Woven and interlocking materials
Tulle is a lightweight, very fine form of net with a hexagonal mesh, machine-made and often starched. It can be made of various fibres, including cotton, nylon, rayon and silk. The word is often used synonymously with net. The name comes from Tulle, a city in the south-central part of France. Tulle was well known as a centre for lace and silk production in the eighteenth century. It is likely that early tulle netting originated here.
Tweed is a course, closely woven woollen cloth that may originate from along the Tweed river in the Scottish borders. Another etymology links the name to Scottish tweel for twill. It is normally produced in a tabby or twill weave. The cloth is eminently suitable for wearing in damp and cold weather, and traditionally linked to outdoor sports such as hunting.
Warp was a type of woollen cloth known from the Netherlands (including Leiden, where it was one of the seven textile neringen [industry] ) from the late Middle Ages.
Waste canvas is a canvas that is held together with glue. It is used as an embroidery guide, and once the embroidery is completed the underlying canvas is dampened and removed, leaving the embroidery directly lying onto the ground material.
Wire canvas is a fine wire mesh used in the latter half of the nineteenthth century as a ground material for Berlin wool work.
Worsted cloth is smooth, napless cloth woven from yarn that has been spun from combed wool (worsted threads). Some examples of worsted cloth are gabardine and serge. The name is derived from the village of Worstead (Norfolk, England), where this type of thread and cloth was originally produced.
The word ‘wrought’ is a general English term that can refer to any decorated object, but it used to have a more precise meaning when applied to stitched items.
Zulu cloth is a nineteenth century English brand name for a closely woven cloth with a twill weave.