Libraries: Fashion in Credo Reference: Materials and Techniques

Materials

Corduroy
In World of Art: The Thames & Hudson Dictionary of Fashion and Fashion Designers
Perhaps from the French corde du roi, ‘cloth of the king’. Corduroy is a durable cotton or rayon velvet cut-pile fabric which has wide or narrow wales, cords or ribs.
Cotton: Topic Page
Most important of the vegetable fibers, and the plant from which the fiber is harvested.
Flax: Topic Page
Common name for members of the Linaceae, a family of annual herbs, especially members of the genus Linum, and for the fiber obtained from such plants.
Fur: Topic Page
Hairy covering of an animal, especially the skins of animals that have thick, soft, close-growing hair next to the skin itself and coarser protective hair above it.
Leather: Topic Page
Skin or hide of animals, cured by tanning to prevent decay and to impart flexibility and toughness.
Linen: Topic Page
Fabric or yarn made from the fiber of flax, probably the first vegetable fiber known to people.
Natural Fibres
In The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
Most yarns and fabrics are made from fibres or filaments. Natural fibres are fibres that occur naturally within the environment, as distinct from those that are synthetic.
Rayon: Topic Page
Synthetic fibers made from cellulose or textiles woven from such fibers; more rayon is manufactured than any other synthetic fiber.
Regenerated and Artificial Fibres and Fabrics
In The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
Fabrics are produced from three main types of fibres, natural, regenerated, and synthetic.
Silk: Topic Page
Fine, horny, translucent, yellowish fiber produced by the silkworm in making its cocoon and covered with sericin, a protein.
Synthetic Fibres
In The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
Background The textiles industry was transformed during the 18th and 19th centuries with the mechanization and development of weaving looms, knitting machines, and sewing machines, which contributed to faster production.
Textile: Topic Page
These are made from natural fibres and include cotton, linen, silk, and wool (including angora, llama, and many others).
Velvet: Topic Page
Fabric having a soft, thick, short pile, usually of silk, and a plain twill or satin weave ground.
Wool: Topic Page
Fiber made from the fleece of the domestic sheep. Wool consists of the cortex, overlapping scales (sharper and more protruding than those of hair) that may expand at their free edges causing fibers to intermesh; elasticum, the inner layer; and a core.

Clothing

Bikini
In World of Art: The Thames & Hudson Dictionary of Fashion and Fashion Designers
The bikini was launched simultaneously in France in 1946 by Louis Réard, a little-known designer, and the more famous Jacques Heim.
Corset
In World of Art: The Thames & Hudson Dictionary of Fashion and Fashion Designers
The 19th-century corset, used to achieve the fashionable small waist of the period, was a descendant of the 15th-century bodice, which was stiffened by two pieces of linen pasted together.
Gown

In The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
Outer garment, often an elegant or formal dress for women. Introduced in the late 14th century, it fitted the upper part of the body but fell loosely from the waist, and had a high upright collar.
Jeans
In 100 Ideas that Changed Street Style
Few items of clothing have become so globally ubiquitous as a pair of jeans. Indeed, jeans, or something like them, have been worn since the eighteenth century, when merchant sailors in Genoa (the origin of the word ‘jeans’) wore clothing made from a fabric woven in Nîmes (the origin of the word ‘denim’).
Lingerie
In Rawson's Dictionary of Euphemisms and Other Doubletalk
Women's underwear, Frenchstyle. In the original French, the primary meanings of “lingerie” have less to do with underclothing than with linen as a material, the true French equivalent of the English “linen” being linge.
Sweater
In World of Art: The Thames & Hudson Dictionary of Fashion and Fashion Designers
Knitted woollen shirt worn by sportsmen in the late 19th century to encourage perspiration. In the 20th century the word sweater describes a sleeved, knitted woollen top reaching to the waist or longer.
The T-Shirt
In 100 Ideas that Changed Fashion
When Marlon Brando dramatically appeared on cinema screens in A Streetcar Named Desire, his clothing came as a profound shock to most viewers. His character - the sensual, violent Stanley Kowalski - wore a ripped, sweat-soaked T-shirt. This was 1951, and T-shirts at this time were known only as men's underwear.
Tuxedo
In World of Art: The Thames & Hudson Dictionary of Fashion and Fashion Designers
Originally a semi-formal dinner jacket with silk lapels, generously cut in black or dark blue cloth, which took its name from the exclusive Tuxedo Club which opened in 1886 in Tuxedo Park, Orange County, New Jersey, USA.
Wedding Dress
In100 Ideas that Changed Fashion
When the young Queen Victoria married her cousin Albert in 1840, she was hailed as a true romantic. Unusually for royalty, this was not a marriage of political convenience, but a genuine love match. The bride chose not to wear jewel-encrusted silver or gold robes as expected, but instead opted for a white satin and lace dress.

