With Threads Of Metal

Tinsel fabrics are the lower priced of the cloths into which gold or silver threads have been woven. In tinsel fabrics the gold threads are of brass or copper, gilded, and the silver threads are of white metal. These threads of metal, originally fine wire, are rolled flat and burnished, and they glisten in the f abric wherever the pattern brings them to the surface. Tinsel fabrics are made about three-fourtlis of a yard in width, and they sell at 75 cents to $2. 50 a yard. They come in various colors, and many of them are beautiful and artistic in design. Some are copies of old Venetian tapestries. Tinsel fabrics are used for church and for theatrical purposes and sornetimes for gowns and for decorativa purposes. The costlier fabrics, with interwoven metal threads, are called gold and silver brocades. In these the gold threads are of silver, gold plated, and the silver threads are of pure siiver ; the body of the fabric is of silk. The brocades are all beautiful, and many (tof them are exceedingly so. These fabrics are made about five-eighths of a yard in width, and they sell at various prices up to $25 and sometimes as high as $50 a yard. The costliest of these fabrics are very rarely imported into this country, brocades at $10 and $13 a yard being about the highest priced used here. If more elabórate fabrics are required, they are nsually imported to order. The finer fabrics, with metal threads, are made in France, the commoner kinds in Germany. Gold and silver brocades are here used almost exclusively for church purposes and chiefly for vestments. They are imported in red, violet and green and afso in black with silver threuds, the black and silver being for mourning. Gold and silver brocades are also used to a limited extent for decorativo purposes, Such fabrics and ' gold embroidery, often of the costliest description, are far more commonly used in Europe than here, both for church and for military purposes.