when was jean wool invented?

[aaron1stvirginia]

gents
i was wandering when jean wool was invented? would it be appropropriate to wear jean wool for say an 1861-1862 impression? and was it common for citizens to wear jean wool? what was the chances one would have seen 100% wool in say 1864 or 65? thanks

[aaron1stvirginia]

Re: when was jean wool invented?

also what would a civilian wear for say like home guard? would it be all wool or jean wool?

thanks

[trippcor]

Re: when was jean wool invented?

While I don't have the materials with me to reference specifically, there are references to wool/cotton mixed cloth woven in various ways including Jean go back to before the American Revolution. It was considered a poor or working man's material as it was often woven at home.

[Hank Trent]

Re: when was jean wool invented?

While I don't have the materials with me to reference specifically, there are references to wool/cotton mixed cloth woven in various ways including Jean go back to before the American Revolution. It was considered a poor or working man's material as it was often woven at home.

Ditto to what he said. I'm guessing it goes far enough back to the days when it might be wool/linen as well as wool/cotton. It's a pretty basic weave and concept. We were weaving wool-linen jeans at Conner Prairie (1836).

Are you actually curious whether it was first popular in, say, 1760 or 1810? Folks might know or could research that for you, but is that the issue? I'm wondering if a bit more precision in framing the question would help. I'm thinking that you're wondering whether a particular garment would be appropriate for impressions from 1861 through 1865?

In answer to the home guard all-wool question, what in particular are you talking about? All-wool broadcloth? All-wool flannel? Drawers? Shirt? Coat? Pants? Would you see all-wool broadcloth on a poor backwoods farmer? Probably not. Would you see him in an all-wool flannel overshirt? Could well be.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: when was jean wool invented?

Hallo!

I believe blends may be lost in pre-history or antiquity- when a weaver looked around and saw that he had not enough yarn to weave just one fabric material but could if he used two smaller amounts of two.

"Blends" appear in American colonial history for various warp and weft blends of combinations of wool, linen, silk, and cotton.

Curt

[Wild Rover]

Re: when was jean wool invented?

There are accounts from Tories of Marion and his band dressed in clothing of blue jeans.

Pards,

[Craig L Barry]

Re: when was jean wool invented?

The word has a European root, as that type woven cotton/wool fabric was imported by England from Genoa, Italy ergo the name “jean”. The Italian sailors from that city were said to have worn trousers made from that blended fabric in the early 1600s. Therefore "jean wool" in Europe easily pre-dates the American Revolution by 150 years.

Whatever the case, the fabric known as jean wool was durable, and since it was a wool/cotton blend, it was less expensive than all wool cloth. Civilian trousers of the US Civil War-era (and before) were sometimes made with jean wool. "Blue Jeans" or denim is a bit different. "Denim" refers to 100% cotton cloth from Nimes, France (or jean de-Nimes).

The ratio of wool to cotton varies, but Ben Tart jean is representative at 73% wool 27% cotton. Wool fiber is said to be hydrophilic, or “attractive to water” and as such it is easily dyed. The same can be said of cotton hence as a combination of the two, jean cloth readily accepts a variety of dyes. Sumac, Barkwood, Logwood, Walnut and other vegetable based dyes were commonly used in the South during the Civil War era.

The colors of naturally dyed fabric fade with exposure to the sun to what you see behind the glass case in museum displays today, but they did not start out that color. For example, “Sumac jean”, which is a Confederate recipe from Richmond, is a combination of sumac and logwood dye. The color of the cloth coming out of the vat is a consistent light to medium gray, but after continuous exposure to sunlight the cotton part of the thread fades out to a cream color and the wool part a brownish khaki color (often called “butternut”). Logwood is what is called an indicator dye. It changes color with the Ph of the solution. Combined with iron, Logwood dyed jean cloth is a darker blue-gray color which fades to tan. It is difficult for today's cloth treated with modern dyes to duplicate these colors because the modern dyes will not fade like vegetable based dyes.

According to Richmond Depot Clothing Bureau records, the mills which supplied the Richmond Depot produced primarily jean cloth and cassimere, in other words cotton/wool blends but not 100% wool cloth.