Tools and Techniques

Bleaching
From The Columbia Encyclopedia
Process of whitening by chemicals or by exposure to sun and air, commonly applied to textiles.
Dye
From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
Any substance, natural or synthetic, used to color various materials, especially textiles, leather, and food.
Embroidery: Topic Page
Ornamental needlework applied to all varieties of fabrics and worked with many sorts of thread—linen, cotton, wool, silk, gold, and even hair.
Knitting: Topic Page
Construction of a fabric made of interlocking loops of yarn by means of needles.
Lace: Topic Page

Patterned openwork fabric made by plaiting, knotting, looping, or twisting. The finest lace is made from linen thread. Handmade laces include needlepoint and bobbin lace, tatting, crochet work, and some fabrics made by netting and darning.
Loom: Topic Page
Frame or machine used for weaving; there is evidence that the loom has been in use since 4400 B.C. Modern looms are of two types, those with a shuttle (the part that carries the weft through the shed) and those without; the latter draw the weft from a stationary supply.
Pattern Drafting and Sewing Terms (table)
In Fashion Design
Allowance: extra fabric added to 1) a seam line 2) a garment for ease of movement 3) for pleats and gathers
Processes used to give different finishes to fabrics
In The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
The fabric leaving the loom or knitting machine is often very different to the finished fabric. There are various different finishing processes used to enhance the appearance or improve the properties of fabrics.
Processes used to produce and prepare fibres, filaments, and yarns
In The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
Most yarns and fabrics are constructed from fibres or filaments. Different fibres are produced or collected and then processed in different ways.
Quilting: Topic Page
Form of needlework, almost always created by women, most of them anonymous, in which two layers of fabric on either side of an interlining (batting) are sewn together.
Sewing machine: Topic Page
Device that stitches cloth and other materials. An attempt at mechanical sewing was made in England (1790) with a machine having a forked, automatic needle that made a single-thread chain.
Silk Screen Printing
In The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Method of printing based on stencilling. It can be used to print on most surfaces, including paper, plastic, fabric, and wood.
Spinning: Topic Page
The drawing out, twisting, and winding of fibers into a continuous thread or yarn. From antiquity until the Industrial Revolution, spinning was a household industry.
Tapestry: Topic Page
Hand-woven fabric of plain weave made without shuttle or drawboy, the design of weft threads being threaded into the warp with fingers or a bobbin.
Weaving: Topic Page
The art of forming a fabric by interlacing at right angles two or more sets of yarn or other material.
What are knitting, weaving, felting, and bonding?
In The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
There are three main ways of producing fabrics: knitting, weaving, and felting or bonding. Knitting and weaving are the most commonly used.

Accessories

Cosmetics: Topic Page
Preparations externally applied to change or enhance the beauty of skin, hair, nails, lips, and eyes.
Crown: Topic Page
Circular head ornament, symbolizing sovereign dignity. The use of the crown as a symbol of royal rank is of ancient tradition in Egypt and the Middle East.
Eyeglasses: Topic Page
Instrument or device for aiding and correcting defective sight. Eyeglasses usually consist of a pair of lenses mounted in a frame to hold them in position before the eyes.
Gloves: Topic Page
A hand covering with a separate sheath for each finger.
Hairdressing: Topic Page
Arranging of the hair for decorative, ceremonial, or symbolic reasons.
Hats: Topic Page
A headdress developed from the simple close-fitting cap and hood of antiquity.
Jewellery: Topic Page
Objects worn for ornament, such as rings, brooches, necklaces, pendants, earrings, and bracelets.
Perfume: Topic Page
Aroma produced by the essential oils of plants and by synthetic aromatics.
Shoes

In The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
Shaped coverings for the feet, ending below the ankle.
Tattoo: Topic Page
‘Tattoo,’ from the East Polynesian tatau, to ‘strike correctly,’ denotes a pattern, image, or ornament, scratched, pricked, or struck through the human epidermis.
Wig: Topic Page
Arrangement of artificial or human hair worn to conceal baldness, as a disguise, or as part of a costume, either theatrical, ceremonial, or fashionable.