brocade n : thick heavy expensive material with a raised pattern v : weave a design into (textiles)

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes -eɪd

Noun

1. countable uncountable A thick heavy fabric into which raised patterns have been woven.
2. An item decorated with brocade.

Translations

Verb

1. To decorate fabric with raised woven patterms.

Brocade is a class of richly decorative shuttle-woven fabrics, often made in colored silks and with or without gold and silver threads. The name, related to the same root as the word "broccoli" comes from Spanish brocado, from Italian broccato meaning "embossed cloth," originally past participle of broccare "to stud, set with nails," from brocco "small nail," from L. broccus "projecting, pointed."

Brocade is typically woven on a draw loom. It is a supplementary weft technique, that is, the ornamental brocading is produced by a supplementary, non-structural, weft in addition to the standard weft that holds the warp threads together. The purpose of this is to give the appearance that the weave actually was embroidered on.

Ornamental features in brocade are emphasized and wrought as additions to the main fabric, sometimes stiffening it, though more frequently producing on its face the effect of low relief. In some, but not all, brocades, these additions present a distinctive appearance on the back of the material where the supplementary weft or floating threads of the brocaded or broached parts hang in loose groups or are clipped away. When the weft is floating on the back, this is known as a continuous brocade; the supplementary weft runs from selvage to selvage. The yarns are cut away in cutwork and broché. Also, a discontinuous brocade is where the supplementary yarn is only woven in the patterned areas.

See also

• Eight Pieces of Brocade
• Songket

References

• Etymology online http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=brocade
• Brocade paper (fragment), originally belonging to a sample book of J.M. Munck, Augsburg 1751 treasure 5 National Library of The Netherlands

• Marypaul Yates. Fabrics A Guide for Interior Designers and Architects. W. W. Norton & Co.