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Fabric Friday: The silky horizontally ribbed fabrics

Discussion in 'PUBLIC Workshops - specialty vintage topics' started by denisebrain, Feb 25, 2022.

  1. denisebrain

    denisebrain VFG Vice President Staff Member VFG Past President

    This is an interesting family of fabrics that fall into the horizontally ribbed category. All are filament (silk or manmade filament fiber) warp and usually something else is used in the weft to get those horizontal ribs. So if you were doing a fiber-burn test you might get mixed results from a rayon warp and cotton weft.


    Faille

    A plain weave fabric with pronounced, fairly flat crosswise ribs and a silky, somewhat lustrous surface, faille is the name given to such fabric in a range of weights. The weave is constructed with heavier (or grouped) weft yarns and finer and more numerous warp yarns. The warp fibers are usually filament (silk, manufactured fibers) while the weft is usually cotton or cotton blends, sometimes wool or silk. Faille may be used for moiré.

    Taffeta’s ribs are even finer, while bengaline’s are heavier than faille’s.

    Uses: Evening dresses, skirts, under skirts, spring coats, suits

    _big_vintagefashion-new_68267.jpg

    Silk tissue faille (with fabrics, tissue means very light and fine)
    _big_vintagefashion-new_96187.jpg

    Novelty faille (This was called novelty in the American Fabrics magazine issue I found it in. With fabrics, novelty sometimes means we can't figure out what to call it :hysterical:)
    _big_vintagefashion-new_60119.jpg

    This is a rayon and cotton faille dress from the 50s
    turqfaillelucydress1.JPG turqfaillelucydress4.JPG


    With faille being made in a range of weights, bengaline is not the easiest to discern. Is it heavy faille or bengaline? I'm not always sure.

    Bengaline

    A plain weave fabric made with thicker (or grouped) weft yarns and fine and more numerous warp yarns. The result is a very noticeable horizontal rib with a silky surface. The weft is often cotton while the filament warp is silk or a manufactured fiber. The name is from Bengal, India.

    Uses: Dresses, coats, suits

    _big_vintagefashion-new_52817.jpg

    In the Met Museum, this dress by Worth is described as incorporating silk bengaline with silk satin. Go to the page to zoom in and you can see the ribs: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/155790

    Screen Shot 2022-02-25 at 2.42.53 PM.png

    Grosgrain

    Best known in ribbon width, grosgrain may also be fabric. It shares with other horizontally-ribbed fabrics a plain weave with heavier weft yarns and finer and more plentiful warp yarns. As compared to faille, the ribs are rounder. The warp is characteristically silk or rayon with the weft being cotton, sometimes silk.

    The name comes from the French gros (coarse or large) and grain (grain or texture).

    Uses: Ribbon for trim, hatbands; fabric for dresses, skirts, spring coats

    Grosgrain ribbon
    _big_vintagefashion-new_4884.jpg

    Ottoman

    In the family of silky-faced, horizontally ribbed fabrics, ottoman has the largest ribs, larger and rounder than those of faille and bengaline. The plain weave fabric involves thicker and/or grouped weft yarns with more numerous and finer warp yarns that totally cover the weft. Ottoman can be made of silk, wool or manufactured fibers, with the filling (weft) often of cotton.

    The name comes from a luxurious silk fabric woven in Turkey beginning during the Ottoman Empire.

    Uses: Coats, dresses, suits, upholstery

    _big_vintagefashion-new_70549.jpg

    Rep

    With a name derived from the Latin for “rib,” rep (also spelled repp) is in the family of silky faced, horizontally ribbed fabrics. The ribs are closely spaced and rounded. Silk or another filament yarn used for the warp is usual, but rep may also be cotton, wool or linen.

    Uses: Neckties and accessories for filament fiber rep; upholstery for cotton, wool or linen rep

    Silk rep
    _big_vintagefashion-new_23705.jpg

    This is the classic silk necktie fabric.
    Screen-Shot-2022-02-25-at-3.16.20-PM.jpg

    and last but not least—

    Taffeta

    A crisp, tightly-woven plain weave fabric usually with very fine horizontal ribs, taffeta is made of filament yarns (silk, acetate or rayon), sometimes with staple yarn filling. It is often lustrous.

