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My post today on my company, IMRE's, Home IQ blog:

Fabric Patterns 101: A History of Popular Fabric Patterns

We don and decorate with our favorite fabrics and patterns day in and day out, but do you ever stop to think about where those zigzags, stripes, and checks originated? Let’s take a look at the history of some popular fabric patterns:

Houndstooth – Houndstooth is known for its distinctive broken checks and pointed shapes, distinguished by bold contrasting colors.  The shape looks much like the jagged back teeth of a hound dog, thus houndstooth became a household name.  The pattern originated in the lowlands of Scotland and was traditionally woven using black and white wool.

Paisley – The paisley pattern can be traced back to ancient Babylon, where a teardrop shape was a symbol that represented a sapling date palm.  The palm provided food, drink, shelter and even clothing and was regarded as the “Tree of Life”.  Thus the pattern was recognized as a fertility symbol. Though the twisted teardrop pattern originated in Iran and India, its western name hails from the town of Paisley, Scotland. When Scottish soldiers returned from the middle easy bringing Kashmir shawls donning the pattern, local weavers began adopting the trend.  Weavers in Paisley, Scotland produced patterns featuring five or more colors, earning the town the claim to the fabric’s now common name.

Plaid – Plaid, also referred to as Tartan, comes in a myriad of colors and crisscrossing stripes.  The pattern can be traced as far back as the middle of the 5^th century in Ireland, where the Scots originated.  Distinct patterns emerged as weavers in the Highlands used materials they had on hand to produce fabric for customers in their region.  These patterns were worn by local families and military in the region, and later became distinguishing symbols of family or regional pride.

Toile – Toile de Jouy, often shortened to simply “Toile”, consists of a white or off-white background on which a repeated pattern of a pastoral scene is printed in a single color, most often black, dark red, or blue.  The name of the art-inspired pattern comes appropriately from a French word meaning “linen cloth” or “canvas”.

What are some of your favorite fabrics? Have you found out any fun facts about the history of the design? Share your findings in the comment section below!

via imrehomeiq.com