Chenille (pronounced shuh-neel)
(1) A thick soft tufty silk or worsted velvet cord or
yarn used in embroidery and for trimmings and other embellishments.
(2) A fabric made with such a fringed silken thread used
as the weft in combination with wool or cotton; it’s a popular fabric for
garments such as sweaters.
(3) In casual use, any fabric with a protruding pile, as
in certain rayon bedspreads.
(4) A deep-pile, durable, woolen carpeting with chenille
weft: the most expensive of the power-loomed floor coverings in volume
production.
(5) In botany, the chenille plant (Acalypha hispida), a
shrub with colorful furry flowers
1738: from the French chenille
(velvety cord used in embroidery, fringes etc (literally “hairy caterpillar”
and a doublet of canicule)), from the
Latin canīcula (which under a strict etymological
breakdown suggests “little dog” but the only documented use was in the senses
“shrewish woman”; “dogfish”; “the star Sirius” (canicular); the worst throw in a
game of dice); it was a diminutive of canis
(dog), from the from primitive indo-European
root kwon- (dog). All uses are derived from the furry look of
certain caterpillars. Chenille is a
noun and chenillelike (also as chenille-like) is an adjective; the noun plural
is chenilles.
The unrelated noun chenillette originally described a class of small (most not even 3 metres (10 feet) in length), armored vehicles built for the French Army during the 1930s. Because they were tracked, they were sometimes referred to as tankettes (a noun later adopted as military slang for scaled-down tanks) but that was misleading because they were really armored utility vehicles intended to tow artillery pieces or trailers with supplies. The earliest had provision only for a driver and were unarmed but later designs expanded both capacities. By the standards of the time they were fast and being cheap to produce and operate were produced in large numbers and used by a number of militaries as late as the 1950s. In the UK, the Chenille name was adopted for a tracked sidewalk tractor, especially one equipped with plough-like device for clearing snow, the name an allusion to the (vaguely) caterpillar-like appearance. In arctic regions, snowcats (tracked, truck-like enclosed vehicles used to transport people and supplies across snow & ice) are sometimes referred to as chenillettes, the term used also for some of the machines operated by ski resorts or others in alpine areas.
Chenille is a type of fabric construction available in a range of designs and valued for qualities as varied as disguising wrinkles and retaining an opulent sheen meaning it is adaptable and widely used. The name comes from the French chenille (caterpillar) and in an allusion to the creature’s soft, fluffy appearance although this shouldn’t be taken too literally because some caterpillars have stinging hairs which can induce health problems such as itching, conjunctivitis, sore throats and various localized irritations which can in some cases lead to infections and because the hairs can even be flown off by gusts of wind, even being in close proximity can expose one to risk. The chenille technique used to produce the fabric involves placing several short piles of yarn between two core yarns, weaving them together to create a raised (ie hairy) effect.
Thick, durable, and water-resistant, chenille is popular
with furniture manufacturers and used for upholstery and its seen often in bed
sheets, rugs and linens but most photographed are the sweaters, dresses and
such, the industry liking the look because it’s so easy to achieve a lustrous,
opulent appearance and customers like it because the texture is such that it “absorbs”
crushing, crinkling and wrinkling without obvious effect. Quite which type of chenille should be chosen
will be dictate by the appearance desired and that is a product of the materials
used in the construction: cotton, silk, and wool chenille lend a soft and luxurious
texture, polyester versions have a shiny, almost velvety sheen while rayon
chenille is famously lush, durable valued for its shimmering iridescence. The cost breakdown of course dictates patterns
of consumption and polyester chenilles are by far the cheapest and most widely
used for furniture, especially where the surface areas large or subject to high
use. Natural fibres such as wool raises
the cost and demand more maintenance but no synthetic can match the softness,
natural feel and desired degree of fuzziness.
Examples of chenille fabrics.
Chenilles are among the more recent fabrics, the technique coming into use in France only in the mid-eighteenth century although then it was the preserve of artisans and it wasn’t until the 1830s that industrial production began in Scotland. Initially the fabrics were expensive because the process was broken into several stages and although mechanized, it remained labor intensive until dedicated machines were developed. The centre of production shifted to the US and by the 1930s, despite the onset of the Great Depression, the sector emerged as a bright spot for the industry because chenilles were adaptable to purposes as diverse as floor mats, bedspreads and upholstery, the economics particularly attractive because the production process made such efficient use of the cotton crop. Use actually declined in the post-war years but new techniques and the expansion of mass-market fashion in the 1960s & 1970s saw renewed interest in it for garments and fashion houses at all levels four it a flexible and adaptable fabric. Not unexpectedly, as manufacturing in the 1980s shifted to South Asia and the Far East, “faux chenille” soon hit the high street.
No comments:
Post a Comment