Fabric pattern

“ On many of the fragments of the large pans in my collection the impressions of the cloth are perfect delineations of the fabrics used. Though differing greatly in pattern and in fineness of texture, they are all, with one single exception, made woven in the same manner—that is, by twisting two threads of warp around the single thread of the woof, precisely as the wire faces of laid moulds for forming paper are now made. The coarsest fabric that I find the impression of has warps about one and a half inch apart, with about five threads of woof to the inch. ”

“ Everything we purchase is odd and quaint, irregular or curious in some way. Every piece of embroidery, every remnant of old carpet, differs from another in pattern as the leaves on the trees. There is no repetition, and herein lies its charm and true value to us. Every fabric differs either in pattern or combination of colours—it is something, as we said, unique, something to treasure, something that will not remind us of the mill. *
* The little pattern at the head of this chapter was traced from a piece of embroidered silk, worked by the Moors. ”

“ It takes very little time to trace the markings for darts, seams, and buttonholes from the pattern on the fabric if dressmakers’ carbon and a tracing wheel are used. Trace the markings while the pattern is still pinned to the fabric. Place the carbon waxed side to wrong side of fabric. Both sides may be marked at the same time. Use white or light-colored paper wherever possible. Dark colors have a tendency to work through to the right side. Trace all pattern markings that are essential to making the dress—darts, notches, pleats, openings, and buttonholes. ”

“ The former pattern is manufactured on an extensive scale, as it is a fabric in regular use for making-up purposes. Fig. 243 has the weft square rather larger than the warp, and is usually made in rather a better quality than Fig. 242. In fine makes the size of the squares is often increased. ”

“ This increases the sett of the loops and the weight and rigidity of texture, so that fabrics may now be obtained which are almost equal to the woven fabric in resistant properties. Such modifications of 7fabric structure usually result in a pattern with a prevailing one-sided effect, the wrong side being deficient in appearance and style. The ordinary plain knitted stitch per se has little scope for ornamentation unless special machines are employed and where embellishment is required on a plain garment it often takes the form of added pieces of crochet. ”

“ Before starting to weave, the weaver will have a supply of cops of all the colours required in the carpet. The paper design will show full size, the whole of the pattern, filling and border, that repeats, in the colours that are to be used. The design is cut up horizontally into strips two squares wide; and the weaver works by this paper strip, which is attached to the fabric in its length, inserting and changing the shuttles carrying yarn of various colours. The warp of the loom consists of sets of ends of fine cotton at intervals of about 1⁄2 in. ”

“ In addition to ornament added to garment, the ornament in the textile itself must be considered.
Appropriate Designs
Textiles may be beautiful in weave, but spoiled by the design. Quite as important as intrinsic beauty is appropriateness of pattern. How often do we see woven on our curtains, carpets, and garment materials fans, bunches of roses tied with ribbons—bows with long, fluttering ends—landscapes, snow scenes, etc. Nothing is beautiful out of its place. ”

“ In primitive times both the texture of the textiles and the habits of the decorator, acquired in textile work, tended towards the geometric style of delineation, and we find that in work in which the fabric lines are not followed at all the designs are still geometric, and geometric in the same way as are similar designs woven in with the fabric. ”

“ Of course, the material must to a certain degree influence the style of the fabric, and its selection must be according to the effect intended to be produced. [133] The fashions of the day, and the needs of the special manufacture, must greatly modify the choice of materials, which fluctuate, often disappear, and sometimes revive again.
Certain materials which have been, at one period, much admired, have been entirely lost; and indeed we may say that the only permanently employed textiles are wool, flax, cotton, and silk, which apparently never can be superseded. ”

“ Experiment 62—How to Examine a Fabric
The first thing a buyer of cloth notices in examining the fabrics is the finish. The finish is tested by feeling and seeing. To illustrate: broadcloth should have a smooth face and a nap evenly laid. If the finish is in keeping with the character of the cloth, he next examines the fiber of the yarn to see whether it is composed of pure wool or two or more fibers in combination. ”

“ The size of the design should be regulated by the material—small patterns being used for close, thick fabrics and larger designs, with more delicate colors, for thin material of open texture. Thick, heavy fabrics require rich, warm colors and the pattern likewise should be rich and decorative. Velvets, velveteens, and heavy cloths for dresses are beautiful in themselves and should not be marred by patterns or trimmings. ”

“ On garment fabrics the ornamentation should be flat, without shadow or relief. The pattern must enhance and not mar the figure. If flowers, foliage, or other natural objects are used for the designs, they should be conventionalized—not direct copies of nature. A figured textile requires more careful planning than plain material. It may be beautiful when used properly, but it will appear hideous if distorted in the making. A conventional fleur-de-lis pattern, or a long dash which appears and disappears when used in long, [214] graceful folds, adds to the apparent height. ”

“ This sheen and variety are more or less evident in all textiles, and a good textile pattern only adds to the variety and richness of the surface. [245] The different thicknesses or planes of surface and the difference of their texture caused by the different wefts being brought to the surface of the [246] cloth or silk (from the simplest contrast of line presented by the simplest arrangements of warp and weft, to the complexities of many-coloured silk stuffs and brocade) alone give a value to the surface pattern. ”

“ The formation of a cloth having the novel quality of allowing for a greater woven length at the outer edge of the collar than at the band, properly graded throughout so as to meet all the requirements of a collar in comfort and fit, at the same time providing for the insertion of the scarf so that it will run easily, and also allowing for the production of a variety of styles, calls for features in manufacturing that are different in many respects from the making of a flat fabric. ”

