Blue & White Check Linen, WLG 181

$5.00

100% Linen, 6.5 oz, 58″ Wide

 

This check linen is woven based on our research of check linens made & used in the 18th & early 19th century America & England. Although not copied from any one original, it is extremely similar to several original check linens for example see Figure 15 of the book Threads of Feeling, see samples 6, 14, 35, 40, 43, 47, 56, 58, 89, & 90 of the 1771 Textile sample book of the Manchester manufacturing firm of Benjamin and John Bower. Most checks available today are half white & half blue. The majority of checks found in the billet books at The Foundling Museum in London are mostly white with narrower blue stripes resulting in a check many modern people would think of more as a plaid. This fabric was commonly made into working women’s aprons & men’s (especially sailor’s) shirts but may also be used for linings & occasionally for women’s gowns (usually enslaved), trousers or even bonnets. In the 1776 Connecticut Courant, “RAN AWAY . . .  a Mustee Fellow . . .  had on when he went off . . .  a check linen shirt blue and white” from personal communication with Mike Barbieri. Off white 60/2 linen thread will work well for hand sewing.

136 in stock