# Crêpe (textile)

Crêpe, also spelled crepe or crape (from the French crêpe), is a silk, wool, or synthetic fiber fabric with a distinctively crisp and crimped appearance. The term "crape" typically refers to a form of the fabric associated specifically with mourning. Crêpe was also historically called "crespe" or "crisp".
It is woven of hard-spun yarn, originally silk "in the gum" (silk from which the sericin had not been removed). There traditionally have been two distinct varieties of the crêpe: soft, Canton or Oriental crêpe, and hard or crisped crêpe.

## Types
### A
#### Aerophane

    1. A crimped silk gauze with a crêpe texture.
    2. A historic 19th century lightweight crêpe,$^{:6}$ introduced in 1820, and, as "crepe aerophane" in 1861.

#### Albert crêpe

    1. A fine black silk mourning crêpe introduced in 1862.
    2. Plain-weave crêpe.
    3. An English-made silk and cotton blend crêpe.$^{:10}$

#### Alicienne

    A furnishing fabric with alternating plain weave and crêpe stripes.$^{:14}$

#### Alpaca crêpe

    Rayon and acetate blend crêpe with a woollen texture, not necessarily made of alpaca yarn.$^{:14}$

#### Altesse

    A British plain-weave silk fabric with crêpe filling.$^{:14}$

#### Arabian

    1. A British-made plain-weave cloth with figured crêpe designs.
    2. Piece-dyed silk crêpe embroidered with dots.$^{:23}$

#### Armure

    (See Georgian crêpe)

### B
#### Balanced crêpe

    Crêpe woven with alternating S and Z twist yarns in both directions.$^{:39}$

#### Balmoral crape

    An 1895 English crape.

#### Balzerine

    An 1889 narrow-striped silk grenadine overlaid with wider crêpe stripes. An earlier 1830s cotton/worsted fabric, spelled balzarine, was probably not crêpe.

#### Bark (or tree-bark) crêpe

    A broad term describing rough crêpes with a bark texture.

#### Bauté satin

    Warp-woven satin with a plain crêpe reverse.

#### Borada crape

    A cheaper, economical version of mourning crape advertised in 1887.

#### Bologna crêpe

    Silk crêpe used for mourning, also known as valle cypre.

### C
#### Canton crêpe

    A soft silk crêpe with a pebbly surface originally associated with Canton in China, with bias ribs. Made in Britain, but exported to China, hence its name.

#### Caustic soda crêpe

    Cotton treated with chemicals to create a crêpe-like texture, often in patterns.

#### Chiffon crêpe

    Chiffon-weight crêpe.
    Japanese crêpe.
    Japanese raw silk crêpe widely used to make kimono. When woven with a dot it is mon-chirimen.

#### Courtauld crape

    1890s mourning crape made by Courtaulds. An 1894 variation, called 'Courtauld's new silk crêpe', was exceptionally thin and soft. Courtaulds monopolised the export market for English crapes and crêpes, meaning that the textiles known as "crape anglaise" were almost always manufactured by Courtaulds up until 1940.

#### Crêpe Algerian

    A trade name for a printed pongee with a rough crêpe texture.

#### Crêpe anglaise

    A French term for English mourning crapes in black and white. The only true 'crape anglais' was considered that made by Courtaulds (see Courtauld crape) which was last made in 1940.

#### Crêpe Beatrice

    Trade name for crêpe with a light warp stripe.

#### Crêpe berber

    Trade name for a piece-dyed crepe-textured pongee.

#### Crêpe charmeuse

    Lightweight silk satin with a grenadine warp and crêpe reverse.

#### Crêpe chenette

    A tradename for a strong crêpe with a pebble texture.

#### Crêpe crêpe

    Made with extra twists in the warp to create an extra-deep texture.

#### Crêpe de chine

    A fine, lightweight silk, cotton, or worsted, with a plain weave and crêpe-twist filling.

#### Crêpe de chine travers

    A ribbed crêpe de chine with heavier filling yarns introduced to the weave at regular intervals.

#### Crêpe de dante

    Crêpe with silk and wool filling.

#### Crêpe de lahor

    Cotton crêpe made in France.

#### Crêpe de laine

    A sheer wool fabric plain-woven with hard twist for a slight crêpe effect.

#### Crêpe de santé

    An undyed, closely woven, rough-textured wool-blend crêpe mixed with silk, linen, or cotton, also called "health crepe".

#### Crêpe de Suisse

    1860 dress fabric.

#### Crêpe d'espagne

    Open-weave fabric with a silk warp and wool filling.

#### Crêpe diana

    Trade name for a cotton and silk blend crêpe.

#### Crêpe Elizabeth

    English term for a mottled or pebbled georgette.

#### Crêpe faille sublime

    Silk grosgrain with a hard-twist filling.

#### Crêpe flannel

    Plain-woven worsted with a crêpe finish.

#### Crêpe imperial

    Late 19th century woollen crape.

#### Crêpe jacquard

    Crepe with designs produced by jacquard weaving.

#### Crêpe janigor

    Trade name for a heavy rib textile with alternating rayon and dull acetate warp threads, cross-dyed for varied shades.

#### Crêpe jersey

    Vertically ribbed silk crêpe resembling the knit fabric.

#### Crêpe lissé (or lease)

    A lightweight, lustrous, slightly stiffened open-weave silk or cotton crêpe, with fewer twists than a crêpe crêpe.

#### Crêpela

    French term for a crêpe effect.

