When I first saw brocade in a shop, I knew I would buy a lot of that fabric – those floating designs on the surface and rich, opulent looks had me floored. The only thing that fazed me was the dry-clean label, but despite that, I did buy a lot of it.
What is Brocade?
Brocade is a rich jacquard fabric with intricate designs on its surface that look embossed or embroidered but are made by weaving supplementary weft yarns(silk or silver/golden zari; single color or multi-colored)Â into the warp on a special jacquard loom.
The patterns can be simple shapes like scrolls, flowers, or animals or as intricate as they come.
The fabric usually has a twill or satin background and is typically thick and heavy.
On brocade, the patterns are visible only on the face of the fabric. This makes the fabric non-reversible, unlike some other jacquard loom fabrics. This distinguishes it from other jacquard loom fabrics like Damask, which looks almost the same as brocade on the face.
The patterns result from how a brocade fabric pattern is made – by inserting the pattern thread between the warp thread of the ground fabric. The special thread is inserted in between by skipping the passage of the regular weft over a certain number of warp threads.
In making brocade fabric, the shuttles that move the thread are used only in the places where the patterns are supposed to be. Hence the weft thread is discontinuous on the fabric. For small designs, if you look at the back of a brocade fabric, you may see only the base fabric, but on the surface, you will find the pattern. This saves a lot of thread too.
The back of the same cloth seen earlier.
Origin of the word brocade may be from the Spanish word Brocado, or the Italian word Brocato, meaning ’embossed cloth’; It may have its origin in the Kurdish word Brocar as learned from this blog with some wonderful pictures of Syrian brocade fabrics.
Different types of Brocade
Silk brocade
Silk brocade is a beautiful brocade fabric that is soft, smooth, and very lustrous. Initially, this used to be the way brocade was made.
Cotton brocade
This brocade has subtler patterns and is lightweight than the silk brocade.
Jamdani, Balucar, Paithani, Himru are these kinds of brocades made in India. Jamdani is a very fine brocade. Cotton fabric is brocaded with cotton and sometimes zari threads. Himru is a cotton silk brocade.
Zari brocade
This brocade fabric has gold and silver thread woven to form the patterns. Brocade saris of India are made of this –Â gold or silver zari is used along with coloured silks to create various intricate motifs in this brocade fabric.
Originally zari was made of real silver of 98 percent purity, but as this is not feasible, synthetic zari is used. Gold threads are really only silver threads with gold polish, obtained by closely winding very fine silver wire around a silk thread.
The motifs usually used in Indian Brocade are that of floral bouquets, flowers, stars, and the moon, betal leaf etc
What can you sew with Brocade ?
Brocade has this expensive aura (it is expensive) and is usually used for making clothes as well as for home decor; in US, UK and Europe, brocade is used for making costumes for plays, upholstery and religious vestments and elsewhere for dressmaking for weddings, and such ostentatious occasions.
Medium-weight brocade fabric can be used for dressmaking, especially for making structured skirts or dresses, ornate jackets, pants, and evening wear.
The patterns on the brocade give an opulent look to anything you make with this fabric. It is a fabric used for covering high-end furniture. It is also used for making bags, purses, curtains/drapery, upholstery, headboards, etc. It is also an oft-used fabric for making Wedding gowns and waistcoats.
The brocades patterned with silver and golden thread look very rich and opulent. The dramatic look of brocade may put off the casual dresser. Still, there are subtle-looking brocades that can be made into dresses or even beautiful skirts or incorporated into dresses in subtle ways like a binding or piping in brocade or a yoke for the blouse.
The brocades are almost always elaborately patterned, but if you do not like that, you can choose a brocade in a self-colored pattern/ muted colors.
Sewing with brocade
Brocade is not a difficult fabric to sew. Some heavyweight brocade with zari work may look difficult, but when you start working with it, it cuts and sews like any other, because it depends on the ground fabric.
Use your regular sewing thread of polyester or cotton. The fabric edges fray a lot and will stick out to irritate the skin, so you will definitely have to finish the ends. You can serge the edges for a very professional finish or bind.
The lining is necessary with this fabric as you will find the threads sticking out in the back of the fabric, clearly separated from the ground. This can itch/ cause irritation, or the thread will snag, and the fabric will be damaged. So for a long-lasting garment, you should use a lining or underlining.
If you want to use interfacing, you will have to use sew-in interfacing instead of fusible. Ironing is a problem with brocade. You will have to be very, very careful. Â
Brocades are usually embellished with sequins and beads, though they do not need any embellishment.Â
Caring for Brocade clothes/fabric
Brocade fabric is usually marked dry clean; if you are washing at home, gently wash with mild shampoo and dry flat, removing all the wrinkles. Once the wrinkles are set, they are difficult to remove.
When Ironing brocade, you cannot use high temperatures, though the fabric is heavy. We should take care when ironing to prevent the soft thread from burning.
Related post :Metallic fabrics; Fabric dictionary.; How to care for zari; Damask fabric
Thanks a million for the easy to understand instructions and advice!
Thanks for the convenient information.
Thank you for information. It was very useful