Misplaced Pages

Crêpe, also spelled crepe or crape (from the French crêpe), is a silk, wool, or synthetic fiber fabric with a distinctively crisp and crimped appearance. The term "crape" typically refers to a form of the fabric associated specifically with mourning. Crêpe was also historically called "crespe" or "crisp".

It is woven of hard-spun yarn, originally silk "in the gum" (silk from which the sericin had not been removed). There traditionally have been two distinct varieties of the crêpe: soft, Canton or Oriental crêpe, and hard or crisped crêpe.

Types

A

Aerophane

1.  A crimped silk gauze with a crêpe texture.

2.  A historic 19th century lightweight crêpe, introduced in 1820, and, as "crepe aerophane" in 1861.

Albert crêpe

1.  A fine black silk mourning crêpe introduced in 1862.

2.  Plain-weave crêpe.

3.  An English-made silk and cotton blend crêpe.

Alicienne

A furnishing fabric with alternating plain weave and crêpe stripes.

Alpaca crêpe

Rayon and acetate blend crêpe with a woollen texture, not necessarily made of alpaca yarn.

Altesse

A British plain-weave silk fabric with crêpe filling.

Arabian

1.  A British-made plain-weave cloth with figured crêpe designs.

2.  Piece-dyed silk crêpe embroidered with dots.

Armure

(See Georgian crêpe)

B

Balanced crêpe

Crêpe woven with alternating S and Z twist yarns in both directions.

Balmoral crape

An 1895 English crape.

Balzerine

An 1889 narrow-striped silk grenadine overlaid with wider crêpe stripes. An earlier 1830s cotton/worsted fabric, spelled balzarine, was probably not crêpe.

Bark (or tree-bark) crêpe

A broad term describing rough crêpes with a bark texture.

Bauté satin

Warp-woven satin with a plain crêpe reverse.

Borada crape

A cheaper, economical version of mourning crape advertised in 1887.

Bologna crêpe

Silk crêpe used for mourning, also known as valle cypre.

C

Canton crêpe

A soft silk crêpe with a pebbly surface originally associated with Canton in China, with bias ribs. Made in Britain, but exported to China, hence its name.

Caustic soda crêpe

Cotton treated with chemicals to create a crêpe-like texture, often in patterns.

Chiffon crêpe

Chiffon-weight crêpe.

Chijimi

Japanese crêpe.

Chirimen

Japanese raw silk crêpe widely used to make kimono. When woven with a dot it is mon-chirimen.

Courtauld crape

1890s mourning crape made by Courtaulds. An 1894 variation, called 'Courtauld's new silk crêpe', was exceptionally thin and soft. Courtaulds monopolised the export market for English crapes and crêpes, meaning that the textiles known as "crape anglaise" were almost always manufactured by Courtaulds up until 1940.

Crêpe Algerian

A trade name for a printed pongee with a rough crêpe texture.

Crêpe anglaise

A French term for English mourning crapes in black and white. The only true 'crape anglais' was considered that made by Courtaulds (see Courtauld crape) which was last made in 1940.

Crêpe Beatrice

Trade name for crêpe with a light warp stripe.

Crêpe berber

Trade name for a piece-dyed crepe-textured pongee.

Crêpe charmeuse

Lightweight silk satin with a grenadine warp and crêpe reverse.

Crêpe chenette

A tradename for a strong crêpe with a pebble texture.

Crêpe crêpe

Made with extra twists in the warp to create an extra-deep texture.

Crêpe de chine

A fine, lightweight silk, cotton, or worsted, with a plain weave and crêpe-twist filling.

Crêpe de chine travers

A ribbed crêpe de chine with heavier filling yarns introduced to the weave at regular intervals.

Crêpe de dante

Crêpe with silk and wool filling.

Crêpe de lahor

Cotton crêpe made in France.

Crêpe de laine

A sheer wool fabric plain-woven with hard twist for a slight crêpe effect.

Crêpe de santé

An undyed, closely woven, rough-textured wool-blend crêpe mixed with silk, linen, or cotton, also called "health crepe".

Crêpe de Suisse

1860 dress fabric.

Crêpe d'espagne

Open-weave fabric with a silk warp and wool filling.

Crêpe diana

Trade name for a cotton and silk blend crêpe.

Crêpe Elizabeth

English term for a mottled or pebbled georgette.

Crêpe faille sublime

Silk grosgrain with a hard-twist filling.

Crêpe flannel

Plain-woven worsted with a crêpe finish.

