As I’ve just finished a matelasse waistcoat,  it’s high time I (finally) finished my matelasse terminology post and added the term to the Great Historical Fashion & Textile Glossary! Matelasse or  Marseille’s cloth (sometimes shortened to marcella or called pique de marseilles) is also known as woven quilting, because it is a weave specifically designed to imitate quilting.  It looks like a fine quilt, or like a slightly bubbly, blister-y brocade.  Matelasse is sometimes patterned in simple geometrics, or (like my waistcoat), in elaborate foliate designs.  It can range from a heavy, bulky fabric, to a fairly light but still puffy and squishy crepe.  A very similar fabric (sometimes sold as matelasse, and it’s difficult to tell the difference on some examples), is cloque. From a technical standpoint: Matelasse  is a figured fabric made with either three or four sets of yarns. Two of the sets are the regular warp and weft yarns; the other sets are crepe or coarse cotton yarns. They are woven together so that the yarn sets crisscross.  When the fabric …