Selisia fabric

[GeraldTodd]

It's my understanding that Selisia was a very common lining fabric in forage caps.

Looking all over the net to find out what it was, the best I could find was a few tailors sites saying they used it in the waistband linings of suit pants.

Can anyone describe for me what Selisia is?

Thanks

[Secesh]

Re: Selisia fabric

If not mistaken, isn't it a polished cotton? Thanks.

[rbruno]

Re: Selisia fabric

Go to the The Sewing Academy Forum and do a search. I want to say I have read a thread on this type of fabric on that forum.

Rob Bruno
1st MD Cav

http://thesewingacademy.org

[GreencoatCross]

Re: Selisia fabric

From my understanding, silesia is a thin, glazed or "polished" twill woven cotton. The regular polished cotton we can get at Needle & Thread and good local fabric stores has the shine that the original stuff had but not the weave. I can't think of an instance where an original garment that I've studied was lined with a plain-woven silesia.

Just the other day I spotted some lightweight twill cotton at the fabric store that I thought would be a perfect substitution for the modern polished cotton, chintz, etc.. It's in the "bottomweights" section at your local JoAnne Fabrics and comes in many different colors. In my opinion the backside of this fabric looks much closer to original silesia than the front.

[Ian McWherter]

Re: Selisia fabric

I've seen Selisia (thin twill woven fabric with a glaze) fabric for sale in high end fabric stores in downtown Los Angeles and San Francisco, generally in black and white (brown's very hard to find these days). I'm sure someone would more than likely be able to find it in New York. The highest quality and most historically accurate glazed cotton fabrics I've been able to get a hold of have all come from England.

[GreencoatCross]

Re: Selisia fabric

Found it this evening at a local fabrics and notions clearance warehouse. They think they have brown and are looking for it tonight. This same place is absolutely stocked full of all kinds of buttons, silk thread, and some hardware dating from the 1860's through the 1950's.

I also remember that during Pat Kline's last big sale, he had two enormous rolls of muslin-weight twill cotton that had a slight glaze. It wasn't fully finished or anything but he told me that he intended on having it made into silesia. I have no idea who might have bought ALL of the stuff (he had natural and black) but it's got to be out there somewhere.

[markj]

Re: Selisia fabric

FWIW, here's an extract from an article I've been fitfully working on for some years:



The items requested by Haynes in Colonel Chidester's contract also compare quite closely with items listed in another document found by this writer in Chidester's business file, namely a "shopping list" of goods presumably needed by Haynes for Clothing Bureau operations in Shreveport. Although undated, the list was likely prepared about the same time as Chidester's uniform and equipage contract (i.e., on or about 1 June 1863):

Articles needed in the Manufacturing Department
Clothing Bureau T[rans]. M[ississppi]. D[epartment].

1000 Doz. Coats or Clarks Spool Cotton
1000 Sewing Machine Needles ([Best?] make)
200 Harness Needles
200 Complete Set Shoe making Tools
200 Saddle Needles
200 do. Awls
200 Harness do.
6 doz. Patent Peg awls and Handles
1 Gross open steel thimbles
100 G[rea]t Gross Black Bone Pant Buttons
50 do do Plain Brass Coat do.
50 do do do Black Bone Overcoat Buttons
300 P[iece]s. Grey Uniform Cloth (very fine all wool for officers)
150 " Blue
20 " Coat Padding
30 " " Canvass
20 " Brown Holland
20 " Selisha (corruption of "Silesia")
20 " Bleached Domestics
12 Doz. Officers Bl[ac]k Felt Hats
1 Bale Bl[ac]k Cotton Wadding
1 Lot Gold Lace ass[or]t[e]d width (wide and narrow)
1/2 Gross small stars
1/2 " large "
100 yds Blue cloth for Coat Cuffs
100 " Buff " " " "
100 " Red " " " "
50 cases Light Cavalry Boots for Officers
20 Gro[ss] Pant Buckles
10 Case[s] Officers Shoes (Fine)



Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[PanzerJager]

Re: Selisia fabric

I must concur with the previous post, I have also see Selisia for sale in the fabric row district of Philadelphia. I don’t know where the actual fabric was from, meaning what country but I did see it before in both black and white. I find a good majority of my fabric in those shops, you just have to hunt, dig and ask whats in the back.

Kind regards,

[Forquer]

Re: Selisia fabric

Ebay, of all places, has a fabric glossary and posts the following:

Silesia - Silesia is generally a lightweight cotton twill lining with a calendered glaze.

[funhistory]

Re: Selisia fabric

As defined in Florence M. Montgomery's "Textiles in America, 1650 - 1870", (p: 348) "Silesia" is "Thin, slight, twilled linen cloth (made near Hamburg)which has given its name to the word "sleazy". In a broad sense, silesia referred to many grades and patterns of linens, unbleached or dyed in colors and later imitated in cotton. It was used for household purposes, for the lining of clothing, and more recently for window roller-blinds. Both small diaper and larger weft-float floral patterns were made, but all were apparently coarse and low priced."

[Virginia Mescher]

Re: Selisia fabric

I found this definition of Silesia in Scissors and Yardstick or All About Dry Goods by C. M. Brown and C. L. Gates (1872). "This fabric is so named from the town of Silesia, in Prussia, where it was first made of linen. It is now made entirely of cotton, thin, coarse, and heavily sized, presenting a glossy surface. It is always twilled. The finish is produced by means of an ironing machine, consisting of hot cylinders, etc. Silesia is used for the back of vests, and in clothing, etc. Double fold. Rolled like 'paper cambric.' Width 4-4"

In Cole's Dictionary of Dry Goods by George Cole (1892) it was defined as "Formerly a thin linen fabric, of sleasy kind of holland, so called because made in Silesia a province of Germany. At present the term describes a fine-twilled cotton fabric, highly dressed and calendered, used for linings. It is pieced dyed in all conceivable solid colors, tints, and shades, and sometimes printed, though generally the patterns are produced in the loom."