Velvet types: crushed, panne, stretch and devore, and what each does worn

Velvet is not one fabric. It is a construction, a surface of cut fibres standing off a backing, and the way that surface is made and finished changes the garment more than the colour or the cut does. Two dresses described as black velvet can hang differently, shine differently, crease differently and survive a wrong size guess differently. Here is what the words on the label are actually telling you.

Woven or knitted, which matters more than the name

Classic velvet is woven. Two cloths are made at once, joined by threads running between them, and sliced apart to leave a pile on each. A woven velvet has very little give in any direction. It holds a shape, it stands away from the body where it is cut to, and it will not forgive a size that is close but not right.

Knitted velvet is a jersey with the pile built into it. It stretches whether or not any elastane has been added, because the loops themselves move. It drapes closer to the body, recovers from creasing better, and is what most affordable velvet clothing is made from.

Before you look at the finish, work out which of those two you are buying. It decides almost everything about how the garment behaves, and it is the one fact a composition line will usually give you away through words like jersey, knit or spandex.

Plain velvet, the one people picture

An even pile, all brushed the same way, with a visible nap that changes as you move. This is the richest looking of the group and the most formal, because the surface is uniform and the light reads as depth rather than as shine.

It is also the one that shows everything. A seat crease, a bag strap, a seat belt and a fold from the postbag all leave a mark on plain velvet that needs steaming out. If you want the look, you are accepting the maintenance.

Two neighbours are worth knowing. Velveteen is a short dense pile, usually cotton, much more matte and closer to a fine corduroy in hand, and it is stiffer and less shiny. Velour is knitted with a flatter pile, softer, and carries a sportier association that no amount of styling fully removes.

Crushed velvet

Crushed velvet is made by pressing or twisting the pile while it is wet so the fibres end up lying in random directions permanently. The surface breaks light into patches instead of handing back one even sheen.

The practical advantage is large and under-rated: it cannot be crushed, because it already has been. Sitting marks, strap marks and packing creases disappear into the pattern. It is the velvet for an eight hour event, and it is the velvet to travel in.

The cost is visual. It reads shinier and busier than plain velvet, it adds apparent bulk, and it photographs with a lot of movement in it, which can make a simple shape look fussy. On a long skirt that is often exactly what you want. On a fitted bodice it rarely is.

Panne velvet

Panne is a lightweight knitted velvet with the pile pressed hard in one direction under heat and pressure. The result is a very high, very directional sheen and a drape that is close to liquid.

It clings, it shows whatever is underneath it, and under a flash it looks wet. It is also cheap to produce, which is why a large amount of mass market velvet clothing is panne whether or not the word appears anywhere.

Worn, it hangs rather than stands. That suits a bias cut skirt or a slip shape and actively fights anything that needs structure, like a collar that has to sit flat or a sleeve head that has to hold its own volume.

Stretch velvet

Stretch velvet is knitted with elastane in the ground, commonly a few per cent. This is the one that matters most if you are buying without the option of sending it back, because a stretch velvet has somewhere to go. Being half a size out is survivable rather than terminal.

The trade is that it takes the shape of whatever is under it, and that the stretch hides the problem from the garment without hiding it from you. A size that is slightly too small will still do up, and will still look strained across the bust and along the zip.

Gathers and ruching work with stretch and extend the same forgiveness. The ruched velvet is gathered through the centre front, and a gathered seam has slack built into it in a way a plain seam does not.

Devore

Devore, also sold as burnout velvet, is made by printing a chemical paste onto a mixed fibre velvet. The paste dissolves one of the two fibres, so the pile vanishes where the pattern was printed and stays where it was not. The pattern is in texture rather than in colour.

It is semi sheer by design, which means it needs a lining or a slip under it, and it is the most delicate velvet on this list. No heat, no pressing, no machine, and a working assumption of hand washing for the life of the garment.

Worn, it is very light and very fluid, and it reads as expensive from across a room because the pattern changes as the light moves instead of sitting still. It is a bad choice for anything you intend to wear hard.

Picking one for the thing you are doing

For an evening spent sitting down, crushed or stretch. For a photograph, plain woven. For travelling, crushed. For heat, none of them, because velvet is warm and polyester velvet does not breathe.

For a shape that depends on volume holding itself up, you want a woven or a firm knit. A balloon sleeve gathered at the wrist only works if the fabric has enough body to stand away from the arm, and a panne will simply hang off the shoulder instead.

A velvet garment with another fabric attached is really two garments to look after. The fishtail is velvet to the knee and lace to the floor, so the fragile part is the hem rather than the body, and the care instruction has to suit the weaker of the two.

Questions people actually ask

What is the difference between crushed velvet and panne velvet?

Crushed velvet has its pile pressed in random directions, giving a mottled broken surface that hides creases. Panne has the pile pressed flat in one direction under heat, giving a high even sheen and a slinky drape. Panne is usually a lightweight knit.

Which velvet is best if I will be sitting down all evening?

Crushed velvet, or a stretch knit velvet. Both hide seat creases, crushed because the surface is already irregular and stretch because the knit recovers. A plain woven velvet shows every mark and needs steaming afterwards.

What is devore velvet?

Velvet with a pattern chemically burned out of the pile, leaving sheer ground where the pile has gone. It is semi sheer, very light, usually needs a slip underneath, and it is the most delicate velvet to look after.