Alpaca?

[Matt_E_Wright]

Is anyone aware of any source for alpaca?

My limited research indicates that the "alpaca" of the civil war period wasn't pure alpaca, but rather alpaca woven on a cotton warp in order to strengthen it.

Is there something else out there that would be close? Supposedly "alpaca" was also made with wool or mohair & the descriptions I've read of brilliantine (mohair on a cotton warp) almost always state that it is similar in appearance to alpaca. But so far, I haven't had any luck finding brilliantine either.

I'm currently working on a federal frock coat for myself and would like to use something other than polished cotton...or black linen...

Is there a more authentic substitute for alpaca out there? I have some left over FHW black satinette, which (to me) sounds like what you'd come up with if you tried to make immitation "alpaca" without the alpaca, but the satinette lacks the sheen and wiriness of what I think actual alpaca would have looked like when new.

Any info on a source for alpaca or a good authentic substitute would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Matt Wright

[Ian McWherter]

Re: Alpaca?

Nearly every original civilian coat I own or have examined has an Alpaca lining, most commonly with a natural cotton warp. Silk warped Alpaca was also used in the period. Original Civilian men's coats I own or have examined that don't have Alpaca linings generally have a blended lining of some other kind such as silk/cotton (I've seen 100% ribbed silk linings as well though not that commonly). FHW Satinette isn't even going to come close the light weight and density of original Alpaca lining material. This is a tough fabric to get a hold of these days, especially Alpaca that looks, or feels anything like original Alpaca lining material. Many (I dare say most) original Federal Officer Frock Coats that I'm aware of are also lined in Alpaca, the dark olive greenish color that original Alpaca linings almost always oxidize to is a dead giveaway (every frock coat and tailcoat that I own and have examined that has an Alpaca lining has oxidized from black to a dark olive greenish color).

There is good news though, this fabric (though these days most commonly with a silk warp) and very close equivalents can still be found today generally in large metro areas with long established garment districts (Los Angles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, etc.). You have to know what your looking for though, if you walk in to a store and start asking for an equivalent Alpaca lining material for 19th century men's coat linings, you're not likely to get much help. Get ready to pay an arm and a leg for this fabric though, at the cheapest it'll cost you $50 a yard and I've seen it run upwards of $200 a yard. Pretty expensive for a lining, which is why many vendors choose to use black or green polished cotton instead.

If folks in the living history community want to find fabrics that are far more accurate for their civilian impressions than the current available reproduction fabrics (which are almost always heavier and bulkier than original fabrics), then they need to start looking in places outside the mainstream line of thought, you never know where some of these great fabrics might turn up.

[Ian McWherter]

Re: Alpaca?

To give folks a better idea of just what this fabric is and its history I've taken the liberty to transcribe the following article:

From Ure's Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines by Andrew Ure, 1867 London, Edited by Robert Hunt pg. 888-891:

