Oftentimes, style terms that seem like they should have a pretty simple explanation, well… they don’t. (Foxing, for example, has pretty much zero to do with foxes.) There are those lucky instances, though, where the name and the reasoning behind … read more →

Does the small dot in the middle of a sideways square really look like a bird’s eye? It’s up for debate. Regardless, that visual association is the reasoning behind the name for birdseye, a complicated weave that creates a series … read more →

A few hundred years ago, you wore houndstooth to avoid a fight. The pattern—a duotone check characterized by a series of broken squares or abstract, four-pointed shapes—was one of the few not registered as an official clan tartan in Scotland. … read more →

At the dawn of the 19th century Joseph Marie Jacquard revolutionized weaving by perfecting a machine that could program a loom to print out a large scale and intricate pattern automatically. A punch card, similar to Florida’s famous voter ballots, … read more →