Passionate About Fabrics
KOTHEA samples of fine cotton velvet and shadow cotton velvet in autumnal colourways inspired by this striking fabric design seen on a vintage Danish chair at our favourite vintage market. .
A-Z Glossary or Guide of fabric qualities
A
American Cotton
Cotton of medium fineness and medium staple length.
Alpaca Angora
Natural hair from the alpaca, or animal from which the fibre alpaca is obtained.
Angora
Hair fibre from the angora rabbit.
B
Batiste
Fine, soft,plain weave fabric. Originally linen, now other fibres, eg cotton.
Blend
Combination of two or more different fibres within the same yarn. This can be for cost, properties and/or appearance.
Birds-eye
Colour-and-weave effect where the pattern shows small, uniform spots. The reverse side of a flat jacquard weft knitted fabric where the yarns are arranged to show minimum amounts of each colour in an all-over pattern.
Bouclé yarn
Fancy yarn showing an irregular pattern of curls or loops.
Bourrelet
Non-jacquard double jersey weft knit structure made on an interlock basis showing horizontal ridges on the effect side.
Brocade
Figured woven jacquard fabric, usually multicoloured, much used for furnishings.
Buckram
Plain weave fabric, generally of linen or cotton, which is stiffened during finishing with fillers and starches. Uses include interlinings and bookbinding fabrics.
C
Calico
General term used for plain cotton fabrics heavier than muslin. These are usually left unbleached, area made in a variety of weights, and are often used for making toiles.
Cambric
Lightweight, closely woven, plain weave fabric, usually made from cotton or linen.
Canvas
Strong, firm, relatively heavy and rigid, generally plain woven cloth traditionally made from cotton, linen, hemp or jute.
Cavalry twill
Firm woven fabric with a steep twill showing double twill lines, traditionally used for riding breeches and jodphurs.
Chambray
Lightweight, plain weave cotton cloth with a dyed warp and a white weft.
Cheesecloth
Open, lightweight, plain weave fabric with a slightly crêpey appearance, usually made from carded cotton yarns with higher than average twist.
Chenille yarn
Fancy yarn produced by weaving a leno fabric and cutting into warp-way strips so that each strip forms the yarn, which has a velvety, caterpillar-like appearance.
Chiffon
Originally a very lightweight, sheer, plain weave fabric made from silk. Now can also be used to describe a similar fabric using other fibres.
Chiné yarn
Originally a 2-fold yarn, one black, one white, giving a regular two colour effect. Term now used to describe any 2-fold, two colour yarn.
Chintz
Closely woven, lustrous, plain weave cotton fabric, printed or plain, that has been friction calendered or glazed. Much used for curtainings and upholstery.
Coir
Natural vegetable fruit fibre from the coconut.
Colourway
One of several combinations of colours used for a particular fabric.
Corduroy
Wove, cut weft-pile fabric where the cut pile runs in vertical cords along the length of the fabric. A number of different types are found, ranging from pincord (very fine cords) to elephant cord (very broad cords).
Crepe
Fabric characterised by a crinkled or puckered surface, which can be produced by a number of methods. 1. woven fabric where short, irregular floats in warp and weft are arranged to give an all-over, random pattern within the weave repeat. 2. woven or knitted fabric where the crêpe characteristics are achieved mainly by the use of highly twisted yarns, which in finishing develop the crinkled, puckered appearance of a crêpe. 3. fabric where the crêpe effect is produced in finishing by treatment with embossing rollers, engraved with a crêpe pattern, which impart a crêpe effect onto the fabric through heat and pressure.
Crêpe de chine
Lightweight, plain weave crêpe fabric, made with highly twisted continuous filament yarns in the weft, alternating one S and one Z twist, and with normally twisted filament yarns in the warp. The crêpe effect is relatively unpronounced.
Crepe yarn
Spun or filament yarns that are very highly S or Z twisted used for the production of crepe fabrics.
D
Delaine
Lightweight, printed, all wool plain weave fabric.
Doupion (or Dupion)
Silk-breeding term meaning double cocoon, used to describe the irregular, raw rough silk reeled from double cocoons.
