Matelasse Fabric

What is Matelasse Fabric?

• A Matelassé fabric is an example of what is called a "figured fabric" in the sewing world.

• It is woven with a complex weave structure, which indicates that the process of weaving used many warp and weft series at the same time.
• In order to put this into perspective, the most fundamental kind of plain weave is known as a "simple weave," and it consists of just one pair of warp and weft threads. In this type of weave, the weft threads pass over, under, and over the warp threads.

• In matelassé, often three or four sets of yarns are used to form an extremely complicated woven structure. To make the final product, these sets of yarns all connect to each other at the same time in a certain pattern.

• Since thick yarns are used as "puff" material inside the weave, the finished fabric will look like quilting after it has been washed.

• Although cotton is used to make the majority of matelassés, their material composition may also include a variety of other textiles such as silk, wool, linen, and so on. 

History 

• At the beginning of the 18th century, Marseilles was famous across Europe for its exquisite "trapunto" and "whitework" quilting.

• These sumptuous, hand-quilted fabrics had a great deal of popularity and found their way into a variety of women's clothing items.

• England wanted to be a part of the market for fine textiles, so it worked to make something similar on its own land.

• Any individual who was successful in producing such a cloth was awarded a prize.

• In the early 1740s, a man by the name of Robert Elsden devised a method to duplicate a comparable fabric on a loom. Even though this fabric was woven, it had the look of being quilted, even though it was not.

• When enough of the fabric was made in the 1760s for it to be sold commercially, the English called their new fabric "Marseilles Cloth" to take advantage of the growing demand for Marseilles quilts.

• The French started using the word "matlasser," which means "to quilt," to distinguish their style of hand quilting from that of other countries.

• This is the origin of the phrase "matelassé" that is often used today. When the Jacquard loom was invented in France in the year 1801, the process of making woven "quilting" became simpler and more efficient.

• Today, the vast majority of Matelassé textiles are made on Jacquard looms in factories.

• In the early 1950s, the now-famous Matelassé Bates Bedspreads were woven for the first time on looms just like these, and they are being woven with the same amount of attention to detail and skilled workmanship today as they were back then.

What Makes it Stand Out

Texture	The texture of the fabric depends on the fiber which is used to make it.
Sheer	It is opaque in appearance.

Applications & Usage

Home Furnishing

Bed skirts, pillow covers, curtains, bed sheets, cushion covers, etc.

Care Instructions

• Each cloth has its own set of care instructions.
• If you want to keep the raised patterns and structure of the cloth intact, you should avoid wrinkling it.