Comments on: Where can I find this awesome fabric?

Question: Where can I find this awesome fabric?

Medieval Maven — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 06:40:51 -0800

I need to know if there is a particular word for this kind of brocade. I think it's a brocade. Here is a terrible picture from my cellphone of a kimono made out of this fabric. It's blurry I know, but maybe you can get the idea - it's a black background and the pattern is picked out in gold thread. It looks like the pattern is done after how oranges look when they are cut in half, but very stylized.

Does any one know if this is a particular kind of brocade? Where I could find some? I've looked on eBay and I've googled but I think I am missing some sort of key word here - I'm just getting run of the mill brocade, not this awesome stuff. Thanks!

By: dancinglamb

dancinglamb — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 06:58:40 -0800

Medallion brocade? It's really hard to see the photo. But from your description, I think that's what you're talking about. There is also Dragon Brocade that might be what you're looking for (I'm having a hard time finding a pic for a good link).

By: Medieval Maven

Medieval Maven — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 07:48:12 -0800

dancinglamb - it's like that but the "oranges" are all right up against each other. I made a sketch.

By: mu~ha~ha~ha~har

mu~ha~ha~ha~har — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 10:33:17 -0800

...the key to what it is, is in the pattern. Could you take a pencil rub or scan it ect??

Any clues as to where it came from?

It must be my screen, but I can't make out thing! I don't know what to ask.. Is it satin or silk (and the lining)? Is there a metalic thread or is it just super glossy? Is it just two shades of yellow on black? And what kind of quality is it?

So it's just like the sketch? No foral bits ect?

By: dancinglamb

dancinglamb — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 12:28:22 -0800

This is a little closer. Were you able to find out what country the kimono was from? I mean, I know traditionally, they're Japanese, but that may not be the case with the fabric (anybody can make a kimono, kwim?). If you can find out the country of origin, you might have better luck at least narrowing down what type of brocade to look for. (I was having closer luck finding similar stuff with Vietnamese brocade when looking for pictures instead of Chinese.) Good luck!

By: yohko

yohko — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:47:35 -0800

I think it's a brocade.

For all I can see in the photo, it could very well be a printed fabric embroidered with gold thread. From that blurry photo, no one else is going to be able to tell you this is a brocade if you are not sure after having seen the fabric in person.

By: Medieval Maven

Medieval Maven — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 18:11:51 -0800

I saw the fabric in person; I would call it a brocade. For all I know, it's made by sherpas and they call it something else. It was very heavily threaded - the thread was gold, and it was exclusively the orangey bits, no floral. It was in a japanese style, and it was old - vintage - and the guy in the shop knew nothing about it. It was too short and damaged, which is the only reason I did not buy it.

Thanks for the help - vietnamese might narrow it down a bit. It was def not dragons or any such thing.

By: Medieval Maven

Medieval Maven — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 03:41:20 -0800

For those of you playing at home - one of my other inquiries bore fruit, and it is, apparently, an embroidered/brocaded crest of a Japanese royal family - a ten or sixteen petal chrysanthemum . Not that I will necessarily ever be able to find such fabric but at least I know what it is.