Drill
Woven twill fabric with a similar structure to denim, but usually piece-dyed.
E
Egyptian cotton
Type of cotton characterised by long, fine fibres.
G
Gauze
Lightweight, open-textured fabric made in plain weave a simple leno weave.
Georgette
Fine, lightweight, plain weave, crêpe fabric, usually having two highly twisted S and two highly twisted Z yarns alternately in both warp and weft.
H
Hopsack
Variation on plain weave, where two or more ends and picks weave as one. Sometimes called basket weave.
I
Indian cotton
Type of cotton characterised by relatively short, coarse fibres.
Interlining
Fabric used between the inner and outer layers of a garment to improve shape retention, strength, warmth or bulk. Interlinings may be woven, knitted or nonwoven, and can be produced with fusible adhesive on one surface.
J
Jacquard fabric
A fabric woven on a jacquard loom, where the patterning mechanism allows individual control on any interlacing of up to several hundred warp threads or a rib-based, double jersey weft-knit structure which shows a figure or design in a different colour or texture. Jacquard fabrics are sub-divided into flat-jacquard and blister fabrics.
Jersey
General term used for any knitted fabric.
Jute
Natural vegetable bast fibre, the plant from which the bast jute fibre is obtained.
K
Kemp
Coarse fibres present in varying amounts in wool fleece. Usually white, black or brown and can be used to give decorative effects in some wool fabrics.
Knickerbocker yarn
Fancy yarn characterised by random flecks or spots of differently coloured fibres.
L
Lawn
Fine, plain weave fabric, traditionally of cotton on linen.
Linen
Natural vegetable bast fibre obtained from the flax plant.
Lambswool
Wool from the fleeces of lambs (young sheep up to the age of weaning).
Lamé
A general name for fabrics where metallic threads are a conspicuous feature.
M
Maquisette
Square-hole, warp knitted net.
Merino Wool
Wool from the merino sheep, which produces the shortest and finest wool fibres.
Mohair
Natural animal hair fibre from the angora or mohair goat.
Moiré
Fabric which shows a moiré or wavy watermark pattern. This is produced by calendaring, usually on a fabric showing a rib or cord effect in the weft direction. The moiré effect can be achieved by embossing with a roller engraved with a moiré pattern, or by feeding two layers of fabric face to face through the calendar. the effect may be permanent or temporary depending on the fibres and the chemicals used.
Moquette
Firm, woven warp-pile fabric where the pile yarns are lifted over wires, which may or may not have knives. Withdrawal of the wires will give a cut or an uncut pile. Used for upholstery, particularly on public transport vehicles.
Mousseline
General term for very fine, semi-opaque fabrics, finer than muslins, made of silk, wool or cotton.
Muslin
Lightweight, open, plain or simple leno weave fabric, usually made of cotton.
N
Narrow Fabric
Any fabric that does not exceed 45 cms in width (in the UK). In the USA and Europe, the accepted upper width is 30 cms. Ribbons, tapes, braids and narrow laces are included in this category.
Natural Fibre
A textile fibre occuring in nature, which is animal, vegetable or mineral in origin.
New wool
Fibre from a sheep or lamb that has not previously been used. Alternative name for virgin wool.
Nylon
Man made synthetic polymer fibre. Alternative name for polyamide.
O
Organdie
Lightweight, plain weave transparent fabric, with a permanently stiff finish.
Organza
A sheer, lighweight, plain weave fabric, with a relatively firm drape and handle, traditionally made from the continuous filament of silk yarns. Now often made using other fibres.
P
Polyester
Man made synthetic polymer fibre.
Pure Silk
Silk in which there is no metallic or other weighting of any kind, except that which is an essential part of dyeing.
R
Raw Silk
Continuous filaments containing no twist, drawn off or reeled from cocoons. The filaments are unbleached, undyed and not degummed.
S
Sateen
Woven structure where the maximum amount of weft shows on the face. The smooth effect is enhanced by using filament yarns and/or lustrous fibres.
Satin
Woven structure where the maximum amount of warp shows on the face. The smooth effect is enhanced by using filament yarns and/or lustrous fibres.
