Plate No. 100fabric
The crispest, sheerest cotton; the stiffness is acid-set and permanent.
- First documented
- 1800s
- Origin
- France, France
- Fiber
- cotton
- Weave
- sheer plain weave, acid-finished
- Family
- plain
Plate No. 100 · fabric
Organdy
Organdy is the crispest cotton there is: the sheerest, stiffest plain-woven cotton, made permanently transparent and wiry by a sulfuric-acid finish that partly dissolves and hardens the fiber surface. It is to cotton what organza is to silk, the architectural sheer, holding the pleats, ruffles, and standing collars of summer dresses, christening gowns, and pinafores. Its stiffness is structural and permanent, surviving washing, which is what separates true organdy from a merely starched lawn.
Named for
Of uncertain origin, possibly tied to Organzi or to the silk word organzine; the cotton sheer kept the name.