Smooth Like….
Luxury, royalty, pleasure and feasting conjured by plushness.
These are all words and feelings associated with the sensation of touching, seeing and using this luxurious woven ancient fabric- yes you guessed it this plush fabric is velvet. Phrases such as ‘smooth as velvet’ and ‘soft as velvet’ are associated with the feeling one gets when you run your hand over a velvet fabric. Not to be confused with its poor cousin velour that is of a knitted construction, stretchy and came about later and often made from different fibres than the velvet that is referred to historically in the times of the renaissance and originally made from silk fibres.
Image credit via Venice Incoming
The art of weaving velvet most probably started in the Far East Asia and China and made its way down the Silk Road into Europe, being used in the middle east. For instance, velvet was a favorite fabric among the royalty of many civilizations located within the borders of modern Iraq and Iran. It is better traceable and documented in the 14th Century and renaissance period. In the Renaissance period emblems, motifs, crests and coats of arms were woven into specialty pieces with strands of gold and silver intertwined with the silk. Velvet was for the well to do expressing power and taste, with the church partial to the velvet cape or other decorative pieces made.
Image Credit: Lacma.org
The Italians, Spanish and Flemish were particularly well known for their craft in this field and exported fabrics all over Europe and the Ottoman empire. Patterned velvets with negative and positive finishes were of exceptional quality.
Image Credit: Rachel Claire via Pexels
Velvet is a type of weave construction with a tufted fabric where the threads are cut and evenly distributed with a short pile which creates its distinctive softness. Traditionally made using silk threads, today velvet can be made from rayon and silk, linen, cotton, wool and synthetic fibres. Velvet is not a flat fabric and is almost like a three-dimensional pile fabric that has a warp, ground and the yarn that creates the pile, velvets have more movement that moves with you when you sit on a sofa or wear it that creates that sense or feel that a flat fabric just doesn’t have.
Image credit care of JB Martin Velvet
Weave thread between two mirror pieces that have the nap or pile that creates the softness. This is very labour intensive using a lot of threads with amazing sheen, depth of colour with the three-dimensional formation as the appearance and reflection changes with the drape of various angles. As machine looms were developed, velvet production became much less expensive, and synthetic fabrics that mimic silk's properties finally made velvet available to everyone.
There is no doubt that velvet is a precious material for curtains, blankets, and other household items today, regardless of whether it is as pure or exotic as velvet of the past.
From the Renaissance period to the 60’s and 70’s velvet has been used for upholstery, fashion, curtains and lounges, a popular option, in the affluent and artistic realms. With bold and flamboyant colours used, bright red, green, blue and purple as the staple colour pallet. From the Paris catwalk to modern day royalty, velvet has and will remain a fabric of choice for quality, luxury and plushness.