Methodology

How this catalogue is made

Sourcing

Every factual claim in an entry, including dates, places, and naming, is tied to a published source. Each entry carries at least two citations to authoritative references, and those sources are listed openly at the foot of the page. Where a claim cannot be sourced, it is left out rather than asserted from memory.

Legend versus record

Textile history is full of good stories that are not documented. Where an origin is traditional or contested, we say so plainly and label it as attribution rather than fact.

The pattern renders

We do not use stock photographs of cloth. Each pattern is stored as a specification, the thread widths and colors that define it, and rendered to vector geometry at build time. A gingham is drawn from its check; a stripe from its stripe array. This keeps every specimen crisp at any size and faithful to how the cloth is actually constructed.

Authorship

Entries are published under the Cloth Almanac as an organization. We do not invent named experts or fabricate credentials.