Crêpe imperial

Late 19th century woollen crape.

Crêpe jacquard

Crepe with designs produced by jacquard weaving.

Crêpe janigor

Trade name for a heavy rib textile with alternating rayon and dull acetate warp threads, cross-dyed for varied shades.

Crêpe jersey

Vertically ribbed silk crêpe resembling the knit fabric.

Crêpe lissé (or lease)

A lightweight, lustrous, slightly stiffened open-weave silk or cotton crêpe, with fewer twists than a crêpe crêpe.

Crêpela

French term for a crêpe effect.

Crepeline

Very sheer plain-woven silk usually used in textile conservation. Originally introduced in the 1870s as a cheap alternative to crepe de chine.

Crêpella

Plain-woven worsted using hard-spun yarn.

Crêpe maretz

An 1862 fabric.

Crêpe marocain

Heavy, cross-ribbed crêpe where the filling yarn is coarser than the warp, resembling a canton crêpe.

Crêpe meteor

Soft silk crêpe, twill weave reversing to satin.

Crêpe mohair

Silk and mohair blend crêpe.

Crêpe morette

Trade name. Lightweight worsted crêpe with heavier, looser filling.

Crêpe mosseux

A type of opaque voile which resists shrinkage.

Crêpe myosotis

A later mourning crêpe made in the 1930s, in crimped silk with a soft finish. Courtaulds launched this textile in the early 1930s as an alternative to the increasingly unpopular traditional stiff mourning crapes.

Crepenette

Crêpe-effect pongee.

Crêpe ondese

Rough textured rayon-acetate blend crêpe.

Crêpe poplin

A late 19th century silk-wool rib fabric with crêpe effect.

Crêpe rachel

French print cotton-worsted blend crêpe.

Crêpe radio

British raw silk crêpe with a ribbed effect, using alternate double rows of S-twist and Z-twist.

Crêpe royal

Sheer crêpe-de-chine introduced in 1889.

Crêpe suzette

A variation on crepon georgette.

Crepine

Silk with crêpe dots. The name also describes a type of fringe.

Crepoline

A class of transparent fabrics with a warp-wise crêpe effect.

Crepon

A heavier crêpe with an exaggerated warp-directional texture produced by several weaving techniques. A soft silky version was introduced in 1866, and the second, much heavier version in 1882. In the 1890s crepon also described a woollen fabric that puffed between stripes or squares, including crepon milleraye (striped) and crepon Persian (with 'Oriental patterns').

Crystal crêpe

An English term for silk crêpe.

Crespe

Lightweight crimped mourning gauze, late 16th century.

Cynara

An crêpe-type fabric in rayon and acetate.

Cyprus

Fine crêpe used for mourning hatbands in the 15th-17th centuries, made in Cyprus.

E

ʻeleʻele kanikau

Black mourning crêpe worn in Hawaii.

Epingline

Textile in silk, rayon or worsted with a crêpe surface.

Esmeralda or étendelle

Sheer white crêpe or gauze popular in the early 19th century, often embroidered.

F

Flat crêpe

Also called mock crepe or (inaccurately) French crepe. A smooth, flat plain-weave fabric, typically a silk blend, with hard-twisted yarns and ordinary yarn warp. Also used to describe a similar fabric made without crepe-twist yarns.

French crêpe

1.  An inaccurately-applied name for flat crêpe.

2.  Plain-weave light silk or rayon cloths similar to flat crêpe.

3.  A lingerie weight fabric with ordinary yarn warp and a twisted filling yarn that is less twisted than typical crepe twist.

G

Gamsa

An imitation satin-backed crêpe in twill weave rayon.

Georgette

1.  Sheer, lightweight fabric named after the couturiere Georgette de la Plante.

2.  A crepe-surfaced plain weave silk or synthetic fabric with alternating S and Z twist yarns in both warp and weft.

3.  An English term for cotton crepe.

Georgian crêpe

A chain-pebbled crêpe (called armure in France) often with diamond, shield or bird's-eye motifs.

H

Health crêpe

See crêpe de santé.

L

Lingerie crêpe

See French crêpe.

M

Marana

Woollen crepe, very resilient and drapable.

Mock crêpe

See flat crêpe.

Momie crêpe

Light cotton fabric.

Moss crepe

See sand crepe.

N

Norwich crêpe or crape

1.  19th century silk warp and worsted, resembling a non-twill bombazine but not considered true crêpe.

