{{Short description|Soft, plain-woven cotton or linen fabric with a lustrous finish}} {{Distinguish|Cambria|Cambrian|Cumbric}} {{Redirect|Batiste}} <!--linked from Chambray--> {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}} thumb|White applique on linen batiste, a type of cambric, with needlepoint fillings thumb|Morning blouse made of cambric [[File:Charvet corsage.jpg|thumb|upright|Corsage made of cambric (1898)]]
'''Cambric''' or '''batiste''' is a fine dense cloth.<ref name="Brewster1814">{{cite book |author= Sir David Brewster |title=Second American edition of the new Edinburgh encyclopædia |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=RwsoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA189|year= 1814|publisher= Published by Samuel Whiting and John L. Tiffany [and others] |pages= 189–190}}</ref> It is a lightweight plain-weave fabric, originally from the commune of Cambrai (in present-day northern France), woven greige (neither bleached nor dyed), then bleached, piece-dyed, and often glazed or calendered. Initially it was made of linen; from the 18th and 19th centuries the term came to apply to cotton fabrics as well.
Chambray is a similar fabric,<ref>{{cite book |title=Extension of the Emergency Price Control Act of 1942 |date=1944 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |page=823 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=PQ7RAAAAMAAJ |access-date= 14 July 2020}}</ref> with a coloured (often blue or grey) warp and white filling; the name "chambray" replaced "cambric" in the United States in the early 19th century.<ref name="Ethnic Dress book">{{cite book |last1=Bradley |first1=Linda Arthur |title=Ethnic Dress in the United States |year= 2014 |publisher= Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |isbn= 9780759121508 |pages= 67–68 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=tiEvBQAAQBAJ}}</ref>
Cambric is used as fabric for linens, shirts, handkerchiefs, ruffs,<ref>{{cite book|last1= Westman|first1= Hab'k O.|title= Transactions of the Society of Literary & Scientific Chiffoniers|date= 1844|publisher= Harper & Brothers|location= New York|page= 58|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=UixkAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA58}}</ref> lace, and in cutwork and other needlework.<ref name="Hardouin-FugierBerthod1994">{{cite book |author1=Elisabeth Hardouin-Fugier |author2= Bernard Berthod |author3= Martine Chavent-Fusaro |language= fr |page= 120 |title= Les étoffes: dictionnaire historique |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7I_WAAAAMAAJ|year=1994|publisher=Editions de l'amateur|isbn=9782859171759 }} </ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Betzina |first=Sandra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ApAbw8CtvncC&dq=%22eyelet+fabric%22&pg=PA52 |title=More Fabric Savvy: A Quick Resource Guide to Selecting and Sewing Fabric |date=2004 |publisher=Taunton Press |isbn=978-1-56158-662-2 |language=en}}</ref> Dyed black, it is also commonly used as the dustcover on the underside of upholstered furniture.<ref>{{Cite book |last= |first= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x98DAAAAMBAJ&dq=cambric+%22dust+cover%22&pg=PA935 |title=Popular Mechanics |date=December 1935 |publisher=Hearst Magazines |pages=935 |language=en}}</ref>
==Description== Cambric is a finely woven cloth with a plain weave and a smooth surface appearance, the result of the calendering process. It may be made of linen or cotton. The fabric may be dyed any of many colours.<ref name="Smithsonian">{{cite book |editor1-last=Mytum |editor1-first=Harold |title=Death Across Oceans: Archaeology of Coffins and Vaults in Britain, America, and Australia |date=2018 |publisher=Smithsonian |isbn=9781944466169 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2R06DwAAQBAJ}}</ref>
Batiste is a kind of cambric;<ref name="EB1911" /> it is "of similar texture, but differently finished, and made of cotton as well as of linen".<ref name="oed" /> Batiste also may be dyed or printed.<ref name="EB1911" /> ''Batiste'' is the French word for cambric, and some sources consider them to be the same,<ref name="Smithsonian" /> but in English, they are two distinct fabrics.{{Citation needed|date=June 2008}}
Chambray, though the same type of fabric as cambric, has a coloured warp and a white weft, though it may be "made from any colour as you may wish, in the warp, and also in the filling; only have them differ from each other."<ref>{{cite book |title=Early American Weaving and Dyeing: The Domestic Manufacturer's Assistant and Family Directory in the Arts of Weaving and Dyeing |last=Bronson |first=J. and R. |orig-year=First published in 1817 |publisher=Dover Publications |location=New York |year=1977 |page=21}}</ref>