Silk
Natural animal protein fibre obtained from the cocoons produced by silkworms.
Silk Noil
Very short silk fibres extracted during silk combing that are too short for producing spun silk. These fibres are usually spun into silk-noil yarns.
Slub yarn
Fancy yarn characterised by areas of thicker, loosely twisted yarn alternating with thinner, harder twisted areas.
Spun silk
Staple fibre silk yarn produced from silk waster which has been largely degummed.
Synthetic
Describes a substance which has been manufactured by building up a complex structure from simpler chemical substances.
T
Taffeta
Plain weave, closely woven, smooth, crisp fabric with a slight weftways rib, originally made from continuous filament silk yarns. Now often made using other fibres.
Terry-Towelling
A woven warp-pile fabric where the loops are formed by applying a high tension to the ground warp and a very low tension to the pile warp. Beating-up does not occur on every pick, so that when a pick is beaten-up it causes the other picks to be moved into the main body of the cloth, at the same time forming the pile loops on the face and back of the cloth.
Thrown Silk
Yarn twisted from continuous filament silk.
V
Velour
Cut pile weft or warp knitted fabric.
Velvet
Cut warp-pile fabric, in which the cut fibrous ends of the yarns from the surface of the fabric. Many effects are possible, e.g. the pile may be left erect, or it may be laid in one direction during finishing to give a very high lustre.
Viscose
Man made natural polymer regenerated cellulose fibre.
Voile
Plain weave, semi-sheer, lightweight fabric made with fine, fairly highly twisted yarns. Originally made from cotton, now other fibres are sometimes used.
W
Wadding
Lofty sheet of fibres used for padding, stuffing or packing.
Wet spun
Describes man made filaments produced by wet spinning, where the dissolved polymer is converted into filaments by extrusion through the spinneret into a coagulating bath of chemicals, causing the filaments to solidify.
Source Credit: R Haworth
Sanforising is a finishing technique for already woven fabric.
Interior Designers do not need to know the detail of exactly what happens. So, in brief, the process is usually associated with cotton fabric and often also with shirting fabric. The idea behind sanforising is to pre-shrink the fabric. Clearly any shrinkage after the fabric has been made up may cause problems and Interior Designers DO need to be aware of that!
When sanforised fabric is subsequently made up into curtains or used on upholstery the naturally occurring effects of fabric stretching are reduced, but like many natural fabrics some further shrinkage could occur.
As a general rule: more tightly woven fabrics tend to shrink less.
The sanforisation process involves stretching and heating damp fabric over a series of rollers
KOTHEA Release New Fabric For Interiors
LONDON, England. 04-MAY-2009 11.30 AM: KOTHEA today announced it has expanded its product range by the addition of KOTWIG. KOTWIG has an off-the-wall textured design. It has a high Martindale score which is unusually achieved without incorporating polyester. It is highly suitable for a wide range of uses including heavy upholstery and wall treatments in either domestic or contract installations.
Full information can be found <here>.
KOTWIG
Reference: 14-002-436
Colour Shown: Brown – Light Brown
Other colourways: 20
Width: 145cm
Repeat: None
Composition: 43% Linen, 36% Viscose, 21% Cotton.
Martindale: 40,000 ‘rubs’
Primary Usage: General upholstery or wall treatments, contract & domestic.
Type of fabric: Textured Weave
About KOTHEA.
KOTHEA are a top-market fabric house based in London serving customers throughout all of Europe and The Middle East. Founded in 1999 they have since continued to develop and sell an extensive range of timeless fabrics to the top architects, interior- and yacht-designers for projects ranging from mega-yachts to boutique hotels and from luxury spas to penthouses.
KOTHEA operate on a trade-only basis and their fabrics are available to the public through interior designers and specialist interior design shops such as Gotham, Interiors Bis and Fiona Campbell. KOTHEA also supply beautiful hand-woven linen fabrics and finished goods – throws and table linen.
