[Steppes] rough cloth similar to flour sack cloth

[Mike C. Baker]

> would anyone have any leads on the rough natural color cotton 
> cloth that was used for flour sacks years ago?
> i have a requirement for several period costumes made from 
> 'flour sack cloth'.
> --
> terry l. ridder ><>

Other than the original source (flour or feed sacks, which in my
personal experience were generally bleached instead of truly natural [at
least at the consumer end of the distribution chain]), look for
"sackcloth" or "sacking" / "sacking material" via Google/Froogle?  I'd
probably go with pre-shrunk unbleached muslin if tasked with this
myself.  Otherwise, if you can't track down bolts of fabric there would
be the alternative of using the plain kitchen towels that closely
approximate sacking, available in bulk and made from a very comparable
all-cotton fabric.  

Distinction:  sackcloth or sacking may lead you to a finer grade of
burlap than to cotton, and burlap can be scratchy/itchy without lining
(sez he who once cobbled together a singlet out of same...well before I
knew there was an SCA, I made my own costume as the male lead for a high
school staging of "By the Waters of Babylon"...)  However, I have seen
some burlap that is soft, non-scratchy, and still has a distinct texture
somewhere between floursack and wool - if these costumes are for
essentially theatrical presentation, could make a good _visual_
alternative.

Linen or Linsey-woolsey in natural, unbleached forms might also give you
what you are looking for in texture and color, possibly.

Amra, Generalist (and looking forward to responses from the REAL fabric
folk out there)

Adieu, Amra / ttfn - Mike / Pax ... Kihe

Mike C. Baker
SCA: al-Sayyid Amr ibn Majid al-Bakri al-Amra, F.O.B, OSCA
"Other": Reverend Kihe Blackeagle PULC (the DreamSinger Bard)
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