raveling.
Faux
Faux means imitation. For example, faux leather means imitation leather.
Flocked
It has a design or pattern on fabric that is not intricately part of the fabric.
Jacquard
Any fabric that has a pattern intricately woven into the fabric rather than printed on it. The name comes from Joseph Marie Jacquard who designed a loom attachment capable of weaving patterns into fabric. This attachment provides versatility in designs and permits individual control of each of the warp yarns. Thus, fabrics of almost any type or complexity can be made. Brocade and damask are types of jacquard woven fabrics.
Lining
The name given to material sewn into the inside of a garment to make it more opaque or more comfortable against the skin. Frequently lining is used in a bra to add structure or provide a pretty background to sheer and/or lacy fabrics.
Lurex
Lurex® is a trademark for the type of yarn with metallic appearance. The twine is most commonly a synthetic fiber with vaporized an aluminum layer onto it.
Lycra
A trademark of the spandex fiber owned and produced by DuPont. It is lightweight and soft, but stronger and more durable than rubber. It is often blended with other fabrics to produce a lightweight free of movement in apparel.
Marl
A term applied to a yarn or a fabric that is made up of more than one fiber. In blended yarns, two or more different types of staple fibers are twisted or spun together to form the yarn. A yarn is made of different colors of fibers that gives a multicolored effect.
Microfiber
Microfiber refers to synthetic fibers that measure less than one denier. Denier is used as the measure of density of weave in tights and pantyhose, which defines their opaqueness. A 1 denier fiber has a diameter of about 10 micrometers.
The most common types of microfibers are made from polyesters, polyamides (nylon), and or a conjugation of polyester and polyamide. Microfiber is used to make non-woven, woven and knitted textiles. The shape, size and combinations of synthetic fibers are selected for specific characteristics, including: softness, durability, absorption, wicking abilities, water repellency, electrodynamics, and filtering capabilities.
The fabrics made from these ultra-fine fibers provide a superior texture, a gentle drape and incredible softness. It is a man-made fiber that looks and feels good on the skin as it forms to the body’s shape.
Moisture Wicking
Moisture wicking fabrics draw moisture away from the skin. This is a great feature to look for in a sports bra.
Nylon
Nylon is a thermoplastic silky material, first used commercially in a nylon-bristled toothbrush in 1938, followed more famously by women's stockings, called later nylons in 1940. It is made of repeating units linked by peptide (amide) bonds and is frequently referred to as polyamide. Nylon was the first commercially successful synthetic polymer. Nylon was intended to be a synthetic replacement for silk and substituted for it in many different products after silk became scarce during World War II.
Olefin
Olefin is a synthetic fiber made from alkenes and used to produce various textiles, as well as clothing, upholstery, wallpaper, ropes, and vehicle interiors. Olefin is also referred to as polypropylene, polyethylene or polyolefin. Olefin's advantages are its strength, colorfastness and comfort, stain, mildew, abrasion and sunlight resistance, and good bulk and cover.
Opaque
Opaque means that the body cannot be seen through the garment. Opposite to sheer.
Panne
Panne is a shiny velvet-like fabric that has been flattened to achieve a desired design and elegant look. Velvet is the foundation for the production process of panne fabric, using silk, rayon or other fibers. The effect of brushed velvet is obtained by applying the technique by combing first then rolling. The rollers compress the pile in one direction. As the result, when the fabric moves, some of the fibers shift to provide a shimmering quality. The material is heavy enough to flow smoothly down and protect against the cool, but light enough to move easily while walking.
Pique
A 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. Knitted versions are double-knit fabric constructions, created on multi-feed circular knitting machines.
Polyamide
The basic fiber-forming substance for nylon. It’s a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers known mainly as polyamides and first produced in 1935 by DuPont. Nylon is one of the most commonly used polymers.
Polyester
Polyester has high strength (although somewhat lower than nylon), excellent resiliency, and high abrasion resistance. Low absorbency allows the fabric to dry quickly. It belongs to the category of polymers. The name is of both a fabric and a fiber.
Polyester fabrics are claimed to have a "less natural" feel when compared to similarly-woven fabrics made from natural fibers i.e. cotton. However, polyester fabrics may exhibit other advantages over natural fabrics, such as improved wrinkle resistance. As a result, polyester fibers are sometimes spun together with natural fibers to produce a cloth with blended properties. Due to its ability to stretch and resist wrinkling is well-liked fabric for lingerie.
Natural polyesters and a few synthetic ones are biodegradable, but most synthetic polyesters are not.
