Plate No. 010fabric
Blue & White
Madder & White
Ochre & White
First documented
c. 1700s
Origin
South Asia, India
Fiber
cotton
Weave
slack-tension plain weave
Family
stripes

Plate No. 010 · fabric

Seersucker

Seersucker is a cotton fabric whose puckered stripes are woven, not printed, by holding some warp threads slack while others are taut. The raised stripes lift the cloth off the skin, which is why it became summer suiting in hot climates and a fixture of the American South. The pucker survives washing because it is structural rather than a finish.

Named for

From the Persian shir o shakkar, milk and sugar, by way of Hindi, describing the cloth's smooth and puckered stripes side by side.

Sources & References

  1. 1.Seersucker, Wikipedia
  2. 2.seersucker, Online Etymology Dictionary

Related specimens