Chambray differs from denim in that "chambray's warp and weft threads will alternate one over the other, while denim’s warp thread will go over two threads in the weft before going under one."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nenadseo.com/chambray-vs-denim-difference/|title=WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CHAMBRAY AND DENIM?|website=Nenad SEO|date=30 January 2023 }}</ref> As a result, the colour of chambray cloth is similar front and back, while the reverse side of denim is lighter in colour.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://propercloth.com/reference/chambray-vs-denim/| title=Chambray vs Denim| date=12 February 2014| publisher=Proper Cloth| access-date=4 August 2018| archive-date=4 August 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180804075749/https://propercloth.com/reference/chambray-vs-denim/| url-status=live}}</ref>
==History== thumb|left|A blue chambray fabric, made of a blend of linen and cotton, with blue warp and white filling
Cambric was originally a kind of fine, white, plain-weave linen cloth made at or near Cambrai.<ref name="oed">''Oxford English Dictionary''</ref><ref name="EB1911">{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Cambric|volume=5|page=89}}</ref> The word comes from ''Kameryk'' or ''Kamerijk'', the Flemish name of Cambrai,<ref name="oed" /><ref name="EB1911" /> which became part of France in 1677. The word is attested since 1530.<ref name="oed" /> It is a synonym of the French word ''batiste'',<ref name="oed" /> itself attested since 1590.<ref name="littré">{{cite book |title=Le Robert: Dictionnaire historique de la langue française |volume=1 |page=352 |language=fr |publisher=Dictionnaires Le Robert |year=2000 |isbn=2-85036-532-7}}</ref> ''Batiste'' itself comes from the Picard ''batiche'', attested since 1401 and derived from the old French ''battre'' for bowing wool. The modern form ''batiste'', or ''baptiste'', comes from a popular merge with the surname Baptiste, pronounced ''Batisse'', as indicated by the use of the expressions ''thoile batiche'' (1499) and ''toile de baptiste'' (1536) for the same fabric.<ref name="littré" /> The alleged<ref>{{cite book |title=Archives historiques et littéraires du nord de la France, et du midi de la Belgique |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_7c0GAAAAYAAJ|year=1829 |language=fr |publisher=Au Bureau des Archives. |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_7c0GAAAAYAAJ/page/n587 341]–}}</ref> invention of the fabric, around 1300, by a weaver called Baptiste or Jean-Baptiste Cambray or Chambray, from the village of Castaing in the peerage of Marcoing, near Cambrai, has no historic ground.<ref name="littré" /><ref name="philologie1898">{{cite book |author=France. Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques. Section d'histoire et de philologie |title=Bulletin historique et philologique du Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques |language=fr |quote=Pas plus une réalité historique que l'étymologique brasseur Cambrinus. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y2Q9AAAAYAAJ|year=1898|publisher=Impr. nationale}}</ref><ref name="Cambrai1859">{{cite book |author=Société d'émulation de Cambrai |title=Séance publique [afterw.] Mémoires |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_3MsEAAAAQAAJ |language=fr |quote=On ignore complètement le siècle où a vécu Jean-Baptiste Cambrai.|year=1859 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_3MsEAAAAQAAJ/page/n199 1]–}}</ref><ref name="Pfister1980">{{cite book |author=Max Pfister |language=de |quote=Obschon Cambrai fûr die mittelalterliche Leinenindustrie bekannt ist und ''Baptiste'' sogar mit einem Denkmal geehrt wurde, dürfte dieser Fabrikant historisch nicht nachweisbar sein, da ''batiste'' etymologisch auf ''battre'' zurück geht. |title=Einführung in die romanische Etymologie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0wsaAAAAMAAJ|year=1980|publisher=Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, [Abt. Verl.] |isbn=978-3-534-07834-9}}</ref> Cambric was a finer quality and more expensive<ref name="Society1808">{{cite book |author=Belfast Literary Society |title=Select papers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3f8AAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA31|year=1808 |page=32 |quote=Cloth of this fabrick, lower than ''5s.'' per yard, is called Lawn, above ''5s.'', Cambrick.