help describing clothing, textiles, etc...

I usually look at catalogs like Spiegel for clothes. You're probably not going to say "Plaid blazer with wide, ruffled collar; asymmetric, singlebutton close. On-seam pockets. Lightly padded shoulders, princess seams. Acrylic/rayon/polyester; fully lined. Dry clean. Imported." but it'll give you an idea, with photos. Same goes for flooring.

How about catalogs? Browse until you see clothes your characters would wear, furniture that looks right for their house. The description will tell you what the item is made of, plus you'll know exactly what they would pay for it.

You don't even have to clutter up your house--most of the big companies have online catalogs.

EDIT: Oops, Scrawler beat me to it. Great minds and all that.

I would suggest grabbing a book on fashion or costume design. I'm personally enamoured of The Costume Designer's Handbook and The Costume Technician's Handbook, but I'm a costume designer, and those might be overkill for the casual researcher. Sewing For Dummies has a chapter on fabrics, as well as a lot of basic information about how clothes are constructed that might help, but even that is probably overkill.

If you're just looking for a few specifics, feel free to PM me. For starters, try to keep in mind the difference between fiber and weave. Fiber is what the fabric is made of-- cotton, wool, silk, rayon, linnen, etc. Weave is how it's made. Twill, velvet, gause, denim, jacquard, brocade, etc are all examples of weaves.

For clothing, fashion magazines will probably do. When you're in a department store, go to the clothing section, touch the clothing to see how it feels, and then look at the label to see what it is.

Depending on how much information or how much of a feel for this you want, you could also visit a fabric store and ask the staff there for help. People who sew, in my experience, tend to know a lot about fabric, drape, construction, etc. I would probably bring a picture of the garment with me, if I could, then feel the fabric, play with the drape, see how it behaves. You'll probably learn way way more than you ever thought you could about garments.

Same goes for hardware stores, maple wood flooring, and the like. Sometimes, there's no substitution for actual experience, and touching and seeing the product in question can change how you'd write about it and the feel you can impart to your story.

This, of course, depends on how important those details are to the story. But, if you want good descriptions to use, generally people in the industry would know and use the best phrases.

On the other hand, this might be completely useless to you.

Some years ago I took a class at a local university, taught by a popular and successful romance author (at last count, she had something like eighty or ninety novels published). When we talked about details, and historically accurate ones, out came these gigantic books. In these gigantic books were pictures of various men’s and women’s clothing styles from various time periods, and accompanying those pictures were samples of the kinds of material those clothes would have been made out of. You could see the material. You could touch the material. You could study the weave and texture. You could study the pictures of the fashionable man or woman of the day. I have no earthly idea where these books came from, but certainly they exist. Your local reference librarian would probably be delighted to help you find them. Perhaps there are such books for modern styles?

Short of that, how important are such descriptions to the kind of story you want to tell? Mac Bolan probably cares less about such things than, say, an Isaac Mizrahi type character. P.S. to that thought, what’s the level of such detail provided in the stories you read? There should be the guidepost, I think. (Most of the stories I read provide very little clothing detail outside the most general of references.)

Ditto the suggestions of others. Catalogues and ads in popular magazines would probably be useful. If all else fails, you could go on a touchy-feely expedition to your local haberdasher.

One of my all-time favorite books is Random House Word Menu by Stephen Glazier. It has a whole chapter on clothing, and also covers stuff as diverse as the human body, transportation, sciences, leisure, economy, common expressions, character and behavior, faith. Over 700 pages of words and descriptions, organized by topic.

I've got the Random House Word Menu, and I find that when it's good it's great, but it often lacks the level of detail I seek. Still, a good starting point.

Mesh, remember that a lot of detail gets boring unless there's a point to it (i.e., American Psycho), so the inclusion of a single telling detail might be enough. Finding a single detail about wardrobe or a room that will imply the rest to the reader is ideal.

Robert Parker's Spenser might slip into twill slacks while standing barefoot on red maple floorboards, but he's more likely to pull on slacks while standing barefoot on the wood floor. He definitely won't don his single-pleat slacks in stain-resistant twill, with tacked pockets and an invisible expandable waistband, that's for sure. (Since boxers don't get fat!)

Maryn, pleased to meet you

I really like catalogs for this kind of thing. Fashion design schools and art centers are also great resources.

Kristen

What's wrong with doing a search on the Internet if you're looking for costumes or the styles worn in certain eras?

Do you "see" your characters? If you do, you'll be able to tell the fabric they wear by browsing through catalogues or a visit to stores with clothes in different price ranges.

The old saying "clothes maketh man" should be applied to your characters.

Try the local WalMart fabric section. I myself quilt and most of the fabric bolts have it written on them what 'blend' they are.