[Ansteorra] What was period broadclothe?

[Marc Carlson]

>>"willowdewisp at juno.com" <willowdewisp at juno.com> wrote: I was 
>>wondering what do they >>mean when they say broadcloth in period?
>L T ldeerslayer at yahoo.com,
>...I was speaking about the 100% cotton fabric that is labled "broadcloth" 
>by it's >manufacturers...usually 45 inches in width.
>We may well be speaking of the same thing in different terms...fabric is so 
>confusing at times >because the manufacturers will use all sorts of terms 
>that
>may or may not actually describe the fabric they have for sale. Unless we
>start discussing the specific structure (which gets confusing at times too)
>we don't know if we are discussing the same thing.
>By querying the net the first definition I get is:
>broad·cloth  (brôdklôth, -klth)n.1.  A densely textured woolen cloth with a 
>plain or twill weave and >a lustrous finish.
>2.  A closely woven silk, cotton, or synthetic fabric with a narrow 
>crosswise rib.
>---------------------------------
>[Middle English brode clothe, cloth woven in strips of double width : 
>brode, broad; see  broad + >clothe, cloth; see  cloth.]
>There is no mention of broadcloth in "Textiles:a classification of 
>techniques" by Annemarie >Seiler-Baldinger or in "Textiles and Clothing 
>1150-1450" by  Elisabeth Crowfoot, et al. or in "The >Weaver's Book of 
>Fabric Design" by Janet Phillips.
>Those are the books that are on my shelves and not in storage that would 
>reference weave >structures and what to call them....
>This is all I can find at the time Your Grace. Maybe someone else can 
>enlighten us further.

Broad cloth is a description of a sort of weave and size of fabric (hence 
the use "cotton broadcloth" - there is (or was) also woolen broadcloth, etc.

According to the OED the earliest reference in English they list so far for 
"brode cloth" is 1420, and defines that as "Fine, plain-wove, dressed, 
double width, black cloth, used chiefly for men's garments. (The term is now 
used to imply quality rather than width, which may vary considerably; the 
‘double’ merely represents that the piece is creased or folded double, i.e. 
with its two ‘lists’ brought together; a process not adopted with cloth of 
less than 54 inches wide.)"

Th Middle English Dictionary, shoves the early date back to about 1399, and 
defines it specifically as the width - and that it's twice as wide as streit 
cloth.  It also refers to it as any kind of woolen cloth woven in strips of 
double width.

I believe the streit cloth is a tightly woven plain pattern twill also.

Marc/Diarmaid