TextileGlossary.com

Similar to shantung, this textured fabric is recognized by irregular-sized, thick fibers woven into the base fabric. Fibers that create the texture, are thicker and heavier than those used in shantung.

Typically 100% silk, this fabric is woven will fibers of varying thickness. It has a slubbed or rough finish with a slight sheen. It does have a tendency to wrinkle. Technically, it is a silk yarn reeled from double cocoons or two adjacent cocoons in which silk is intertwined. Shantung is a similar, lighter weight fabric.

A lustrous silk woven from two different colors of threads so that it shimmers or changes color in the light.

Fabric made from silk-like yarn, or silk yarn reeled from double cocoons. The yarn has uneven slubs, rather than smooth, giving a decorative texture to the fabric.

Retting is a stage in the manufacturing of vegetable fibers. It is the process of submerging plant leaves such as flax or hemp in water, and soaking them for a period of time to separate the fibers...

The term fur refers to the fine, soft body hair of non-human mammals. True fur comes from animals where the coat consists of short ground hair and long guard hair. Fur served as an important source...

A broken twill weave composed of vertical sections which are alternately right hand and left hand in direction, resembling the vertebral structure of the herring (zigzag). The twill changes direction...

A method of printing resulting in short fibers, rather than color, being applied in a design to the surface of the fabric. The fabric may be printed with an adhesive and the fiber dusted onto it, or...

A hand-sewn stitch alternating from one side of a seam to the other. When properly done, none of the thread shows. Often used to attach outside back panels, to sew the 4th side of a pillow, to hand...