While researching embroidery fabrics of the Victorian era, I would continually run across terms that were not familiar to me or terms I wanted to verify had not changed over the years. Below is a list of fabrics, each with a brief description, that were more generally used for decorative purposes in 1902. Just for fun, I included the price of the material (if known).
Linen Crash,
such as was used for kitchen towels, was a material that offered a particularly pleasing ground for embroidery done in crewels, tapestry wools or linen embroidery threads, and could be purchased in various widths, from sixteen to thirty inches, and for 10 to 25 cents per yard.
Bleached Linen,
of a fineness suitable for shirt fronts, was suited for doyleys, center cloths, pillow shams, toilet sets, sideboard sets and guest towels, when something very nice was desired. This kind of linen could be had in widths from twenty-four to thirty-six inches, and for various prices, according to quality, from 60 cents to $1.00 per yard being the usual price.
Domestic Linen
was a firm fabric with a very light twill, and was made in widths from sixteen to eighty inches. Domestic linen was used for all the purposes for which the finer qualities were employed, and was especially suited for bedspreads, pillow shams, dresser scarves and toilet sets that are to be embroidered with either silk or linen threads. Priced per yard, from 20 cents to $1.50.
Bolton Sheeting
was a coarse, heavily twilled cotton fabric, two yards wide. It derived its name from the English town where it was first manufactured. It was sometimes called workhouse sheeting, from the fact that it is used for sheets and pillow slips in English workhouses. It was very effective when embroidered in colors with either silk or linen threads, and was much used for fancy bedspreads and dresser sets, beside portieres and sofa covers. It was cheap, costing but 50 cents a yard for the best quality, and it was a full two yards wide.
Colored Art Linen.
This fabric was a recent weave, and from the beauty and durability of the colors was destined to enter largely into the field of decorative work. Art linen was fifty inches wide, and was made in all the beautiful art shades, such as dead-leaf brown, old rose, gray blue, golden brown, leaf green, ecru, nasturtium, orange and gray. It was used for covering furniture, portieres, curtains, cushion covers and table spreads, and lended itself to the lights and shades of embroidery silks with beautiful effect. Priced per yard, $1.50.
Huck-a-buck,
commonly called huck toweling, was a linen material in pure white and cream white, having threads slightly raised on the surface forming a honeycomb mesh. The mesh was large or small, close together or far apart, according to the fine or coarse quality of the huck. This fabric was usually decorated with outline in stem stitch, and background darned with silk or linen threads. The widths varied from sixteen to forty inches, and the price from 25 cents to $1.25 per yard.
Linen Bolton Sheeting
was a heavy linen fabric woven in imitation of the cotton article of that name. It was nearly as heavy as duck or canvas, which it closely resembled. It was used for the same articles as the cotton bolton; it was, of course, more expensive, costing about $1.30 per yard. It was two yards wide.
Art Satin
was a cotton fabric, in white only, having a satin finished surface. It was very pretty made into table squares, tidies, center pieces, dresser scarves and toilet sets, as the soft finish maked a good background for silk embroidery. It was forty inches wide, and could be had for 75 cents per yard.
Butchers' Linen
was a very coarse linen, partly bleached, full bleached or unbleached. It was made in various widths, though the forty-inch weave was the one more commonly employed, as it cut to better advantage in making up articles. It could be used for decorative needlework, though it is not so nice as the domestic linen. The forty-inch width usually sold for 30 cents per yard.
Scrim
was a strainer-like fabric that was a very useful and pretty material with which to furnish a bedroom; spread, pillow scarf, dresser drape, curtains, tidies, etc., should be en suite, decorated throughout in a harmonious design. This material took outline effectively. It was made in various widths, and costs from 15 cents to $1.00 per yard.
Morris Cloth
was a beautiful, soft diagonal twill goods, two yards wide. It came in all the art tones, among which may be mentioned silver green, sage green, apple green and apple red. It could be trimmed with bands of harmonizing or contrasting shades of the same, and decorated with embroidered designs in couching and rope silks. This fabric was sold for $3.00 per yard.