Llama. A genus of animals belonging to the class Mammalia, order Ungulata, family Bovidae, and tribe Camelina. They are the camels of South America, to which country they are confined. In the wild state the llamas keep together in herds of from one to two hundred. There are two distinct species found wild in South America, inhabiting the Peruvian Alps, the Pampas, and the mountains of Chili. These animals are used as beasts of burden; cords and sacks, as well as stuffs for ponchos, &c., are fabricated from their wool; and their bones are converted into instruments for weaving the same. The Alpaca, which is a variety of the llama, has given its name to a cloth manufactured from its hair; and this has become so valuable, that attempts have been made to naturalise the animal in Europe. The success, however, which has attended these attempts has not been great. The following note from the Penny Cyclopedia, article Llama, is important:
“In reference to the wool, we may here state that a herd of thirty-six, including the kinds called llamas, alpacas, and vicunas, or vigonias, were sent from Lima (Peru) and Conception (Chili) to Buenos Ayres by journeys to two or three leagues. To those who may be inclined to import these animals, it may be necessary to state that they were fed during the journey with potatoes, maize, and hay. As soon, however, as the potatoes were exhausted, constipation came on so obstinately, that medical releif was required. They were shipped as a present from Godoy, the Prince of Peace, to the Empress Josephine, but only eleven arrived at Cadiz in 1808, just as Godoy fell into disgrace. Here two died, and the rest were near being thrown into the sea by the infuriated rabble, in their detention of the late minister and minion. the poor llamas were however saved from the tendor mercies of the populace by the govenor of Cadiz, and were consigned to Don Francisco de Theran of Andalusia, who had a fine menagerie at San Lucar de Barrameda. When the French occupied the province, Marshal Soult protected them; and M. Bury St. Vincent, who was with the army, studied their habbits, and executed drawings of them, which were lost at the battle of Vittoria. M. Bury paid great attention to their wool, and some from each kind was sent to the Academy of Sciences at Paris. From the report of the French naturalist and the philosophical Spaniard, it would appear that the fleece of the alpa-vigonia (produced by a cross between a vigonia and an alpacca) has much greater length than any other variety, and is six times heavier.”
The following is from Jame’s History of the Worsted Manufactures in England, p.652:-
To commence with the earliest mention of the alpaca, we must recur to so early a period as the year 1525, when Pizarro and his ferocious companions invaded Peru. It is related by the Spanish historians, that they found there four varieties of sheep; two, the guanaco and the vicuna, in a wild state, ranging the mountainous tracts of South America; and the others, the llama and the pacos, or alpaca, domesticated. The former of these domestic animals, partaking somewhat of the nature and size of the Arabian camel, was in like manner employed as a beast of burden. Though in many features similar to the llama, the alpaca had several clear marks of distinction, and among other was less, and the fleece much loner and softer in fibre. In the sixteenth century, and even from the remotest times, the Peruvians being comparatively (to the other tribes of the great continent of America) a civilised people, and well acquainted with the arts of spinning and weaving, fabricated from alpaca wool textures of much delicacy and beauty, which were highly prized as articles of dress. And the the use of them had prevailed for centuries is demonstrated by the opening of several very ancient tombs of the Peruvians, in which the dead had been enwrapped in stuffs made from the fleece of the alpaca.
In general, the alpaca ranges about four feet in height, the size of a full grown deer, and, like it, is of graceful appearance. Its fleece is superior to the sheep in length and softness, averaging six inches (the lenght of the staple of the alpaca fleece is on average much less than formerly, probably from being shorn oftener), and sometimes it has been procured even of an extraordinary length; a specimen shown at the Great Exhibition, by Messrs. Walter Milligan and Son, reaching to forty-two inches in length. The fleeces, when annually shorn, range from five to six pounds. Contrary to experience in other descriptions of wool, the fibre of the Alpaca fleece acquires strength without coarseness; besides, each filament appears straight, well formed, and free from crispness, and the quality is more uniform throughout the fleece. There is also a transparencey, a glittering brightness upon the surface, giving it the glossiness of silk, which is enhanced on its passing through the dye-vat. It is also distinguished by softness and elasticity, essential properties in the manufacture of fine goods, being exempt from spiral, curly, and shaggy defects; and it spins, when treated properly according to the present improved method, easily, and yields an even, strong, and true thread. With all these remarkabe qualities, it was long before the value of alpaca wool was known or appreciated in this country.
Recurring to the application of the alpaca fleece to manufacturing purposes in England, it was long delayed. Though so early as the year 1807, the British trops returning from the attack of Buenos Ayres brought back with them a few bags of this wool, which were submitted for inspection in London; but, observes Walton in his work on alpaca, “owing to the difficulty of spinning it, or the prejudice of our manufactures, it did not then come into notice,” and for more then twenty years the attempt does not seem to have been renewed; thus depriving, for that period, the country of the advantage derived from this notable manufacture.
According to the best authorities, the first person in England who introduced a marketable fabric made from this material was Mr. Benjamin Outram, a scientific manufacturer of Greetland, near Halifax, who, about the year 1830, surmounted, with much difficulty, the obstacles encountered in spinning the wool, and eventually produced an article which sold at high prices for ladies carriage shawls and cloakings; but their value arose more from being rare and curious articles than from intrinsic worth.
These were, it is well established, quite destitute of the peculiar gloss and beauty which distinguish the alpaca lustres and fabrics of later times, and after a short period the manufacture was abandoned.