}}</ref> than lawn (from the French ''laune'', initially a plain-weave linen fabric from the city of Laon in France<ref name="Romania1900">{{cite book |author=Société des amis de la Romania |title=Romania |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=55iPPxxZLMwC|year=1900|publisher=Société des amis de la Romania |volume=29 |page=182}}</ref>). Denoting a geographic origin from the city of Cambrai or its surroundings (''Cambresis'' in French), cambric is an exact equivalent<ref>{{cite book |language=fr |page=304 |title=Revue de l'enseignement des langues vivantes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1dEaAQAAMAAJ|year=1902}}</ref> of the French ''cambrésine'' ({{IPA|/kɑ̃.bʁe.zin/}}),<ref name="oed" /> a very fine, almost sheer white linen plain-weave fabric,<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Illustrations of a Manuscript of the Travel Account of François de la Boullaye le Gouz in the Library of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in Rome |last=Bernardini |first=Michele |journal=Muqarnas |volume=21 |year=2004 |page=64 |quote=Elle a une pièce de cambrésine sur son corps tellement fine que l'on voit à travers. |doi=10.1163/22118993-90000054}}</ref> to be distinguished<ref name="française1836">{{cite book |author=Académie française |title=Dictionnaire de l'Académie française |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2XlXry4HAGgC&pg=PA135|year=1836|publisher=Firmin Didot frères |language=fr |page=135}}</ref> from ''cambrasine'', a fabric comparable to the French lawn despite its foreign origin.<ref name="M.)1839">{{cite book |author=Guillaumin (Gilbert-Urbain, M.) |title=Dictionnaire universel théorique et practique du commerce et de la navigation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C4FQAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA493|year=1839|publisher=Guillaumin et Cie |language=fr |page=493 |quote=On a donné ce nom à des toiles fines d'Égypte, à cause de leur ressemblance avec la toile de Cambrai. Il y a aussi des cambrasines, que l'on tire de Smyrne; elles sont de deux sortes : celles qui viennent de la Perse, et celles apportées de la Mecque. Les premières conservent la dénomination de cambrasinbes; les secondes se nomment ''mamoudis''.}}</ref>
Cambric is also similar to chambray ({{IPA|/ˈʃɒmbreɪ/}}) from a French regional variant of "Cambrai",<ref name="oed" /> a name which "also comes from Cambrai, the French city, where the material was originally made of linen yarn".<ref name="Thompson1917">{{cite book |author=Eliza Bailey Thompson |title=The cotton and linen departments |url=https://archive.org/details/cottonlinendepar00thomuoft |page=[https://archive.org/details/cottonlinendepar00thomuoft/page/63 63]|year=1917 |publisher=Ronald press company}}</ref> Chambray (also spelled "chambrai") appears in North American English in the early 19th century.<ref name="oed" /> Though the term generally refers to a cotton plain weave with a coloured warp and a white weft, close to gingham, "silk chambray" seems to have coexisted.<ref>{{cite book |title=Textiles for Regency clothing 1800-1850: a workbook of swatches and information |last=Bassett |first=Lynne Z. |publisher=Q Graphics Production Co. |year=2001 |page=28 |isbn=9780965819763 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mupJAAAAYAAJ&q=chambrai}}</ref> Chambray was often produced during this period by the same weavers producing gingham.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Putting up with Putting-Out: Power-Loom Diffusion and Outwork for Rhode Island Mills, 1821-1829 |last=Fowler Mohanty |first=Gail |journal=Journal of the Early Republic |volume=9 |date=Summer 1989 |pages=204, 206, 214}}</ref>
White linen cambric or batiste from Cambrai, noted for its weight and lustre,<ref>{{cite book |last=Savary des Bruslons |first=Jacques |title=Dictionnaire universel de commerce |volume=1 |page=902 |publisher=Vve Estienne |location=Paris |year=1741 |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1117365/f757.image.r=savary+dictionnaire+de+commerce.langFR |language=fr |quote=Sorte de toile de lin, très fine, & très blanche |archive-date=18 March 2025 |access-date=23 May 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250318031057/https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1117365/f757.image.r=savary+dictionnaire+de+commerce.langFR |url-status=live }}</ref> was "preferred for ecclesiastical wear, fine shirts, underwear, shirt frills, cravats, collars and cuffs, handkerchiefs, and infant wear".<ref name="Greene">{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion |volume=1 |last=Greene |first=Susan W. |publisher=Charles Scribner's sons |year=2005 |page=217}}</ref> Technical use sometime introduced a difference between cambric and batiste, the latter being of a lighter weight and a finer thread count.
