Warp printing

{{Short description|Method of fabric printing}}

File:Woman's Robe a la Francaise (Sack Gown) LACMA M.60.36.1 (4 of 6).jpg, M.60.36.1]]

Warp printing is a fabric production method which combines textile printing and weaving to create a distinctively patterned fabric, usually in silk.{{cite journal|title=Printing of Silk Warps for the Manufacture of Chiné Silk|journal=Posselt's Textile Journal|date=December 1907|url=http://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/articles/ptj_01_3_15.pdf|access-date=14 February 2013}} The warp threads of the fabric are printed before weaving to create a softly blurred, vague pastel-coloured pattern.{{cite book|last=Fukai|first=Akiko|title=Fashion : the collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute : a history from the 18th to the 20th century |year=2002 |publisher=Taschen |location=Köln [etc.] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ARLmnMFZ9rcC&pg=PA56 |isbn=9783822812068|pages=56}} It was particularly fashionable in the eighteenth century for summer wear.

The silk and taffeta fabrics produced by this technique have a variety of names, including chiné, Pompadour taffeta (after Madame de Pompadour) and chiné à la branche. Chiné velvet was also possible, although the technique was very difficult and expensive and it was only made in a few places in France in the eighteenth century.{{cite web|title=Robe and petticoat|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O85966/robe-and-petticoat-unknown/|publisher=Victoria & Albert Museum|access-date=14 February 2013}}