Lamé

Evening dress or robe, early 19th century, with gilt lamé embroidery. Evening dress or robe, early 19th century, with gilt lamé embroidery.

Lamé or lamella is a very thin sheet, normally of metal, which can be cut into shapes or strips with scissors or shears or another instrument. The metal is often gilded to give it a gold colour. Lamé is used for a variety of embroidery forms, including Indian badla and Egyptian tulle-bi-telle (also known as Assuit work). The word derives from Latin lamina, a thin plate (compare 'omelet').

See also: plate

Sources:

  • CLABBURN, Pamela (1976). The Needleworker’s Dictionary, London: Macmillan London Ltd., p. 153 (the example given by Clabburn as a piece of late nineteenth century Indian work is in fact Egyptian and probably dates to the early twentieth century).
  • Shorter Oxford English Dictionary: 'Lame' and 'Lamella'.

Digital source of illustration (retrieved 26 June 2016).

GVE

Last modified on Monday, 24 April 2017 14:56
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