About the same time as Mr. Outram was weaving goods from alpaca, the wool attracted the notice of the Bradford spinners. Messrs. Wood and Walker spun it to some extent for camlet warps used in the Norwich trade. Owing to the cheapness of alpaca wool during the first years of its consumption in England, it was occasionally employed instead of English hog wool for preparing lasting and camblet warps, being spun about No. 48.
The earliest manufacture of the alpaca wool into goods at Bradford appears to have occurred under these circumstances. In the commencement of 1832 some gentlemen, connected with the trade to the west coast of South America, were on a visit at the house of J. Garnett, Esq., of Clithero, and, on their alluding to the difficulty of meeting with suitable returns for goods forwarded to that part of the world, he suggested to them the transmission of alpaca wool, and offered, if they would send him a few pounds of weight, to ascertain its value for manufacturing purposes. In a few months he received some samples of alpaca wool, which, on the 2nd of October, 1832, he forwarded to Messrs. Horsfall, of Bradford, with e request that they would test its value. Accordingly they fabricated from this wool a piece resembling heavy camblet, which they showed to the Leeds merchants; but the piece, not developing any peculiar qualities of alpaca, did not please, so that Messrs. Horsfall were not encouraged to proceed further with experiments. However, in the same year Messrs. Hoyam, Hall, and Co., spirited merchants of Liverpool, perceiving the value of the alpaca wool, directed their agents in Peru to purchase and ship over all the parcels of alpaca wool they could meet with; some of which, being sent to the Bradford district, was spun and manufactured by several parties there. The pieces chiefly fabricated from alpaca in the neighbourhood of Bradford were figures made with worsted warp and alpaca weft, the figure being raised and lustrous like union damasks. These goods were in vogue only foe a limited time, for neither the figured nor plain ones seem to have suited the public taste.
Until the introduction of cotton warps into the worsted trade, it maty safely be averred that the alpaca manufacture had not been developed, and would never have made much progress without being combined with cotton or silk warp. To Titus Salt, Esq., of Bradford, most undoubtedly be awarded the high praise of finally overcoming the difficulties of preparing and spinning the alpaca wool so as to produce an even and true thread, and, by combining it with cotton warps, which had then (1836) been introduced into the trade of Bradford, improved the manufacture so as to make it one of the staple industries of the kingdom. He has, by an admirable adaption of machinery, been enabled to work up the material with the ease of ordinary wool, and thus present beautiful alpaca stuffs at a reasonable rate. Every previous attempt had been made, so far as can be ascertained, with worsted warps, with which the alpaca did not easily assort.
About the year 1836 the alpaca trade had become established, and has since risen to much importance. After this period the manufacture rapidly extended. The great merchantile house of A. and S. Henry took very large quantities of alpaca stuffs, which began to be made in an endless variety of goods suited for both male and female dress, including scarfs, handkerchiefs, and cravats, plain and figured goods, both silk and cotton warps, for ladies’ dresses, dyed alpaca checks of beautiful texture, and a variety of grosgrains, cordringtons, silk-stripped, checked, and figured alpacas and alpaca linings. The demand for these various alpaca fabrics during the period between 1841 and 1846 remained uniform and steady.
At the commencement of the manufacture of alpaca goods with cotton warps (silk was not used), the weft was spun from fine qualities of the wool into low numbers, and the pieces were made much richer and heavier than has been the case more recently, the demand having altered in favour of lighter and less costly cloth.
Most of the alpaca wool brought into the United Kingdom is unshipped at Liverpool, but a small portion is also carried to London. At these two ports, it may be asserted, the whole imported into this country is landed. It arrives in small bales, called ballots, weighing about seventy pounds, and is generally in an impure state, with different qualities mixed. Like the fleece of the sheep, that of the alpaca is composed of different qualities, so that the portion growing on the hind quarters is of an inferior description. The wool is sorted into about eight different qualities, each fitted for a particular class of goods. Owing to the dirty state of the fleeces, and the peculiar nature of the dusty particles arising during the progress of sorting, the operation is an unhealthy one, unless great care be taken by ventilation to counteract this baneful effect. After being sorted, it is at Saltaire washed and combed by machinery. Until of late years it was combed wholly by hand, and the combs used for this purpose were of a deeper pitch than those usually adopted for preparing sheep’s wool, that is, those combs had larger number of teeth than ordinary. The next process is to draw the sliver, which is perfected by an improved gill machine, especially adapted for this material. And here, in combing and preparing the alpaca wool, so as to make a clean, even, and glossy thread, lay the grand difficulty in the way of applying the alpaca fibres to the worsted manufacture, and which was so successfully surmounted by Mr. Salt.
the main articles now manufactured from alpaca wool consist of alpaca lustres, which are dyed, and alpaca mixtures, which are undyed, and both are made of cotton or silk warp. These plain goods may from their extensive and steady use b termed stock articles. Large quantities of fancy alpacas are made, but they are rapidly varying and are distinguished by innumerable names. The material is at present much shorter in staple than formerly, owing to the alpaca being shorn oftener, so that it is now commonly from five to eight inches in length. Nearly all the alpaca wool consumed in England is worked up in the Bradford district.
Dating from the year 1834, when the importation of alpaca wool sprung up as a permanent branch of commerce, the demand in this country has, with the exception of the last two years, on the whole been a growing one. Mr. Walton, in his work on the alpaca, exhibits the quantities exported chiefly to England until the year 1843, when the tariff law having come into operation, the returns began to be more correctly framed, and the alpaca wool was then classed by itself.