“ The loose threads existing between the figures when the goods leave the loom are usually cut away, leaving a somewhat imperfect figure or spot with a bit of the figuring thread protruding at either extreme edge of the figure or spot. Lappet-figured fabrics are not Brocades.
Lastings.—A plain twill or kindred weave fabric firmly woven from hard-twisted wool or cotton yarns. Smooth in appearance but having a somewhat hard handle, Lasting is a fine, durable, generally piece-dyed, material, of which there are several varieties, such as the Printed and the Figured. ”

“ I have already spoken of color in a general way, as to its necessary presence in art, its artificial application to fabrics and fabric [Pg 216] materials, its symbolic characters, and its importance to esthetic progress. My object in this section is to indicate the part it takes in textile design, its methods of expression, the processes by which it advances in elaboration, and the part it takes in all geometric decoration.
It will be necessary, in the first place, to examine briefly the normal tendencies of color combination while still under the direct domination of constructive elaboration. ”

“ I have already shown that embroidered designs, although not from necessity confined to geometric outlines, tend to take a purely geometric character from the fabric upon which they are executed, as well as from the mechanical processes of stitching. This is well shown in Fig. 348, a fine specimen given by Wiener in his work Pérou et Bolive.
Fig. 348. Embroidery upon a cotton net in which the textile combinations are followed step by step. Ancient Peruvian work.ToList
A life form worked upon a net does not differ essentially from the same subject woven in with the web and woof. ”

“ Plain cloth is the simplest cloth that can be woven. In this weave one series of threads (filling) crosses another series (warp) at right angles, passing over one and under one in regular order, thus forming a simple interlacement of the threads. This combination makes a strong and firm cloth, but does not give a close or a heavy fabric, as the threads do not lie as close and compact as they do in other weaves. In plain cloth, if not fulled or shrunk in the finish, the result is a fabric perforated with large or small openings according to the size or twist of yarn used. ”

“ It is for this acceptance of growth that our days of pioneering together and our slow drawing together of later years form a solid basis. For we are knit, and now the fabric is beginning to be woven into a garment. Some are alarmed at the lack of seams, some anxiously question the color, some shake their heads and say that it will never fit. ”

“ Pleated Insets: Strips of narrow pleating inset in skirts and tunics is a favorite trimming for taffetas and satins. (See Fig. 3.) Stitch the edges of the garment to the strip of pleating, as described in making tucked insets.
Fig. (3) Try pleated insets on your new serge or silk frock
Lattice Work Trimming: One of the new trimmings for silk and cotton dresses is lattice work. It is just what the name implies—a sort of lattice work design set into the goods. You can use almost any braiding design as a foundation for your lattice work. The easiest way is working right over the pattern. ”

“ From the composite nature of this domestic fabric, its cross-weaving of animal and vegetable fibre, it takes colour irregularly. Every cross-thread of wool is deeper in tone than the cotton thread it crosses, and this gives the quality which artists call vivacity or vibration. ”

“ In stained glass we should think of a pattern in lead lines inclosing one of translucent colour, each being interdependent and united to form a harmonious whole. In textile design we should be influenced by the thought of the difference of use, plan, and purpose of the finished material; as the difference between a rich vertical pattern in silk, velvet, or tapestry, to be broken by folds as in curtains or hangings, and a rich carpet pattern, to be spread upon the unbroken level surface of a floor. ”

“ This conventionalizing force is further illustrated by the tendency in textile representation to blot out differences of time and culture, so that when a civilized artisan, capable of realistic pictorial delineation of a high order, introduces a figure into a certain form of coarse fabric he arrives at a result almost identical with that reached by the savage using the same, who has no graphic language beyond the rudest outline. ”

“ Almost every fabric that is good of its kind is suitable for a ground for needlework, and any thread of silk, linen, cotton, or wool, is suitable for laying on a web, with the purpose of decorating it. ”

“ Thus in textile design for dress and hangings (excepting for tapestries) the fact must never be lost sight of that they will be subject to disturbance by crossing folds and crumplings, which will break up the lines of the pattern. It is therefore evident that a design fitted for a rigid material in a fixed place, such as an architectural decoration in wood, stone, or stucco, must be subject to a treatment different from that which befits an embroidered curtain or panel. ”

“ The most beautiful and decorative effects are produced in woven textiles by the contrast, harmony, and blending of coloured threads, wool, or silk, and the relief of one flat colour upon another, or one flat tint upon another shade of the same tint, so that anything like attempts at naturalistic drawing, and the representation of planes of light and shade and relief can only be clumsy, owing to the nature of the conditions, besides being mistaken, from the point of view of good pattern-work. ”

“ A light weight, single cloth fabric, with two-ply cotton warp and wool or a combination of cotton and shoddy filling, made with the plain weave and in appearance a semi-rough-faced woolen fabric with fancy effects in twist scattered about it. It is used principally for ladies’ fall suitings. ”

“ The texture shown in Fig. 100 is from a rather indistinct impression upon a small fragment of pottery from Iowa. One series of the strands seems to have been quite rigid, while the other has been pliable, and appear in the impression only where they have crossed the rigid series. The dotted lines indicate their probable course on the under side of the cross threads.
This form of fabric is very common in modern work. ”

“ This material is always plain woven and is of comparatively recent creation; it can be described as a very rough surface dress fabric, properly in part of wool, but now also made entirely of cotton. The characteristic rough surface is caused by the use of special fancy weft threads which are composed of two or more different size yarns so twisted together as to produce knob effects at intervals in the thread. A more expensive fabric is made of filling threads composed of braided yarns. ”