    When woven of two different colored yarns, shot taffeta is created, also called changeable or iridescent. When the iridescent taffeta is silk, it can be called shot silk. Woven of three colors (two in the weft, one in the warp), it is called chameleon taffeta.

    Taffeta is often the fabric used for moiré, and it can be processed to create ciré.


    Taffeta makes a characteristic rustling sound when moved. The sound is called scroop (a late 18th-century word blending scrape and whoop) in the case of silk taffeta. The scroop sound results from an acid finishing treatment.

    The name comes from the Persian taftah, a 16th-century fine silk fabric.

    Uses: Dresses, underskirts, linings, trims, umbrellas


    Acetate taffeta
    _big_vintagefashion-new_117020.jpg

    Flocked taffeta
    _big_vintagefashion-new_72443.jpg

    Embossed taffeta
    _big_vintagefashion-new_15525.jpg

    Jacquard taffeta
    _big_vintagefashion-new_44699.jpg

    Silk taffeta
    _big_vintagefashion-new_55261.jpg


    Any great examples from your collections?
     
  2. Vinclothes

    Vinclothes Alumni +

    Wonderful information. What is the preferred pronunciation of faille?
    Marian
     
    denisebrain likes this.
  3. denisebrain

    denisebrain VFG Vice President Staff Member VFG Past President

  4. amandainvermont

    amandainvermont VFG Member

    Amazing information. Can we hire you as a consultant when we want to list something and can't figure out the material?
     
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  5. Vintagiality

    Vintagiality VFG Treasurer Staff Member

    Great info Maggie. I do have a hard time telling these apart.
    I have a gown which I believe is a nice example of iridescent taffeta.
    AC6E13CB-EC94-4836-B427-0004BACE8D26.jpeg 8B8DD74B-F347-4F09-A0CD-A3DCDCFEE676.jpeg 54F5ABE2-10DE-4D80-BBB8-7B7C1DEA39A3.jpeg 2A9D48A9-CF8D-43EC-8168-5841DDEC41C8.jpeg
     
  6. claireshaeffer

    claireshaeffer VFG Member

    Broadcloth is also a ribbed fabric.
    When I unravelled grograin recently, I found a gauze or leno weave. The weft yarns are heavier than the warp, but the leno weave would contribute the distinctive round ribs.

    Look at the line drawings below. They are not the same.
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Feb 26, 2022
  7. denisebrain

    denisebrain VFG Vice President Staff Member VFG Past President

    Ah, you make a good point Claire, there is a silk broadcloth as well as cotton.

    Interesting about the leno weave. How old was the grosgrain?
     
  8. claireshaeffer

    claireshaeffer VFG Member

    This was petersham I bought in London about 10 yrs. ago. I have some older; I'll look for it and unravel some. C
     
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  9. poppysvintageclothing

    poppysvintageclothing VFG Board Member Staff Member VFG Past President

    I just wanted to share this item. It is a ribbed fabric. It was from a Montreal manufacturer, they had some fine quality coats. The nice thing is that often on their labels they would describe the fabric that was used - in this case carved ottoman.

    Montroy-Carved-Ottoman-Coat-.jpg
    Montroy-Carved-Ottoman-Coat-1.jpg
    Montroy-Carved-Ottoman-Coat-2.jpg
     
    Last edited: Feb 26, 2022
  10. claireshaeffer

    claireshaeffer VFG Member

    That's a beautiful coat. I've never seen the term "carved."

    This is a YSL jacket that I've written about several times because of the collar. Usually the collar is cut on the same grain as the front. On this jacket, the collar is cut so that the ribs (crossgrain) are parallel to the edge.
     

    Attached Files:

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  11. poppysvintageclothing

    poppysvintageclothing VFG Board Member Staff Member VFG Past President

    Nor have I, Claire. I have another coat I sold to the grandson of the owner of the Montroy company which also indicated the fabric.


    Not a ribbed fabric, just interesting that they would use a term to describe on the actual label.

    MontroyHoundstooth.png
     
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  12. claireshaeffer

    claireshaeffer VFG Member

    Mary Jane,
    I wonder if they used the fabric names instead of numbers to identify styles. Carved Ottoman might be one of two or several coats.
    C
     

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