An 8 momme gauze given a water-repellent finish. A drop sits on the air trapped between the threads instead of spreading into them.
A repellent finish is not a film laid over the cloth. It coats each filament individually and leaves the spaces between the threads open, so the fabric still breathes and still handles like gauze. What holds the drop up is the air the threads trap underneath it, not a layer of plastic across the top.
We use a fluorine-free system. It rates 4 rather than the 5 a fluorinated finish would reach, but after twenty washes the difference has largely gone, and no PFAS are involved at any stage.
Repellent is not waterproof. Sustained rain, or any pressure, will still get through.
Warp one colour, weft another. Tilt it and the colour moves. Nothing is printed: the shift is two coloured yarns taking turns on the face.
Six dips in natural indigo, aired between each one. Quieter than a synthetic navy, and it holds up far better in light.
Gilt thread on an olive ground, drawn from a seventeenth-century fragment. A 48 cm repeat, and 2,400 cards to weave one of them.
Bring a swatch, a drawing, or just a sentence — "it should drape without going soft" is enough to start. We work backwards from yarn count. Minimum run 30 metres.