Satin
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Satin. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a strong silken fabric of high luster and smooth surface. The beauty of satin depends partly on the quality of the material used in its manufacture, but the distinguishing feature is what is called the "satin weave." In plain weaving, each weft thread passes under one warp thread, over the next, and so on under one and over one. In satin weaving, a weft thread passes over a warp, under eight (or more), over one, under eight, and so on. Moreover, the weft does not pass over the single warp at regular intervals, but irregularly. This brings the warp threads, which are of fine silk, to the surface, and almost entirely conceals the weft. Satin is woven with its face down, as this makes necessary the lifting of fewer warp threads. The cheaper satins have cotton wefts; the better grades are entirely of silk. Satin is finished by passing the face of the fabric over heated metal cylinders, which removes the minute fibrous ends that are noticeable when the cloth leaves the loom. As in twill weaving, the number of warps skipped by the weft is used to designate the quality of the satin. When eight warps are skipped to one tied down, the product is called "eight-leaf" satin or eight-leaf twill. Rich satins are sometimes sixteen-leaf or twenty-leaf twill. See Twill ; Weaving
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a silken fabric with an overshot woof and a highly finished surface. The woof is coarse, and hidden underneath the warp, which forms the surface. The warp is of organzine, the weft of tram. In a full satin twill there is an interval of 15 threads.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The technical heart of these entries still stands: satin is defined by its weave, in which the weft is caught down only occasionally so that long warp floats form a smooth, lustrous face, and it is still woven face-down and calendered to remove stray fibre ends. What has changed is the fibre. Both Aiton's in 1910 and Collier's in 1921 treat satin as essentially a silk fabric "the better grades entirely of silk" with cotton wefts only in cheap goods; today the great majority of satin sold is woven from synthetics, chiefly polyester, which was patented in Britain in 1941 and mass-produced from the 1950s, with nylon and acetate also common. As a result "satin" is now understood purely as a weave structure, one of the three basic weaves alongside plain and twill, rather than as a class of silk cloth, and silk satin is sold under names like charmeuse or duchesse at a premium.
Written for this edition, 2026.