KOTHEA’s trade customers would perceive their signature fabrics to include several ranges of velvet including the exclusive ‘cashmere silk velvet’, silks, linens, double-width sheers, faux leather and interesting weaves for upholstery often with high Martindale ‘rub tests’ making them highly suited to both contract and residential projects.
Founder and Executive Director, Lisa Parsons started KOTHEA more than 10 years ago after 11 highly successful years with Nobilis Fontan in Chelsea and Donghia in Chelsea Harbour. She says, “At KOTHEA we like to think we bring something a little different to the market. Our difference will be reflected in our customers’ eyes by unusual fabrics that complement our core fabric ranges; all augmented by our excellent levels of customers service, market knowledge and attention to detail.”
KOTHEA Release New Fabric For Interiors
LONDON, England. 06-APR-2009 11.30 AM: KOTHEA today announced it has expanded its product range by the addition of KOCOSMIC. KOCOSMIC is a little bit quirky; like a faux skin without trying too hard to mimic nature. It has high rubs and is suitable for a wide range of uses including heavy upholstery and wall treatments in either domestic or contract installations.
KOCOSMIC
Reference: 03-004-378
Colour Shown: 3 Silver
Other Colourways: 19
Width: 140cm
Repeat: None
Composition: 100% Cotton base cloth, 95% Vinyl 5%, Polyurethane outer.
Martindale: BS5690 100,000
Primary Usage: Heavy upholstery, wall treatments, contract & domestic.
Type of fabric: Vinyl
Other: Passes BS5852 Schedule 4 Part 1 Cigarette Test, Schedule 5 Part 1 Match Test and Crib 5.
About KOTHEA.
KOTHEA are a top-market fabric house based in London serving customers throughout all of Europe and The Middle East. Founded in 1999 they have since continued to develop and sell an extensive range of timeless fabrics to the top architects, interior- and yacht-designers for projects ranging from mega-yachts to boutique hotels and from luxury spas to penthouses.
KOTHEA operate on a trade-only basis and their fabrics are available to the public through interior designers and specialist interior design shops such as Gotham, Interiors Bis and Fiona Campbell. KOTHEA also supply beautiful hand-woven linen fabrics and finished goods – throws and table linen.
KOTHEA’s trade customers would perceive their signature fabrics to include several ranges of velvet including the exclusive ‘cashmere silk velvet’, silks, linens, double-width sheers, faux leather and interesting weaves for upholstery often with high Martindale ‘rub tests’ making them highly suited to both contract and residential projects.
Founder and Executive Director, Lisa Parsons started KOTHEA more than 10 years ago after 11 highly successful years with Nobilis Fontan in Chelsea and Donghia in Chelsea Harbour. She says, “At KOTHEA we like to think we bring something a little different to the market. Our difference will be reflected in our customers’ eyes by unusual fabrics that complement our core fabric ranges; all augmented by our excellent levels of customers service, market knowledge and attention to detail.”
# # #
For Further Information
Please visit the company web site at https://www.kothea.com
Trademarks
KOTHEA is a registered trade mark of KOTHEA Limited. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
KOTHEA Release New Fabric For Interiors
LONDON, England. 02-MAR-2009 11.30 AM: KOTHEA today announced it has expanded its product range by the addition of KODEKOBA, a fabric suitable for domestic upholstery. KODEKOBA has an unusual weave and texture. The striking weave makes the fabric highly suited for high visibility areas.
KODEKOBA
Reference: 02-001-386
Colour Shown: Light Brown
Other colourways: 3
Width: 140cm
Repeat: None
Composition: 55% Cotton, 26% Viscose, 9% Polyester.
Martindale: 18,000 ‘rubs’
Primary Usage: Residential upholstery & Cushions.
Type of fabric: Textured Weave
About KOTHEA.
KOTHEA are a top-market fabric house based in London serving customers throughout all of Europe and The Middle East. Founded in 1999 they have since continued to develop and sell an extensive range of timeless fabrics to the top architects, interior- and yacht-designers for projects ranging from mega-yachts to boutique hotels and from luxury spas to penthouses.