#### Crepeline

    Very sheer plain-woven silk usually used in textile conservation. Originally introduced in the 1870s as a cheap alternative to crepe de chine.

#### Crêpella

    Plain-woven worsted using hard-spun yarn.

#### Crêpe maretz

    An 1862 fabric.

#### Crêpe marocain

    Heavy, cross-ribbed crêpe where the filling yarn is coarser than the warp, resembling a canton crêpe.

#### Crêpe meteor

    Soft silk crêpe, twill weave reversing to satin.

#### Crêpe mohair

    Silk and mohair blend crêpe.

#### Crêpe morette

    Trade name. Lightweight worsted crêpe with heavier, looser filling.

#### Crêpe mosseux

    A type of opaque voile which resists shrinkage.

#### Crêpe myosotis

    A later mourning crêpe made in the 1930s, in crimped silk with a soft finish. Courtaulds launched this textile in the early 1930s as an alternative to the increasingly unpopular traditional stiff mourning crapes.

#### Crepenette

    Crêpe-effect pongee.

#### Crêpe ondese

    Rough textured rayon-acetate blend crêpe.

#### Crêpe poplin

    A late 19th century silk-wool rib fabric with crêpe effect.

#### Crêpe rachel

    French print cotton-worsted blend crêpe.

#### Crêpe radio

    British raw silk crêpe with a ribbed effect, using alternate double rows of S-twist and Z-twist.

#### Crêpe royal

    Sheer crêpe-de-chine introduced in 1889.

#### Crêpe suzette

    A variation on crepon georgette.

#### Crepine

    Silk with crêpe dots. The name also describes a type of fringe.

#### Crepoline

    A class of transparent fabrics with a warp-wise crêpe effect.

#### Crepon

    A heavier crêpe with an exaggerated warp-directional texture produced by several weaving techniques. A soft silky version was introduced in 1866, and the second, much heavier version in 1882. In the 1890s crepon also described a woollen fabric that puffed between stripes or squares, including crepon milleraye (striped) and crepon Persian (with 'Oriental patterns').

#### Crystal crêpe

    An English term for silk crêpe.

#### Crespe

    Lightweight crimped mourning gauze, late 16th century.

#### Cynara

    An crêpe-type fabric in rayon and acetate.

#### Cyprus

    Fine crêpe used for mourning hatbands in the 15th-17th centuries, made in Cyprus.

### E
#### ʻeleʻele kanikau

    Black mourning crêpe worn in Hawaii.

#### Epingline

    Textile in silk, rayon or worsted with a crêpe surface.

#### Esmeralda or étendelle

    Sheer white crêpe or gauze popular in the early 19th century, often embroidered.

### F
#### Flat crêpe

    Also called mock crepe or (inaccurately) French crepe. A smooth, flat plain-weave fabric, typically a silk blend, with hard-twisted yarns and ordinary yarn warp. Also used to describe a similar fabric made without crepe-twist yarns.

#### French crêpe

    1. An inaccurately-applied name for flat crêpe.
    2. Plain-weave light silk or rayon cloths similar to flat crêpe.
    3. A lingerie weight fabric with ordinary yarn warp and a twisted filling yarn that is less twisted than typical crepe twist.

### G
#### Gamsa

    An imitation satin-backed crêpe in twill weave rayon.

#### Georgette

    1. Sheer, lightweight fabric named after the couturiere Georgette de la Plante.
    2. A crepe-surfaced plain weave silk or synthetic fabric with alternating S and Z twist yarns in both warp and weft.
    3. An English term for cotton crepe.

#### Georgian crêpe

    A chain-pebbled crêpe (called armure in France) often with diamond, shield or bird's-eye motifs.

### H
#### Health crêpe

    See crêpe de santé.

### L
#### Lingerie crêpe

    See French crêpe.

### M
#### Marana

    Woollen crepe, very resilient and drapable.

#### Mock crêpe

    See flat crêpe.

#### Momie crêpe

    Light cotton fabric.

#### Moss crepe

    See sand crepe.

### N
#### Norwich crêpe or crape

    1. 19th century silk warp and worsted, resembling a non-twill bombazine but not considered true crêpe.
    2. 17th century black-dyed worsted crêpe made in England.
    3. A georgette-like silk and cotton blend fabric in a crêpe weave.

### P
#### Pekin crêpe

    Pekin (shiny and matte striped textile) woven with a crêpe weft.

#### Plissé

    Mainly cotton fabric with a crêpe effect created by chemically treating the fabric to pucker and crinkle, typically in stripes. Plissé satin is made using crêpe yarns.

### R
#### Reverse crêpe

    Woven with a crêpe yarn warp and flat filling.

#### Rhythm crêpe

    Plain-weave rayon with seersucker stripe.

#### Romaine

    Heavy but transparent crêpe.

#### Roshanara

    Trade name for heavily ribbed satin-backed crepe.

#### Russian crêpe

    Invented in 1881. A coarse-weave crêpe.

### S
#### Sand crepe or moss crepe

    Crêpe with a grained or frosted surface appearance, created with a small dobby weave.

#### Sawdust crêpe

    Similar to sand crêpe but with a harsher surface.

#### Satin-back crêpe

    Reversible fabric with a satin face and a crêpe reverse.
    Japanese spun-silk crêpe.

#### Spanish crêpe

    See Crepe d'espagne.

### V
#### Victoria crepe

    British-made cotton crêpe with a high luster.

### Y

    Figured silk crêpe made in Yantai, Eastern China.

#### Yeddo crêpe

    Soft cotton fabric, medium weight.