In the 18th century, after the prohibition of imports into England of French cambrics,<ref name="The Gentleman's magazine">{{cite book |title=The Gentleman's magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W0gDAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA241|year=1759|publisher=F. Jefferies |page=241}}</ref> with the development of the import of Indian cotton fabrics, similar<ref name="Hardouin-FugierBerthod1994"/> cotton fabrics, such as nainsook, from the Hindi ''nainsukh'' ("eyes' delight"),<ref name="oed"/> became popular. These fabrics, initially called Scotch cambrics to distinguish them from the original French cambrics,<ref>{{cite book |title=Official descriptive and illustrated catalogue: Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, 1851. By Authority of the Royal Commission. In 3 volumes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qb1AAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA516|year=1851|publisher=Spicer Brothers |page=516}}</ref> came to be referred to as cotton cambrics or batistes.<ref name="Greene"/> Some authors increased the confusion with the assumption the word batiste could come from the Indian fabric ''bastas''.<ref name="RipleyDana1859">{{cite book |author1=George Ripley |author2=Charles Anderson Dana |title=The new American cyclopaedia: a popular dictionary of general knowledge |url=https://archive.org/details/newamericancycl16danagoog|year=1859 |publisher=D. Appleton and Co. |pages=[https://archive.org/details/newamericancycl16danagoog/page/n744 738]–}}</ref>
In the 19th century, the terms cambric and batiste gradually lost their association with linen, implying only different kinds of fine plain-weave fabrics with a glossy finish.<ref>{{cite book |last=Denny |first=Grace Goldena |title=Fabrics and How to Know Them |publisher=Lippincott |year=1923 |oclc=2231068 |quote=In this century, [nainsook] is described as a soft-finished white cotton fabric with a polish on one side ... not so closely woven as cambric but heavier than batiste.}}</ref><ref name="Philippine magazine">{{cite book |title=Philippine magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WGkVAAAAIAAJ|year=1922|page=382 |quote=Cambric is a fine calendered cotton or linen cloth of plain weave characterised by the smooth glossy surface.}}</ref> In 1907, a fine cotton batiste had 100 ends per inch in the finished fabric, while a cheap-grade, less than 60.<ref name="Co1914">{{cite book |author=Frank P. Bennett & Co |title=A cotton fabrics glossary |url=https://archive.org/details/acottonfabricsg00cogoog|year=1914 |publisher=Frank P. Bennett & co., inc. |page=[https://archive.org/details/acottonfabricsg00cogoog/page/n177 125]}}</ref> At the same time, with development of an interest in coloured shirts, cambric was also woven in colours, such as the pink fabric used by Charvet for a corsage, reducing the difference between cambric and chambray. Moreover, the development and rationalization of mechanical weaving led to the replacement, for chambray, of coloured warp and white weft by the opposite, white warp and coloured weft, which allowed for longer warps.<ref name="Coffin1998">{{cite book |author=David Page Coffin |title=Shirtmaking: developing skills for fine sewing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9H06BYNzm5sC&pg=PA7|year=1998|publisher=Taunton Press |isbn=978-1-56158-264-8 |page=7}}</ref>
==See also== * {{anl|Gingham}} * {{anl|Lawn cloth|Lawn}} * {{anl|Nainsook}}
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
==External links== {{Wiktionary|cambric}} {{Commons category|Cambric}} * [https://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-cambric.htm Article on cambric] * [https://www.thosethatknow.co.uk/chambray-work-shirts/ The history of cambric's use in clothing] * [https://www.gulahmedshop.com/blog/post/why-wear-cambric Article on why to wear cambric]
{{Fabric}}
Category:Cambrai Category:Lace Category:Needlework Category:Woven fabrics