Dobby

Dobby is both a loom mechanism and the cloth it makes: small geometric figures, dots, diamonds, birdseyes, and waffles, woven directly into the fabric on a loom whose dobby head controls each harness independently. The mechanism arrived in the 1840s as a simpler cousin of the jacquard, capable of small repeating figures rather than full pictures. Dobby shirting reads as texture at a distance and reveals its tiny woven pattern up close, which is exactly the quiet richness shirtmakers use it for.

Named for

Named for the dobby attachment, the loom mechanism that controls each harness independently; the word may be a diminutive of Dobbin, the helper boy who once lifted the heddles.