toile de Jouy

thumb|Toile thumb| Dress from Toile de Jouy thumb|Yves Saint Laurent (designer)|Yves Saint Laurent's studio, showing a toile for a safari jacket thumb|200px|right|A photo of toile de jouy fabric on a French-reproduction-style chair Toile (French for "canvas") is a textile fabric comparable to fine batiste with a cloth weave. Natural silk or chemical fiber filaments are usually used as materials. The word toile can refer to the fabric itself or to a test garment sewn from calico. The French term toile entered the English language around the 12th century, was used in the Middle Ages and has since disappeared.

==Etymology== Middle English toile, from French toile ("cloth"), from Old French teile, from Latin tela ("web"), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg ("to cover") (see List of Proto-Indo-European roots in Wiktionary). In Australian and British terminology, a toile is a version of a garment made by a fashion designer or dressmaker to test a pattern. They are usually made of calico. Multiple toiles may be made in the process of perfecting a design. In the United States toiles are sometimes referred to as muslins, because during the Middle Ages they were made from the cheap, unbleached muslin-fabric available in different weights.