Oilskin

By | June 8, 2016

Part of the ‘Antique Fabrics‘ series, this fabric isn’t necessarily extinct, but it was more popular in the past than the present.

A tightly-woven cotton or linen cloth, coated with boiled linseed oil to render it waterproof. It was cheaper than the other option for waterproofs at the time: oiled leather. Used for clothing and to protect luggage on the move. Supplanted in the later part of the 19th century by waxed cotton.

Not to be confused with oilcloth which is a woven cotton coated on one side with a synthetic polyurethane finish to make it waterproof – or at least water resistant. Very popular in the middle of the 20th century for tablecloths and such.

 

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.