What Is Jacquard?

How is jacquard made?

Jacquard fabric is woven on a loom fitted with a Jacquard attachment, a device that decides, for every pass of the weft, which warp threads are lifted and which stay down. Because it controls warp threads individually, it can weave large, intricate patterns into the cloth itself rather than printing or stitching them on afterwards.

How the attachment works

Britannica describes the attachment as an automatic selective shedding device mounted on top of the loom and worked by a treadle. The shed is the opening between raised and lowered warp threads through which the weft passes.

1. Each warp thread has its own cord. The thread runs through a loop in a cord kept taut by a weight, and the cord hangs from a wire hook.
2. Punched cards are brought against a set of needles. Where the card has a hole, the needle passes through and that warp thread is lifted. Where there is no hole, the needle is pushed back and the thread stays down.
3. One card, one pass. Each card represents one throw of the shuttle, and the pattern is transferred to the cards from the designer’s weave draft.
4. More attachments, bigger designs. Several Jacquard attachments can be added to one loom to weave larger figured fabrics or pictures.

Woven and knitted jacquard

Britannica lists tapestry, brocade and damask among the fabrics the system made possible; CAMEO, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts materials database, adds brocatelle and matelassé. The system has also been adapted to patterned knitted fabrics, so a jacquard sweater is knitted, not woven.

Who invented the Jacquard loom, and when?

The Jacquard attachment was invented by Joseph-Marie Jacquard (1752–1834), a Frenchman born in Lyon, but sources give different dates for it. Britannica says he first had the idea in 1790, demonstrated an improved drawloom in 1801 and introduced the attachment in 1804–05. CAMEO dates the attachment to 1801. The two dates may describe different machines: Britannica gives 1801 for the improved drawloom and 1804–05 for the attachment.

• Before Jacquard: his system improved on the punched-card technology of a loom built by Jacques de Vaucanson in 1745.
• Resistance: the machine provoked bitter hostility among the silk weavers of Lyon, who burned machines put into production and attacked Jacquard himself.
• 1806: the loom was declared public property, and Jacquard received a pension and a royalty on each machine.
• 1812: 11,000 were in use in France, according to Britannica.

From looms to computers

Jacquard’s interchangeable punched cards found a second life outside weaving. The English inventor Charles Babbage adopted them as an input-output medium, Herman Hollerith used punched cards to feed data to his census machine, and cards remained a way of entering data into digital computers into the mid-20th century.

What is the difference between jacquard, brocade and damask?

Jacquard names the patterning mechanism, while brocade and damask name particular cloths woven with it: Britannica says brocade is usually woven by means of a Jacquard attachment. A label reading “jacquard” therefore tells you how the pattern was controlled, not which cloth you are holding.

What are the properties of jacquard?

Jacquard has no single set of properties, because it is a way of patterning cloth rather than a fibre or a single weave. Warmth, weight, breathability and how it washes come from the fibres and the structure of the particular cloth.

• Pattern in the structure: the motif is made by lifting and lowering the threads themselves, not applied to the surface.
• Many colours and textures: CAMEO describes complex repeating patterns combining many colours and yarn textures.
• Scale: several attachments on one loom can weave large figured designs and even pictures.
• Uses: CAMEO notes these cloths are often used for wall and floor coverings.

How is jacquard graded or measured?

None of the sources consulted sets a numeric grade for jacquard. What you can assess is the fibre content, which cloth it is, and the scale and detail of the pattern.

• Fibre content: read from the label, as below.
• Type of cloth: damask, brocade, matelassé or another structure, each with its own checks.
• Pattern repeat: because each card stands for one pass of the weft, a taller repeat needs more cards. Each attachment can control only a limited number of hooks, which is why several can be fitted to one loom for larger figured designs.

How does jacquard appear on a clothing label?

Jacquard is not a fibre, so it has no legal fibre name: under US rules the label must list the fibres, and “jacquard” can appear only as additional information, which must not be misleading or conflict with the fibre disclosure.

• Fibre content: fibres appear by generic name with their percentage by weight, in descending order of predominance. Fibres under 5% should be disclosed as “other fiber”, but wool must always be named.
• Other required information: the label must also give the country of origin and the identity of the manufacturer or dealer, which may be a registered identification number (RN).
• “100%” and “All”: “All” may be used in place of “100%”.
• Extra wording: additional information such as “jacquard weave” must not be deceptive or misleading, or conflict with the required information.

A hang tag reading “silk jacquard” or “cotton jacquard” is a description. The fibre line is the evidence.

How do you tell good jacquard from poor jacquard?

Check that the pattern is genuinely woven or knitted in, then judge the cloth by its structure and fibre. A pattern that is only printed on the surface is not jacquard, whatever the tag says.

1. Follow one thread across the motif. With a magnifier, trace a warp thread from the ground into the pattern. In a woven figure, the thread changes what it does at the edge, rising over or sinking under the weft. In a print, such as one made by screen printing, the thread runs on unchanged and only its colour shifts.
2. Turn it over. In a woven jacquard, the threads that make the face also form the back, so the back is shaped by the same pattern. Damask, for example, shows the motif on the reverse as a negative image. A clean or plain-looking back alone does not prove a print.
3. Rule out stitching. Embroidery is sewn onto finished cloth, so its stitches pierce the ground and can travel in any direction, unlike threads that run straight along the warp and weft.
4. Feel the surface. A motif raised on the face only points to brocade. A motif that reappears as a negative image on the back points to damask.
5. Look at the structure. Rows of interlocking loops mean a knitted jacquard; threads crossing at right angles mean a woven one.
6. Read the label in full. Compare “silk jacquard” or similar wording with the fibre percentages, and check the country of origin and RN are there.

Red flags: “jacquard print” or “jacquard-style” wording on a cloth whose pattern sits only on the surface; a fibre line that does not match the description on the hang tag; and no fibre percentages at all.

How do you care for jacquard?

Care for jacquard according to its care label, because the right method depends on the fibre and the cloth: a silk damask, a cotton matelassé and a polyester jacquard knit need different treatment. In the US, care labelling is governed by a separate FTC rule from the one covering fibre content.

Is jacquard sustainable?

Jacquard is a patterning method, so its environmental footprint depends mainly on the fibres it is made from and how the cloth is produced. None of the sources consulted gives impact data for jacquard as such. Judge a piece by its fibre content and origin, and see the entries on each fibre for what it involves.