"The little girl's dress is of white China scilk (sic). The yoke is covered with all-over-lace. The ruffles are hemmed up and feather-stitched. The child's dress is of white nainsook with hemstitching and insertion."

Nainsook is a soft, fine, lightweight form of muslin.[1][2] Muslin encompasses a broad range of fabrics of varying weight and fineness, but is always a plain weave, cotton fabric. The word 'nainsook' is first documented in 1790, and derives from the Hindi word nainsukh, which literally means "eye's delight".[1]

Nainsook was often used to make babies' clothing or lingerie at least until the 1920s.[3] Nainsook cotton was also often used to make bias tape in the 1950s and 1960s.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Nainsook". Merriam Webster. Merriam Webster, Inc. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
  2. ^ "Nainsook". Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on November 5, 2014. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
  3. ^ Wells, Jane Warren (1924). Dress and Be Slender. Scranton, PA: International Textbook Publishers.
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