Shot silk

Shot silk with a blue warp and pink weft.
Man's shot silk suit, purple warp and green weft, c. 1790 (altered c. 1805). Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Shot silk (also called changeant,[1] changeable silk, changeable taffeta, cross-color, changeable fabric,[2] or "dhoop chaon" ("sunshine shade")[3]) is a fabric which is made up of silk woven from warp and weft yarns of two or more colours producing an iridescent appearance.[4] A "shot" is a single throw of the bobbin that carries the weft thread through the warp,[4] and shot silk colours can be described as "[warp colour] shot with [weft colour]." The weaving technique can also be applied to other fibres, such as cotton, linen, and synthetics.

  1. ^ Franck, Robert R., ed. (2006). Silk, mohair, cashmere and other luxury fibres (Repr. ed.). Boca Raton: CRC. p. 31. ISBN 9781855735408.
  2. ^ Montgomery, Florence M. (1984). Textiles in America 1650-1870 : a dictionary based on original documents, prints and paintings, commercial records, American merchants' papers, shopkeepers' advertisements, and pattern books with original swatches of cloth. Internet Archive. New York; London : Norton. p. 195. ISBN 978-0-393-01703-8.
  3. ^ India, Malkha. "CROSS COLOUR FABRIC : KORA : KATHA BROWN". Malkha India. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  4. ^ a b Takeda & Spilker 2010, p. 49.