KOTHEA operate on a trade-only basis and their fabrics are available to the public through interior designers and specialist interior design shops such as Gotham, Interiors Bis and Fiona Campbell. KOTHEA also supply beautiful hand-woven linen fabrics and finished goods – throws and table linen.
KOTHEA’s trade customers would perceive their signature fabrics to include several ranges of velvet including the exclusive ‘cashmere silk velvet’, silks, linens, double-width sheers, faux leather and interesting weaves for upholstery often with high Martindale ‘rub tests’ making them highly suited to both contract and residential projects.
Founder and Executive Director, Lisa Parsons started KOTHEA more than 10 years ago after 11 highly successful years with Nobilis Fontan in Chelsea and Donghia in Chelsea Harbour. She says, “At KOTHEA we like to think we bring something a little different to the market. Our difference will be reflected in our customers’ eyes by unusual fabrics that complement our core fabric ranges; all augmented by our excellent levels of customers service, market knowledge and attention to detail.”
# # #
For Further Information
Please visit the company web site at https://www.kothea.com
Trademarks
KOTHEA is a registered trade mark of KOTHEA Limited. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
The following is a more wordy description of our new fabric KOCHENCAT. The original text is here. A more wordy version requested for Super Yacht Times:
KOTHEA introduces KOCHENCAT, a versatile and extravagant fabric delivering understated excellence for designers in the yacht, spa and boutique hotel markets.
An extensive colour palette covering 27 colours gives colour options for every interior. Gold, lime, charcoal, taupe and ivory complement all discerning schemes and the luxurious feel of a fabric mixed with chenille and cotton delights all the senses.
Combine beauty with practicality and you get KOCHENCAT. This versatile, textured weave is suitable for demanding environments; it has the superb durability demonstrated by high Martindale ‘rub’ characteristics and can be further treated to resist the demands of water and heat – as is always expected in the yacht and hospitality industries. It is equally at home as upholstery, as panelling or as curtain material.
Versatility, beauty, dependability: KOCHENCAT.
If you’re reading this you’ve probably already read my very brief history of natural dyes. The rest of the following discussion is not quite so brief and does get quite technical in a chemical sense but I’ve tried to omit as much of that as possible to make the information accessible to normal readers like you and me.
Within the space of 50 years, mankind had changed almost totally from natural dyes to synthetic ones. Phase 1 of this change was the addition of Chromium. The subsequent, often parallel, phases are discussed below with a bias towards how they apply to fabrics.
The 8 subsequent developments of synthetic dyes from Chromium onwards are:
(1. Chromium)
2. Triphenylmethane dyes
3. Anthraquinone dyes
4. Xanthene and related dyes
5. Azo dyes
6. Reactive dyes
7. Phthalocyanine compounds
8. Quinacridone compounds
9. Fluorescent brighteners
Phase 2: Triphenylmethane dyes
In 1858 Verguin (France) discovers ‘fuchsine’ a rose coloured dye made from aniline and tin chloride. This was the first of a series of dyes later called Triphenylmethanes and this marked the second phase of the growth of the synthetic dye industry. Adding excess aniline made aniline blue. Soon other variations were discovered and the chemistry understood; and before 1900 several hundred colours had been documented.
One problem with these dyes was solubility. That was overcome by the addition of sulphuric acid.
Phase 3: Anthraquinone dyes
In the 1850s and 1860s, the understanding of how carbon is structured (tetravalency) led to scientists being able to plan how chemicals might react before doing the experiments. Alizarin and its derivatives (the anthraquinones) gave a huge number of dyes which constitute the second biggest grouping of dyes.
The addition of sulphur created a group of bright, fast dyes for wool. Indrathone blue, a brilliant blue vat dye, was discovered at the turn of the century and related compounds are still today used as pigments spanning colours from blue to yellow.
Phase 4: Xanthene related dyes
Fluorescein was discovered in 1871 but related discoveries were seldom used with fabrics until the late 1880s when some were used for silk. However, the dyes had poor lightfastness and usage was stopped – only to be re-used 70 years later when they were found to be particularly good on acrylic fibres. Better products have been found since and now only one chemical dye in this class is used commercially (Safranine T).