Rayon
Rayon is a manufactured regenerated cellulose fiber. Because it is produced from naturally occurring polymers, it is neither a truly synthetic fiber nor a natural fiber, it is a semi-synthetic fiber. Rayon is also known by the names viscose rayon and art silk.
Silk-like fabric, but less expensive than silk, it usually has a high luster quality giving it a bright shine. Does not trap heat against the body, and absorbs moisture. It is a comfortable fabric against skin, making it desired for lingerie.
Satin
A smooth fabric made of silk, nylon, rayon or similar material that is closely woven to give a smooth glossy surface and a dull back. It is a warp-dominated weaving technique that forms a minimum number of interlacings in a fabric. If a fabric is formed with a satin weave using filament fibers such as silk, nylon or polyester, the corresponding fabric is termed a "satin". If the yarns used are short-staple yarns such as cotton, the fabric formed is considered a sateen.
A satin-woven fabric tends to have a high luster due to the high number of "floats" on the fabric. Floats are "missed" interlacings, where the warp yarn lies on top of the weft yarn, or vice versa. The floats tend to make the fabric look glossier as well as give it a smoother surface.
Sateen
Sateen is a cotton fabric with a satin-like finish, often found in bed sheets. Sateen is usually made of cotton, or sometimes rayon. Better qualities are mercerized to give a higher sheen. Some are only calendered to produce the sheen but this disappears with washing and is not considered genuine sateen. Sateen may be bleached, dyed or printed. It is difficult to make good bound buttonholes on it as it has a tendency to slip at the seams.
Sateen produces the sheen and softer feel through the use of a different structure in the weaving process. The sateen structure is four over, one under, placing the most threads on the surface, making it extremely soft, though slightly less durable than other weaves. Standard, non-sateen, weaves use a one over, one under structure. Satin also uses this structure, however, instead of using cotton, different materials are used (e.g., silk, polyester, etc).
Scallop
A decorative border on fabric or lace made up of a series or half circles as a decoration at necklines and hemlines.
Silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber. The best-known type of silk is obtained from cocoons made by the larvae of the mulberry silkworm. The shimmering appearance of silk is due to the triangular prism-like structure of the silk fiber which allows silk cloth to refract incoming light at different angles thus producing different colors.
Wild silks are produced by caterpillars other than the mulberry silkworm and can be artificially cultivated. They differ from the domesticated varieties in color and texture, and cocoons gathered in the wild usually have been damaged by the emerging moth before the cocoons are gathered, so the silk thread that makes up the cocoon has been torn into shorter lengths. Commercially reared silkworm pupae are killed by dipping them in boiling water before the adult moths emerge, or by piercing them with a needle, allowing the whole cocoon to be unraveled as one continuous thread. This permits a much stronger cloth to be woven from the silk. Wild silks also tend to be more difficult to dye than silk from the cultivated silkworm.
Sheer
Thin, fine and transparent. Opposite to opaque.
Shirring
A decorative effect created by material being gathered into lines.
Spandex
Spandex or elastane is a synthetic fiber known for its exceptional elasticity. It is stronger and more durable than rubber, its major non-synthetic competitor. It was invented in 1959 by DuPont. Spandex is a generic name that came from an anagram of the word expands. Name spandex is preferred in North America; elsewhere else is used elastane.
The most famous brand name associated with spandex is Lycra, a trademark of Invista (formerly part of DuPont). Lycra brand has become a world trademark. It’s used to describe any kind of spandex. With the same attributes as Lycra, but not registered, spandex is often blended with other fabrics to give stretch and softness to a garment.
Tricot
Tricot is a plain warp-knit fabric that can be created with an array of fibers and fiber blends. It can be manufactured with the use of cotton, wool, silk, rayon, or nylon, or any combination of fibers. One side features fine ribs running in a lengthwise pattern, while the other side features ribs that run in a crosswise direction. The finished look of tricot is that of a sturdy yet soft material that can be ideal for many applications, including women’s undergarments. Soft tricot with spongy knit is resistant to runs. It’s a fabric easy to work with, can be created with different material or color combinations, and can be applied widely. Satin tricot has a stylish lustrous finish.
Velvet
Velvet is a type of woven tufted fabric in which the cut threads are very evenly distributed with a short dense pile, giving it a distinct smooth feel and a plain underside. It can be made from many different kinds of fibers, ideally silk. Use of cotton results in a slightly less luxurious touch. Synthetic velvets can be made of polyester, nylon, viscose, acetate and mixtures of different synthetics, or synthetics and natural fibers (e.g. viscose and silk). Velvet can also be made from fibers such as linen, mohair and wool. Small percentage of lycra is used sometimes to give a stretch. Velvet is difficult to clean, so dry clean only.
