Velvet is fashionable!

When we talk about velvet, one might imagine stiffened clothes, "old-fashioned" items, period drapes, theatre curtains but also trousers and shorts worn by scouts at the beginning of the last century... but think again... today velvet is fashionable!

For several years now, velvet has been making a comeback in the fashion spotlight. Because of its softness, its texture, but also the new printed patterns that can be found; velvet brings originality to our clothing pieces as well as accessories!

Moreover, when temperatures drop, velvet is a very good choice for making your own garments. It is soft, beautiful, comfortable and comes in a wide range of colours... In short, it is an excellent textile choice when living in our dear Belgium!

I especially love using it for my dresses, jumpsuits/overalls and winter skirts worn with tights and boots. It also holds a special place for making jackets, trousers, dungarees and shorts for both children and adults.

So let's talk about this wonderful material!

My Cléo dress by Fibremood in red corduroy velvet from the shop

My Caroline skirt from Atelier des premières in fuchsia corduroy velvet

Fashionable today but also fashionable yesterday... let's talk a little about the history of velvet!

The name "velvet" comes from the Latin vilosus (hairy) because of the hairs that velvet has since its creation. Velvet has the particularity of having one side covered with hairs and one side smooth.

Velvet originated in India, in the Kashmir region around the Middle Ages. At that time it was called "Swan down". Following the silk road, velvet arrived in Italy passing first through Persia, which was then a huge commercial and exchange hub. It was Italian merchants who spread it in Europe around the 14th century and who developed velvet weaving centres: Genoa, Venice, Milan and Florence. At that time, silk was woven making velvet extremely expensive due to the quality of its fibres but also the weaving time required. At that time, velvet was therefore reserved for the wealthiest! In the 16th century, France also began weaving velvet notably in Tours and especially in Lyon.

It was not until the 19th century with the invention in 1801 by the Lyonnais Joseph Marie Jacquard of the Jacquard loom, which allowed new weaving combinations and revolutionised the textile industry, that velvet became more accessible.

Copy of a 16th-century velvet dress

Jacquard loom from the Lyon textile industry and craftsmanship

What is velvet today?

Today, under the term velvet, we group together a variety of fabrics that share the common feature of having been woven with a complex weave called "velvet". This weave has the characteristic of combining, in addition to the usual warp and weft threads, one or more additional threads called "pile threads". These threads are embedded in the weft and form loops on the fabric surface (on one side only). These loops may be left uncut (as in terry cloth), or cut (as in cut velvet).

Because of the presence of loops on only one side of the fabric, as you can imagine, the two sides of velvet are very different and will influence how it is worked. The back side usually has a matte and smooth surface, and the front side has a surface made of small short hairs, upright and tightly packed in one direction.

And yes, like with a cat, the hairs of velvet have a direction and must be stroked in the direction of the nap...

While in the past only silk was used to create velvet, today the industry offers cotton, silk, wool, but also polyester velvets at very variable prices. So be attentive to the composition of the velvet you buy. In our shop and in line with our desire to work as much as possible with natural materials, we have chosen 100% cotton corduroy velvets and ribbed velvets with 97% cotton and 3% elastane.