HEIRLOOM SEWING GLOSSARY

LACE TERMS:

Baby Lace: A narrow lace edging or insertion.

Beading:  A lace or embroidered insertion, edging, or galloon having small holes through which ribbon may be laced.

Cluny Lace: A heavy lace of cotton with a geometric design, often with radiating wheatears.

Malines: An open textured diamond-shaped mesh.

Picot Lace: An edging with narrow, triangular or rounded loops along the outer edge.

Tatting: A kind of lace made by looping and knotting a thread that is wound on a hand shuttle.

Valenciennes Lace (Val):  A fine cotton bobbin lace with usually a hexagonal or diamond shaped mesh background, originally made by hand and later by machine in Valenciennes, France. Most widely used lace in fine hand sewing.

TRIMS:

Edging: That which is added to the border or which forms the edge, as lace, eyelet, or trimming added to a garment for decoration; may range from very narrow to very wide width. The lace has one straight edge and one scalloped edge.

Entredeux:  1/8 inch to ½ inch veining (stitched on Swiss Batiste) used between two edges giving a ladder like effect. French word meaning “between two”.

Galloon: A trim, lace, embroidery finished on both sides; may range from ½ inch to 10 inches in width.

Insertion:  A band of lace, eyelet, or embroidery with two straight edges set into a fabric.

Lace:  A fine netting or open work fabric of linen, cotton, or silk produced by stitching interlacing or twisting threads in several directions to produce a porous trim or lace.

FABRICS:

Batiste:  A sheer, fine woven fabric with a plain weave of either cotton, cotton blends, wool, silk, rayon or other fibers.

Dimity:  From the Greek word meaning “double thread”. Dimity is a cotton lightweight, woven fabric (similar to lawn). It is made by weaving two or more yarns as one and separating them by areas of plain weave, giving a checked or barred effect.

Dotted Swiss:  A lightweight cotton or cotton blend fabric woven of fine yarns embellished with woven or flocked small dots.

Handkerchief Linen:  A lightweight fabric with a plain weave;  made from the flax plant. Handkerchief linen is similar in luster to batiste but the yarns are more uneven than cotton yarns.

Lawn:  A lightweight cotton fabric with a plain weave; crisper than batiste but not as crisp as organdy.

Organza: A very light, sheer, stiff fabric similar to organdy but made of silk or man-made fiber yarns.

Organdy:  A very light, sheer, cotton fabric with a plain weave and finish added to give it a characteristic crispness.

Swiss Batiste:  A sheer, transparent fabric with a high luster which is accompanied by a special finish and use of special grades of longstaple cotton and Swiss mercerization.