Frieze
was a beautiful English-looking material, very rough as to surface and thick as to texture; it was used for floor cloths, table cloths, some kinds of upholstering and rugs. It was to be decorated with large, bold design worked out with linen threads in rope, couching and art cord sizes, and if the piece is small, or expense is no object, silk could be introduced with beautiful effect. Priced per yard, $2.50.
Concordia Canvas
was a thick and heavy cotton material in cream white, with a honeycombed surface; it could be purchased in lengths for chair backs and was designed for darning; the pattern being darned in under the honeycomb with rope silk, the effect was that of filmy lace thrown over the colored design. Priced per yard, 50 cents.
Egyptian Cloth
wass a white, wash cotton goods, quite fine and sheer, somewhat resembling cheese cloth, but very much handsomer. It was used for summer drapery, bedroom sets and sash curtains. It was a lovely material for outlining or painting. Priced per yard, 50 cents.
Turkish Crepe,
was a white, wash goods, particularly suitable for picture and easel drapes, curtains and bed draperies. It was soft and creamy, with a fine crepe effect, which was retained after washing. Priced per yard, 50 cents.
Satin Damask
was a beautiful heavy linen, with smooth, satin finished surface. It was made in pure white, in various widths, from sixteen to seventy-two inches, and cost from 60 cents to $3.00 per yard. It was used for nice table linen, lunch sets, fruit sets, doyleys napkins, center cloth, tray cloth and table mats.
Gobelin Cloth
was a pure white cotton fabric, eighteen inches wide. It had a decided twill, amounting almost to a rib, crosswise of the material. Priced per yard, 50 cents. This was a popular fabric for toilet sets, cushion covers, table mats and centers for table covers.
Russian Crash
was a fine woven linen fabric, about eighteen inches wide, in natural linen color-a pure gray. It was a beautiful background for outlined embroidery or Roman cut work. Priced per yard, 50 cents.
Hollywood Drapery
was a cotton fabric, made in cream, white and colors. Cream, white and some colors were made two yards wide, while a few colors came only fifty-four inches wide. The price varied from $1.25 to $1.75 per yard, according to width and color. The weave was very close and firm, and the surface presented an almost invisible basket effect. It was a very desirable material for table covers, plain spreads, portieres, bed spreads, toilet sets and cushion covers. It was beautiful embroidered with linen thread in conventional style, and as it needed no lining was an economical material for portieres especially.
Devonshire Art Cloth
was a beautiful linen fabric made of the natural flax, that is, not dyed, but came in the beautiful flax color. It was made in squares or checks of different sizes. It is a firm, closely woven fabric, and was found to be very artistic for centers to cushions, table covers, wall panels, chair covers or sideboard scarves. It was two yards wide and cost $3.00 per yard.
Bargarren Art Cloth
was a fabric designed especially for "Darned" embroidery. It was made in four styles, each one having a mesh of different size and shape. The surface was honeycombed by means of the thread which was raised to form the mesh. This thread was very heavy and the weave firm, so that the largest sized embroidery linen threads could easily be darned under it. The fabric was made in pure white, cream white and colors, and was first woven eighty-eight inches wide and then shrunken to seventy-two inches, so there was no trouble with shrinkage after an article was made up. For bedspreads, dresser scarves, toilet sets, portieres and table covers there was no material that offered such possibilities for economical embroideries, as large surfaces can be covered with darned and outline work at little expense, The price varied from $1.25 to $1.60 per yard.
Bolting Silk
was a fine, transparent, gauze-like material; made of finest white silk and very strong. Millers used it for bolting a certain brand of flour, hence its name. It was made in different widths, from eighteen to forty inches wide, and was a popular fabric for dainty articles for the toilet table, for doyleys, drapes, shams, curtains, and tea cloths lined with silk It could be washed, and was beautiful embroidered in either pure white or colors. Price ranged from 75 cents to $3.00 per yard.
