Woven and interlocking materials
Aida is an even weave cloth often used for counted thread embroidery. The material is mesh-like in construction for ease of stitch counting and has enough stiffness so that an embroidery frame or hoop is not necessary. Older forms of Aida are made of linen, while most twentieth-century examples are of cotton.
Antique canvas is a late twentieth century term given to brown or beige coloured canvas.
Atlas is the Arabic term for a form of striped satin cloth. There are various forms of atlas. The material is made in yellows and ochres for the Yemeni market. These are colours that are often regarded as being African in origin, rather than the red, white and blue combinations that are more commonly associated with Syrian atlas used for Palestinian or Egyptian garments.
Baai is the Dutch name for a type of cloth produced, among others, from the late sixteenth century in the city of Leiden. It was made of carded wool but unlike laken (broadcloth) made mostly of locally produced wool, rather than imported, high quality wool from England and Spain.
Binca is an English (UK) trade name given to a form of embroidery canvas that is woven in groups of threads, rather than individual threads. It is consequently sometimes classed as a mock-leno weave. It is the same as aida, but slightly coarser, with about 2-3 meshes per cm. The name binca appears in the late 1960's. It is sometimes used in English publications as a synonym for aida or bincanette.
Bobbinet is a form of machine net (tulle) invented by the English engineer John Heathcoat in 1808. It is an imitation of the (hexagonal) net ground used in bobbin lace making. Bobbinet has an hexagonal mesh constructed by looping the weft thread around the vertical warp thread.
Bolting is a nineteenth century form of canvas, so named because it was originally used for bolting or sieving meal and flour.
Broadcloth is a type of cloth known in the Netherlands as laken and particularly linked to the city of Leiden, which by the late medieval period became the prime producer of this type of cloth in Europe.
Brocatelle is a type of woven cloth comparable to a brocade, but with a design in high relief. This type of cloth has been made in Europe and elsewhere since the eighteenth century, usually on a Jacquard loom. Brocatelle normally has a firm texture, with a distinctive blistered or puffed appearance. This type of cloth was used for soft furnishings, notably curtains and upholstery.
Buratto cloth is named after buratto, which is an Italian word for a sieve or sifter.
See hessian. The name burlap has been given various possible etymologies; perhaps the most convincing is a Dutch origin, from boeren-lap, 'farmer's cloth'.
Calico is originally a cotton cloth imported from the East (India). It is named after the Indian city of Kozhikode (Kerala State; known by the English as Calicut) in southwestern India. From about 1578 onwards the word calico has come to mean, in England, a plain white unprinted, and unbleached cotton cloth. It may contain un-separated husk parts.