Where does Dimity come from?

Dimity comes from Greece, the eastern Mediterranean, where it dates to the Middle Ages.

Plate No. 132fabric

Fine raised warp cords running through a sheer cotton.

First documented: Middle Ages
Origin: the eastern Mediterranean, Greece
Fiber: cotton
Weave: plain cotton with raised warp cords
Family: stripes

Plate No. 132 · fabric

Dimity

Dimity is a light, sheer cotton cloth woven with raised cords, made by throwing extra warp threads into relief so fine ridges run through the fabric as stripes or, when crossed, as checks. The name comes from a Greek word for two-threaded, describing those doubled warps. Crisp, white, and washable, dimity was for centuries the cloth of bed hangings, curtains, and summer dresses, valued for the subtle structural texture that a plain white sheer otherwise lacks.

Illustration: a draper's shop in Georgian England, bolts of fine white corded cotton stacked on the shelves, a length unrolled across the wooden counter, a shopkeeper at a distance in the doorway light — A draper's shop in Georgian England, bolts of fine white corded cotton stacked on the shelves, a length unrolled across the wooden counter, a shopkeeper at a distance in the doorway light.

Named for

From the medieval Greek dimitos, meaning two-threaded, for the doubled warp threads that form its cords.

Common questions

What is Dimity made of?: Dimity is a light, sheer cotton cloth woven with raised cords, made by throwing extra warp threads into relief so fine ridges run through the fabric as stripes or, when crossed, as checks.
Where does Dimity come from?: Dimity comes from Greece, the eastern Mediterranean, where it dates to the Middle Ages.
What is Dimity named after?: From the medieval Greek dimitos, meaning two-threaded, for the doubled warp threads that form its cords.