bombazine

{{short description|Twill fabric}}

File:Outfit (AM 17928-2).jpg

{{wikt | bombazine}}

Bombazine, or bombasine, is a fabric originally made of silk or silk and wool, and now also made of cotton and wool or of wool alone. Quality bombazine has a silk warp and a worsted weft. It is twilled or corded and used for dress-material, and was commonly used for dresses, skirts, and jackets. It was a heavy and dense fabric, with a fine diagonal rib that ran through the weave of the fabric. Black bombazine was used largely for mourning wear in 16th century and 17th century Europe,

{{cite book

|last1 = Taylor

|first1 = Lou

|year = 2009

|orig-date = 1983

|chapter = Appendix 1: A selection of popular mourning fabrics

|title = Mourning Dress: A Costume and Social History

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Jz-OAgAAQBAJ

|series = Routledge Revivals

|publisher = Routledge

|page = 247

|isbn = 9781135228439

|access-date = 21 January 2023

|quote = Bombazine or Bombasin[:] A fabric with a silk warp and worsted weft with a twilled finish, with worsted on the face side to give the fabric the dull finish required for mourning.

}}

but the material had gone out of fashion by the beginning of the 20th century.{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Bombazine|volume=4|page=190}}

The word "bombazine" is derived by etymologists from an Anatolian word in Greek: βόμβυξ ("silkworm"), via Latin bombyx ("silkworm") and the obsolete French term bombasin, applied originally to silk but afterwards to tree-silk or cotton. Bombazine is said to have been made in England in Elizabeth I's reign ({{reign | 1558 | 1603}}), and early in the 19th century it was largely made at Norwich.{{EB1911|wstitle=Bombazine|volume=4|page=190 | noprescript = 1 | quote = Bombazine is said to have been made in England in Queen Elizabeth's reign and early in the 19th century it was largely made in Norwich.}}