2.  17th century black-dyed worsted crêpe made in England.

3.  A georgette-like silk and cotton blend fabric in a crêpe weave.

P

Pekin crêpe

Pekin (shiny and matte striped textile) woven with a crêpe weft.

Plissé

Mainly cotton fabric with a crêpe effect created by chemically treating the fabric to pucker and crinkle, typically in stripes. Plissé satin is made using crêpe yarns.

R

Reverse crêpe

Woven with a crêpe yarn warp and flat filling.

Rhythm crêpe

Plain-weave rayon with seersucker stripe.

Romaine

Heavy but transparent crêpe.

Roshanara

Trade name for heavily ribbed satin-backed crepe.

Russian crêpe

Invented in 1881. A coarse-weave crêpe.

S

Sand crepe or moss crepe

Crêpe with a grained or frosted surface appearance, created with a small dobby weave.

Sawdust crêpe

Similar to sand crêpe but with a harsher surface.

Satin-back crêpe

Reversible fabric with a satin face and a crêpe reverse.

Shioze

Japanese spun-silk crêpe.

Spanish crêpe

See Crepe d'espagne.

V

Victoria crepe

British-made cotton crêpe with a high luster.

Y

Yantsou

Figured silk crêpe made in Yantai, Eastern China.

Yeddo crêpe

Soft cotton fabric, medium weight.

See also

• Crêpe paper, paper with similar texture
• Momie cloth

References

1. Online Etymology Dictionary
2. Dictionary.com
3. ^ Taylor, pp. 246-253
4.  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Crape". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 379.
5. ^ Tortora, Phyllis G.; Johnson, Ingrid (2013). The Fairchild Books Dictionary of Textiles (8th ed.). London: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781609015350.
6. ^ Lewandowski, p.6
7. ^ Lewandowski, p.77
8. ^ Lewandowski, p. 22
9. Lewandowski, p. 25
10. Tortora & Johnson, p.45
11. Tortora & Johnson, p. 52
12. Tortora & Johnson, p. 66
13. Tortora & Johnson, p. 96
14. Tortora & Johnson, p. 52
15. ^ Lewandowski, p. 52
16. Ikegami, p.276
17. Panda, p.92
18. ^ Lewandowski, p. 194
19. ^ Tortora & Johnson, p. 156
20. ^ Tortora & Johnson, p. 157
21. Tortora & Johnson, p. 164
22. Tortora & Johnson, p. 168
23. Lewandowski, p. 81
24. Lewandowski, p. 96
25. Lewandowski, p. 99
26. Tortora & Johnson, p. 215
27. Tortora & Johnson, p. 236
28. Tortora & Johnson, p. 247
29. Tortora & Johnson, p. 254
30. Picken, Mary Brooks (1957). A Dictionary of Costume and Fashion: Historic and Modern. Courier Corporation. pp. 88. ISBN 9780486402949.
31. ^ Tortora & Johnson, p. 259
32. Tortora & Johnson, p. 372
33. Tortora & Johnson, p. 418
34. Lewandowski, p. 224
35. Tortora & Johnson, p. 465
36. Tortora & Johnson, p. 509
37. Tortora & Johnson, p. 510
38. Lewandowski, p. 252
39. Tortora & Johnson, p. 517
40. Lewandowski, p. 254
41. Tortora & Johnson, p. 527
42. Tortora & Johnson, p. 536
43. Tortora & Johnson, p. 555
44. Tortora & Johnson, p. 664
45. Tortora & Johnson, p. 693
46. Tortora & Johnson, p. 695

Bibliography

• Ikegami, Eiko (2005). Bonds of civility : aesthetic networks and political origins of Japanese culture (Reprinted ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521601153.
• Lewandowski, Elizabeth J. (2011). The complete costume dictionary. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, Inc. ISBN 9780810877856.
• Panda, H. (2010). The complete book on textile processing and silk reeling technology (First ed.). Delhi: Asia Pacific Business Press, Inc. ISBN 9788178331355.
• Taylor, Lou (2009) . "Appendix 1: A Selection of Popular Mourning Fabrics". Mourning Dress: A Costume and Social History (2009 ed.). Routledge Revivals. pp. 246–253. ISBN 978-1135228439.
• Tortora, Phyllis G.; Johnson, Ingrid (2014). The Fairchild books dictionary of textiles (8th ed.). New York: Fairchild Books. ISBN 9781609015350.

• Woven fabrics
• Silk
• Death customs