Phase 5: Azo dyes
These form more than half of the commercial dyes used today.
The key is the reaction of nitrous acid with arylamine and then with phenols and arylamines. This chemical reaction forms part of the production process of 50% of dyes in use today having been used since 1875, firstly for wool.
Methyl- related azo dyes were used extensively up until the 1970s but this has now stopped in many countries as they were carcinogenic.
The discovery of the azo dyes led to the development of a method called ingrain dyeing. Here the dye is ‘made’ within the fabric. Since the process was carried out at around freezing point, some dyes were called ice colours. In 1912 Naphtol was found to form a water-soluble compound with an affinity for cotton, a major step in the development of the ingrain dyes. Naphtol is able to form a great number of possible end colours although many of these are not adequately colourfast.
Other Azo dyes became the most important commercial colourants because of their wide colour range, good fastness properties, and tinctorial strength (colour density), which is twice that of the anthraquinones, the second most important group of dyes. Azo dyes are easily prepared from many readily available, inexpensive compounds and meet the demands of a wide range of end uses. Cost advantages tend to offset the fact that these are less brilliant and less lightfast than the anthraquinones.
Phase 6: Reactive dyes
Reactive dyes are very adaptable and can create a huge number of colours.
The first reactive dyes utilized monoazo for bright yellow and red shades. Adding aniline gave the azo dye used in the first Procion Red.
Dichlorotriazinyl dyes are now produced by more than 30 dye manufacturers since the early patents on these dyes have expired.
With the introduction of reactive dyes, cotton could finally be dyed in bright shades with azo dyes for yellows to reds, with anthraquinones for blues, and with copper phthalocyanines for bright turquoise colours.
Phase 7: Phthalocyanine compounds
Phthalocyanines, the most important chromium derivatives developed in the 20th century being introduced in 1934 and marketed as Monastral Fast Blue B and Monastral Fast Blue G.
Copper phthalocyanine is the most important and can be formed directly on cotton. Although not useful for PET and acrylics, some complexes are utilized with nylon. Chemical bleaching alters the shade to bluish-green and green.
Water-soluble versions were developed later by the introduction of sulphur-based chemicals also producing a direct dye for cotton (Chlorantine Fast Turquoise Blue Gll), the first commercial phthalocyanine dye.
Such colourants all display strong, bright blue to green shades with remarkable chemical stability. These compounds exhibit excellent lightfastness, and their properties are in striking contrast to those of natural pigments that are destroyed by intense light or heat and mild chemical reagents. The high stability, strength, and brightness of the phthalocyanines render them cost-effective, illustrated by the wide use of blue and green labels on many products.
Phase 8: Quinacridone compounds
A second group of pigments developed in the 20th century were the quinacridone compounds. Quinacridone itself was introduced in 1958. Its seven crystalline forms range in colour from yellowish-red to violet.
Phase 9: Fluorescent brighteners
Raw natural fibres, paper, and plastics tend to appear yellowish because of weak light absorption. Bleaching can reduce this but the bleach must be mild to avoid damaging the material. Alternatively, a bluing agent can mask the yellowish tint to make the material ‘appear’ whiter (hence the phrase a ‘bluey whiteness’), or the material can be treated with a fluorescent compound that weakly emits blue visible light. These compounds, also called “optical brighteners,” they are not dyes in the usual sense. The major industrial applications are as textile finishers, pulp and paper brighteners.
Well done for getting this far!
KOTHEA Release New Fabric For Interiors
Full details of the Press release, including images, are given here. A more wordy version is here.
A Summary Is Given Below
LONDON, England. 01-FEB-2009 12.30 AM: KOTHEA today announced it has expanded its product range by the addition of KOCHENCAT, an upholstery, panelling and curtain fabric suitable for both contract and residential usage.
Name: KOCHENCAT
Reference: 19-002-431
Colour Shown: Red
Total Colourways: 27
Width: 140cm
Martindale: 50,000 ‘rubs’.
Usage: Curtains. Upholstery. Panelling.
Type of fabric: Textured Weave.
Composition: 49% Cotton. 31% Polyester. 20% Chenille.