Broderie Anglaise — Cotton Eyelet Embroidery Fabric

The cloth goes through five stages. The pattern is drafted on paper first, fixing the position, the diameter and the repeat of every opening. The marked cotton is then punched along the design line — round, oval or rectangular openings depending on the motif. Each rim is bound with a dense buttonhole-type overcast stitch that wraps the freshly cut yarn ends so they cannot fray. Thread plugs left inside the opening are cleared out, so the hole is fully open rather than half closed. Finally the piece is washed, heat-set and inspected.

Hold the fabric up to a window and you see straight through it. That is the essential difference from an eyelet print: a print lays a hole-shaped graphic on intact cloth, whereas broderie removes the cloth and then closes the cut edge with thread.

Because the openings are made by embroidery, the ground between them stays intact, so one meter carries both the transparency of openwork and the body of real cotton. It is not as sheer as lace and not as flat as a plain weave: on the full-density designs (E-01, E-03, E-06, E-11) the openings almost touch and the look comes close to lace, while on the open/sparse designs (E-02, E-04, E-05, E-07, E-08, E-09, E-10) more ground shows and the fabric reads as an embroidered cotton.

Towards 100 g/m² the cloth is thin, quite transparent and slightly drier to the touch — fresh for spring/summer blouses, shirts and beach cover-ups, but sheer in a single layer, so it needs a lining or a two-layer construction. Towards 130 g/m² the yarn sett is denser and the cloth gains a light crispness, which holds the drape better; that end suits dresses, skirts and kids' wear because it does not cling to the body.

Either way 100% cotton keeps its character: it absorbs moisture, it breathes and it stays soft on the skin. Because the overcast stitch passes through the yarns around each opening many times, however, the cloth immediately around a hole is a little firmer than the ground between motifs. That is a normal result of the process and not a quality fault, and it softens once the garment is washed.

A 135 cm width is comfortable to cut: a blouse, a skirt or a dress lays out inside it without joining the pattern. Directional designs such as E-04 "Vertical Stripe Vine" are better cut parallel to the design direction; mixing directions in the cutting room leaves the eyelet direction inconsistent inside one garment, and it looks as though two different fabrics were joined.

Choose full-density all-over eyelet — E-01 Butterfly, E-03 Oval Wreath, E-06 Snowflake Star, E-11 Radial Large Flower — when the fabric is the product: dresses, skirts, bridal, overlays, occasion pieces. The openings nearly connect, so a single layer already reads as lace and the lining carries the opacity.

Choose open/sparse embroidery — E-02 Trailing Tiny Leaves, E-04 Vertical Stripe Vine, E-05 Scrollwork Eyelet, E-07 Chrysanthemum Spray, E-08 Ring Medallion, E-09 Trailing Large Bloom, E-10 Dot Posy — for garments worn every day: shirts, kids' wear, baby wear, sleepwear, home textiles. Clean ground dominates, transparency is dotted rather than overall, and seams and topstitching disappear into the fabric more easily.

Two rules. Keep two designs from one order in the same group: a close density stops panels sewn together from reading as two different shades, whereas a dense design beside a sparse one tends to make the sparse one look washed out. If you do cross the groups — dense body, sparse sleeve — compare the A4 swatches side by side in daylight first, because photographs usually understate how present the dense designs are.

Pre-shrink before cutting. Cotton shrinks: wash the roll once, or run a small sample through the same finishing wash, so the measurements and the shape of the openings do not change after the garment is washed.

Use a fine needle — size 9–11 with ticket 60–80 thread and a slightly shorter stitch length. Never stitch across the middle of an eyelet: keep the seam on the ground between two openings. For joins and edges use an overlock or a closed seam that covers the cut edge completely, because once the yarns slip at an opening rim the whole motif unravels.

Do not stretch the openwork. On collar, sleeve setting and zips, keep stitching in the least open areas and, on sparse designs, between motifs; on dense designs back the stress points with a light fusible or a strip of stay tape.

Wash cold or below 30 °C in a laundry bag with a mild detergent, no bleach, no hard wringing. Low-heat tumble dry or line dry in the shade. Press with medium steam and a thin pressing cloth, never with the soleplate straight on the eyelets — pressure flattens the rims and the holes lose their look. And line it: at 100–130 g/m² a single layer is sheer, so women's blouses and dresses need a matching cotton lining or a two-layer build, while kids' and baby wear is better with a softer combed cotton lining.

MOQ is 300 meters per design — several hundred ordinary blouses or women's dresses, which fits a brand's first order, a small designer run and fast replenishment. All 11 designs are stock, so no pattern has to be re-opened, and that is exactly why small quantities are possible.

Sampling: a real A4 swatch is free and posted anywhere in the world, so you can feel the hand, check the openings against the light and compare the shade. Dyed samples or the development of a new pattern are quoted separately against your colour card and artwork, and they take longer than a stock swatch.

Lead time is within 10 days after order confirmation. FOB runs between US$2.30 and US$2.70 per meter depending on embroidery density, packing and quantity: full-density designs need more stitches and sit at the top of the band, open/sparse designs at the bottom. Payment is T/T; L/C at sight can be discussed for larger orders. Production runs in our own mill in Zhuji, Zhejiang, near the Keqiao cluster, so fixing design number, quantity and packing before you ask for a quotation gets price and delivery date right the first time.