Years. Lbs. Years. Lbs.
1834 5,700 1839 1,325,500
1835 184,400 1840 1,650,000
1836 199,000 1841 1,500,000
1837 385,800 1842 1,443,299
1838 459,000

In the interval of these twelve years, the price had, with the demand, progressively increased; the price in 1834 only amounted to about eightpence halfpenny per pound; next year it reached nearly tenpence; the year after one shilling; in 1838, to upwards of one shilling and threepence halfpenny; and in 1839 to one shilling and fourpence per pound.
Since the year 1842, the return of alpaca wool imported into this country are of a more reliable character. the following table had been drawn up form data furnished by the Board Of Trade.

Years. Lbs. Years. Lbs.
1843 1,458,032 1850 1,652,295
1844 635,357 1851 2,013,202
1845 1,261,905 1852 2,068,594
1846 1,554,287 1853 2,148,267
1848 1,521,370 1854 1,267,513
1849 1,655,300 1855 1,446,707

These large quantities were yet increased in 1863, when we improted from Peru 2,772,836 lbs.; New Granada, 622,889 lbs., and 6,857 lbs. from other parts.
During the last ten years, the prices have fluctuated considerably. In 1844, one shilling and eightpence per pound was quoted as the price of the white fleece, and two shillings for the black one.

[Ian McWherter]

Re: Alpaca?

The following is a list of just a few manufacturers exhibiting at the Great Exhibition of 1851, London, who manufactured alpaca woolen cloth and wool/silk cloth. The actual list would take all night to transcribe:

Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations 1851, Official Descriptive and Illustrated Catalog Vol. II pg. 492-493:

140 Milligan, Walter, & Son, Harden Mills, Bingley, Yorkshire-Manufacturers.
Embroidered alpaca and silk furniture-cloths, and dress goods; satin-stripped dress goods; damasks; manufactured by a patent process. Alpaca Grogram coatings. Coatings, worsted, cotton, silk, &c, Mohair mixtures.
Specimens illustrative of the process of the Alpaca and mohair manufactures, viz:-
Fleece of alpaca wool form Peru, and a superior fleece of mohair or goat's wool from Turkey. The same on the wool-combs, showing the "sliver" or long fibre of quality, No. 4, used in the embroidered alpacas, exhibited as above, and the "noil" or portion of wool left on the comb after the sliver is drawn off, and which is used for making heavy cloths, ladies' mohair cloaks, &c. The same in the various stages of preparation and spinning until reduced to yarn on the spool or weaver's bobbin

141 Schwann, Kell, & Co., Bradford-Proprietors.
Worsted merinos, lastings, serge de Berry, satin serge, says, figured Russells, cristales, cubicas, and alepinas. Silk-warp Coburgs; double twill; plain and figured Russells, and alpaca lustres; dyed in the piece, in various colours. Silk-warp mixed alpacas, grey weft-natural colour of the wool. Cotton-warp Coburgs; ditto, alpaca, mohair, and twilled alpaca lustres; says; linings, worsted weft; linings, mohair weft; figured Orleans; plain and figured satins; died in the piece, in various colours.

142 Rogers, G., Bradford-Manufacturer.
Coburg cloth of fine quality: silk and cotton warp.

143 Foster, J., & Son, Black Dike Mills, near Bradford-Manufacturers.
Goods made of cotton warp and alpaca weft; of cotton and silk warp, and alpaca weft; of silk warp and alpaca weft, and of cotton warp and mohair weft; crapes, silk striped and others; gros-de-Berlins, figured and others; alpaca coatings in various qualities, and varieties of shape; twilled alpaca silk checked fancy coatings; vestings, chine'; damasks. Alpaca, mohair, and worsted yarns. Dyed by Mr. Joseph Holdsworth, Wakefield.

144 Jowett, Thomas, & Co., Bingley, near Bradford, Yorkshire-Manufacturers.
Cotton warp, and alpaca weft, dyed black.
Cotton warp, and dyed silk warp, and alpaca mixture weft, natural colours.
White silk warp, and brown and black alpaca weft, natural colour.
Dyed silk warp, and black alpaca weft, figured, natural colour.
Dyed silk warp, satin faced, and black alpaca weft; dyed silk warp, figured, with black alpaca weft, suitable either for vestings or dresses.
Cotton warp, plain and figured silk stripe, with alpaca mixture weft.

145 Harris & Fison, Bradford-Manufacturers.
Circassian cloth: the weft is a combination of the finest wool and silk, which produces the glossy surface it exhibits.

146 Armitage, George, & Co., Bradford-Dyers.
Orleans, Coburg, and Brazilian cloth; mohair, silk and mohair, and silk and alpaca figures, of various qualities and colours, plain and shot.

150 Drummond, J., Bradford-Manufacturer.
Mixed fabrics, composed of cotton, alpaca, and silk, plain and figured, for vestings, dresses, &c.

152 Daley, James, Bradford-Manufacturer.
Figured and plain alpaca lustres, alpaca and other mixtures; alpaca and worsted figured cloakings and linings.

The list goes on and on...