The Primary Structures of Fabrics

Book excerpt: Irene Emery was one of America's leading authorities on ancient fabrics and textiles before her death in 1981. Her studies led her to become increasingly concerned with the haphazard and confusing terminology for describing fabrics in a precise way, and she began serious study of this problem at the Laboratory of Anthropology Santa Fe in 1947, and later at the textile museum in Washington D.C. This book is a result of these studies, recognised as a classic when first published in America. The book's essential strength is its universality: for the first time a definition of the actual structural make up, of fabrics and their component parts is clear and accessible to all, whether the purpose of study is an aspect of design, history, or cultural significance and whatever its scope chronologically or geographically.