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The purpose of this paper, on innovative design of traditional weft-backed woven fabric, is to investigate a design principle and method for full-backed structure with double-faced shading effect to realize two types of double-faced shading effects for traditional weft-backed fabric that are impossible to be realized under plane design mode. In addition, the study on the color rendering law is conducive to the design application, and the effectiveness of the design method has been verified by the design practices.

This paper presents a design method for full-backed structure with two shaded weave databases (SWDs) by selecting two primary weaves (PWs), establishing the corresponding SWDs, selecting the proper compound structures for database of full-backed structure with double-faced shading effect. Color card fabric with 544 specimens is produced and their color values are measured, their color difference and variance are analyzed to evaluate the color rendering characteristics. Finally, double-faced weft-backed fabrics are produced under layered-combination design mode to verify the practicality of full-backed structure with double-faced shading effect.

Weft-backed woven fabrics with “SPDC” (same pattern and different color) and “DPDC” (different pattern and different color) shading effects can be produced using full-backed structure with double-faced shading effect. The color expression is extremely enhanced (136 compound structures on one side for one color weft). In the shading process, two sets of wefts do not affect each other, and stable and ideal color shading effect with high color purity can be expressed according to the analyses on the L* (lightness) values, color purity, color differences (0.47–3.20) and variance (0.25–1.21) of the color card fabric.

Breaking through the structural limitations and achieving the double-faced shading effects that cannot be expressed in plane design mode. The research on two weft-backed fabric with the most basic weft-backed structure provides not only a theoretical base for further study on weft-backed structures, but also some references for structure innovation design of traditional weft-backed woven fabrics.

The case study is carried out on a piece of gold brocade lined with handmade paper and used as mounting textile for historic Chinese paintings. This “light brown brocade with gold wefts and a lotus pattern” (specifically, a preserved sample of a precious ancient silk mounting textile taken from a piece of the deceased Master Chang Dai-Chien’s collection, and provided by Professor Sun Jia-Cin, Master Chang’s last disciple) is decorated with a gold lotus pattern against a background that is light brown in color. The ground warps and the gold patterns are interconnected in a structure of one warp and two wefts (light brown wefts and gold weft threads). The weave for the ground structure can be identified as a warp-faced 2/1 right twill with light brown warps and flossy light brown wefts. Flat strips of gold threads are applied as continuous supplementary wefts, and woven into the design in the mode of a 1/2 right twill weft backed weave. The ground weft is connected by warp to the gold weft in a 2:1 ratio called Ban-Yua. Based on an analysis by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and a combustion method for textile fiber analysis, both the ground warp and the weft are made of silk. In addition, according to the result given by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), the primary material of the gilded weft is gold. The paper lining on the back of the gold strip is made of natural fibers, according to the result from a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and an FTIR examination. Based on the shape of the lotus motif, it is estimated that this gold brocade dates back to the Ming Dynasty period.