What, precisely, is “figured dimity”? I have a reference to someone wearing a dress made from this material ca. 1900, and while many sources repeat the reference and I understand it’s some type of colored print, I can’t run down a modern description.
Anyone?
“Figured” is general rather than specific - it’s like saying “patterned calico” as opposed to solid colour. Here’s an illustration:
figured dimity
And a photo of an example of the fabric itself:
close-up
Thanks. The problem, from my perspective at least, is that both terms seem to be vague and related to the era of their use.
I think dimity is a heavy but fine (or finer) cotton, but I see other references to it being a lightweight fabric. I can’t find any modern equivalent - perhaps there isn’t one and it’s just the fabric that is rare these days. References to it being a linen or wool seem only to apply to 17th century and earlier, meaning ca. 1900 it would have been a cotton.
Figured particularly throws me - does it mean a pattern from the weaving (as dimity seems to be defined in part by having two warp threads?), or does it mean embossed or woven patterns or figures, or does it refer to the printed patterns or figures? Various references seem to indicate all of these in turn, and it’s maddeningly vague and circular.
If there’s an authoritative reference, I’d love to know.
I know this isn’t the answer you want, but when I was in school, our textbook used “figured” for embossed, woven OR printed patterns. Which drove me bonkers, hence remembering it, so I suppose that’s something.
As to the weight, remember that a lot of fashion fabrics that are described as “fine” are meaning that they have a smooth or polished hand, or that they are finely woven. That doesn’t *necessarily *translate to lightweight, although it certainly doesn’t preclude that. You can have vastly different weights of silk chiffon for example, so I don’t see why dimity couldn’t have a variation also.
I’ll try to see if I can hunt down that textbook in the jumble pile for you, but I wouldn’t hold me breath if I were you.
I’m in no rush, thanks. At this point I’m going to have to check my local U’s to see which one might have a substantial shelf on fashion, fabric and clothing history… if there’s a Teemer out there with this seemingly simple info at hand, it would be a help.
