Historical information

Damask is a reversible figured fabric of silk, wool, linen, cotton, or synthetic fibres, with a pattern formed by weaving. Damasks are woven with one warp yarn and one weft yarn, usually with the pattern in warp-faced satin weave and the ground in weft-faced or sateen weave. Twill damasks include a twill-woven ground or pattern. Damask weaves appear most commonly in table linens and furnishing fabrics, In the 1900s, the invention of the Jacquard loom made damask much easier to create. Jacquard fabric was woven with the direction of a series of punch cards that could be used to alter the position of the warp threads in the fabric. These punch cards automated the weaving process, allowing manufacturers to mass produce patterns and making the resulting fabric much less expensive than it once had been. Modern Jacquard weaving is accomplished with computer controls. Irish Linen was very popular because of its high quality and this table cloth may have been made in Ulster, Northern Ireland

Physical description

A white damask tablecloth.