Womens Lingerie : Lingerie Articles

CHIFFON
Chiffon, which is a French word for rag, is a lightweight sheer material with a slightly rough feel to it. It can be made from cotton, silk or synthetic fibers, but is usually associated with silk or nylon and can be dyed to almost any shade desired. If made from Polyester, it is difficult to dye. Under a magnifying glass it resembles a fine net or mesh which allows chiffon to have this see-through property.

Chiffon is most commonly used in evening wear, especially as an overlay, giving an elegant and floating appearance to the gown. It is also a popular fabric used in blouses, ribbons, scarves and lingerie. It is not, however, an easy fabric to work with because of its lightweight and slippery nature. Due to its delicate nature, chiffon must be hand washed very gently. It is very easy to tear inside a washing machine. A garment made of chiffon can rip apart while the wearer is sleeping in it. Most chiffon nowadays is made from polyester (for stain resistance) which is woven as a Stretch-knit fabric. Stretch-knit is a way of making non-stretchable fabrics stretch. However silk Chiffon is still regarded as the premiere type of Chiffon. It is dry cleanable does not suffer from the same level as degradation and tearing as Polyester Chiffon. It is stocked as piece-dyed (all one colour) or cross-dyed (in iridescent colours) by a series of major textiles companies such as Henry Bertrand, Saris and Sfate et Combier.


 
LACE
Lace is a lightweight, openwork fabric, patterned with open holes in the work, made by machine or by hand. The holes can be formed via removal of threads or cloth from a previously woven fabric, but more often open spaces are created as part of the lace fabric. Lace-making is an ancient craft. True lace was not made until the late 15th and early 16th centuries. A true lace is created when a thread is looped, twisted or braided to others threads independently from a backing fabric.

Originally linen, silk, gold, or silver threads were used. Now lace is often made with cotton thread. Manufactured lace may be made of synthetic fiber. A few modern artists makes lace with a fine copper or silver wire instead of thread.


 
LUREX
Lurex is the brand name for a type of yarn with a metallic appearance. The twine is most commonly a synthethic fibre, onto which an aluminium layer has been vaporised. "Lurex" may also refer to cloth created with the yarn.


 
LYCRA
Spandex or elastane is a synthetic fiber known for its exceptional elasticity (stretchability). It is stronger and more durable than rubber, its major non-synthetic competitor. It was invented in 1959 by DuPont chemist Joseph Shivers. When first introduced it revolutionized many areas of the clothing industry.

Spandex is the preferred name in North America and Australia, while elastane is most often used elsewhere, such as in Europe. It turns out that "spandex" was coined from an anagram of "expands." A well-known trademark for spandex or elastane is INVISTA's brand name Lycra®. Other trademarks include Elaspan (also INVISTA's), Dorlastan (Bayer) and Linel (Fillattice).


 
MESH
A mesh is similar to fabric or a web in that it has many connected or weaved pieces. In clothing, a mesh is often defined as fabric that has a large number of closely-spaced holes, frequently used for modern sports jerseys.


 
RHINESTONE
A rhinestone or paste is a diamond simulant made from rock crystal, glass or acrylic. Originally, rhinestones were rock crystals gathered from the river Rhine, but their availability was greatly increased when the Alsatian jeweller George Frederic Strass had the idea to coat the lower side of glass with metal powder around 1775, imitating diamonds. Hence, rhinestones are called Strass in the German language.

Rhinestones make excellent imitations of diamonds, and good manufacturers even capture the glistening effect that real diamonds have in the sun. As a result, if one was looking to save money while also having a convincing "diamond," a rhinestone is his/her best bet.

In 1955, the "Aurora Borealis" or "Aqua aura", a thin, vacuum-sputtered metallic coating applied to crystal stones to produce an iridescent effect, was introduced. Today, crystal rhinestones are primarily used on costumes, apparel and jewelry. They are produced mainly in Austria and the Czech Republic, while acrylic rhinestones are manufactured in several countries.


 
SATIN
Sain is a cloth that typically has a glossy surface and a dull back. A satin is a warp-dominated weaving technique that forms a minimum number of interlacings in a fabric. If a fabric is formed with a satin weave using filament fibers such as silk, nylon, or polyester, the corresponding fabric is termed a "satin." If the yarns used are short-staple yarns such as cotton, the fabric formed is considered a sateen.

A satin-woven fabric tends to have a high luster due to the high number of "floats" on the fabric. Floats are "missed" interlacings, where, the warp yarn lays on top of the weft yarn, or vice versa. The floats tend to make the
fabric look glossier as well as give it a smoother hand in most cases. Many variations can be made of the basic satin weave including a Granite weave and a Check weave.

Satin weaves are used commonly in apparel goods such as eveningwear and fine clothing. They can also be found in linens, such as bedsheets as well as in some industrial usages and athletic gear such as shorts and baseball jackets. Satin weaves, twill weaves, and plain weaves are the 3 basic types of weaving by which the majority of woven products are formed. Satin is commonly used in apparel: Satin baseball jackets, athletic shorts, women's lingerie, nightgowns, and evening gowns but also in some men's boxer shorts, shirts and
neckties, and interior furnishing fabrics, upholstery and bed sheets. It is also used for Ballet shoes- all Pointe shoes are made of satin.
 
VELVET
Velvet is a type of tufted fabric in which the cut threads are very evenly distributed, with a short dense pile, giving it its distinct feel. Velvet can be made from any fiber. It is woven on a special loom that weaves two pieces of velvet at the same time. The two pieces are then cut apart and the two lengths of fabric are wound on separate take-up rolls.

Velvet's knitted counterpart is velour. Velvet was very expensive and was considered to be among the luxury goods together with silk. Corduroy and velveteen were considered the "poor man's velvet" when they were first produced.

Velvet is difficult to clean, but in modern times, dry cleaning is used.