Remnant Grayish Blue Virginia Cloth, Kersey Wove, 7″ long

55% Wool, 45% cotton, 58″ Wide

This piece is 7″ long by 58″ wide.

Wove in the USA. Preshrunk & finished. Limited run, at the time of posting there are only 3 yards 7″ total of this fabric!

Virginia cloth, later during the American Civil War this became known as jean cloth, came in a variety of variations but most had a cotton warp with a wool weft with the wool taking the color. One variety of Virginia cloth was “kersey wove” the fabric kersey being a twill which this fabric is. Because of the weave, the cotton is the inside of the fabric whereas the wool is seen on the outside. This fabric is a reproduction of the 1/3 twill fabric found in the Little Rock Frock Coat & isn’t technically a jean cloth (although many still classify it as such). Virginia cloth was especially used for enslaved people’s clothing but also others of the lower sort in the 18th century often for women’s gowns & petticoats, but was also used for both men’s & women’s jackets, as well as waistcoats & trousers. For example, in Purdie & Dixon’s Virginia Gazette of 1772, “Run away . . . a Virginia born Negro Woman . . . her Clothing Virginia Cloth, but probably may change her Dress.” as cited in Wives, Slaves, and Servant Girls. Navy 35/2 linen thread & blue worsted wool tape match this fabric well. Matching tape is often seen on the hems of petticoats & bedgowns. For sewing buttonholes try deep indigo blue silk button hole twist or quilter’s thread.