Swatch Search

Searching by textile name: If you know the name of the textile you’re looking for, choose from the ‘Search by textile name’ field. You can refine your search, by selecting attributes (modifiers) from the  color, pattern, process, weave structure, and fiber fields. 

By hovering over an image, you can see the associated textile name (if known), which you can then explore in the other apps. All unidentified textiles are currently designated “No Name.”  

Searching by textile modifiers: If you would like to search by modifiers (such as ‘blue’ or ‘checkered’), rather than by textile name, select ‘All Names’ in the first field and then select any desired modifiers. 

Comparing two textiles: Each swatch or sample has a unique textile ID. Use the textile ID to compare two different textiles using the Comparison Tool.

A note about modifiers: When a textile name is selected, the modifier dropdown lists will only include those modifiers that relate to the selected textile. Choose AND to see results that match all of the selected modifiers. Choose OR to see results that match any of the selected modifiers. You can select more than one modifier in each field. 

A note about image quality: We have tried to include the highest quality, openly available images, but even with good institutional digitization efforts, many of our swatches are small so will appear blurry or pixelated. 

Contributions: Would you like to add swatches or samples to our data set? Please contact us!