Gauze

Gauze is the openest of the wovens: thin threads set far apart, sometimes with the warps twisted around each weft in the leno cross that keeps the loose threads from sliding. The result is cloth that is mostly space, which is why gauze breathes, drapes, and in its sterile cotton form became the standard surgical dressing. The same openness in silk made the floating veils of fashion; doubled and crinkled in cotton it is the summer shirting sold as double gauze.