Cretonne

Cretonne, originally a white cloth of French manufacture, is a name now applied to a printed cotton fabric used for curtains or for covering furniture, which was introduced about 1860. Chintz (q.v.), so much employed for the same purpose in former years, is a comparatively thin printed cloth usually highly glazed. Cretonne, on the other hand, is generally thick and strong for a cotton fabric, and with a twilled, crape, basket, wave, or other figure produced on the loom. When a pattern is printed on this uneven surface (it is sometimes plain), it has a rich, soft appearance. A cretonne is rarely calendered or glazed. The thick woft threads of inferior qualities are commonly formed of waste cotton, and the patterns upon these, though often bright and showy, are as a rule printed in more or less fugitive colours. Some cretonnes are now printed on both sides with different patterns.