Silks,
plain and ribbed, were used as a background for decorative needlework, and for articles that were not exposed to much usage and consequently that would not need frequent cleaning. They would be found both serviceable and elegant. Width, from eighteen to thirty-two inches. Priced from 75 cents to $1.75.
Velvets and Plushes
were both much used for handsome pieces of embroidery, and cost, according to quality, from 75 cents to $2.25 per yard. Width, eighteen to thirty-two inches.
Felt
was a heavy cloth without any weave, and with a perfectly smooth surface, alike on both sides. It was a full two yards wide, and came in all colors. Priced per yard, $1.00.
Satin
offerd a beautiful background for all kinds of silk embroidery. Priced per yard, from 60 cents to $1.25, according to quality. Width, eighteen to twenty-seven inches.
Banner Silk
was a twilled silk, made in two widths, namely, forty-four and seventy-two inches. It was designed especially for society banners, but was also used for door and window draperies when expense is no object. Priced per yard, $8.00 and $10.00.
Upholsterers' Plush and Satin,
These materials closely resemble the ordinary fabrics of the same name, but were usually a heavier quality. Widths were fifty-four and seventy-two inches. Priced at $10.00, $12.00 and $15.00 per yard, for best qualities.
Sateen
was a satin-faced material with a wool back. It came fifty-four inches wide and cost $2.50 per yard. It was used for table scarves and covers, portieres and panels.
Russian Tapestry
was a very heavy, all-silk material, woven with a broken twill crosswise of the fabric, and presents a crepy effect which lit up wonderfully, showing several different shades of its own color. It was woven fifty inches wide, and was very beautiful for portieres, cushions, table add bed covers and piano covers. Priced per yard, $5.50.
Basket Silk
was a silk-faced material, fifty inches wide. It came in white, ecru, old rose and gray. It was woven with basket effect on the right surface; the mesh was about as pronounced as that on medium coarse huck toweling. Basket silk was fifty inches wide, and could be had for $3.00 per yard
Mail Cloth
was a very heavy silk-faced fabric, fifty inches wide. It had a small bird's-eye weave on the right surface and requires no lining. It came in all the art shades, such as Indian red, maize yellow, sage green, dead-leaf brown, old blue, ecru and cream. It was a beautiful background for heavy embroidery with rope silk, couching silk and art cord. Priced per yard, $3.00.
India Silk
was a thin, plain woven silk, much used for draperies, puffs, linings and trimmings for fancy articles. It was from twenty-seven to thirty-six inches wide, and could be had for from 60 to 75 cents per yard. It was very dainty embroidered in outline stitch only.
Double-faced Sateen
was a very heavy goods, plain satin surface on both sides. As its name indicates, it was reversible; thus, one side will be a deep old blue, while the reverse side will be a pale old blue overcast with a silvery sheen, but both blues would be of the same line of color. Where handsome portieres or table covers were desired there could be no more beautiful fabric. No linings were ever used with this sateen. It was fifty inches wide, and could be had for $3.50 per yard.
The above list contains most of the fabrics commonly used for embroidery work, but it is by no means a complete list, as there are the
canvases
used in cross-stitch, the lawns, muslins, merinos and flannel used for articles of wearing apparel, the serges, velours and brocaded silks of infinite variety that are used for furniture covers, that need no description here as they are familiar to all. Then there are sail-cloth and fancy bed-ticking, Turkish toweling and cricketing flannel, all of which find a place on the list of fabrics for artistic needle-work, and are used for any purpose seeming appropriate.
Vintage embroidery fabric can be found but at a high cost. Some of the above fabrics can easily be found in the fabric store. Others may be there but now are called by a different name. At this point and time, I do not know fabric as well as I would like. As I come across information on what fabric can be used in place of others now not available, I will add it to the above list. If you are knowledgeable about fabrics and would like to share your information, please
contact me
and I'll get the information posted. As always, you will be credited with the information provide. Anyone want to become a published author? Now's your chance!
I hope this information about vintage embroidery fabrics helps you determine which fabric is the best to use when you decide to produce your own Victorian pieces. Don't forget to share your completed projects to inspire (and awe) the rest of us!
