Mother needs to make inquiries for the material (6)
I believe the answer is:
damask
'the material' is the definition.
(damask is a kind of material)
'mother needs to make inquiries' is the wordplay.
'mother' becomes 'dam' (female parent of an animal).
'needs' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'to make inquiries' becomes 'ask' (I've seen this in another clue).
'dam'+'ask'='DAMASK'
'for' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for damask that I've seen before include "Lustrous fabric" , "Material, originally Syrian" , "Heavy patterned fabric" , "Table linen material" , "reversible material" .)