On 10/17/08 3:39 AM, Jean Nathan wrote:
In the UK the word muslin usually refers to butter muslin
which is a very fine, see-through, loosely woven cotton
which is useful for steaming and straining in the
kitchen,and was used to cover meat in a butchers - a
light-weight gauze. It can also be used for window
drapes.
This isn't what Joy uses for sheets.:-)
It is, in fact, scenery muslin:
<http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/3624-AA.shtml?lnav=fabric_cotton.html>
If I ever wear my muslin sheets out, I'll buy something a
bit lighter in weight -- when I bought them, "quilt lining",
which wears out almost instantly, was the only alternative.
Which is the main reason my sheets have lasted so long:
expecting them to wear out promptly, I bought enough muslin
to make two sets of three even though I already had two
muslin sheets, then I got tired of the fabric for the second
set cluttering my stash and moved it into the linen closet.
It take a long time for a sheet to work its way to the
top of the stack.
But I've made one thinning sheet into pillowcases, tore
another into a pair of sofa-bed sheets, and started keeping
one sheet in the quilt box. Another five years and I should
need to make new sheets!
The muslin protecting my embroidery is thinner, but still
sheeting weight. Butter muslin would be hopelessly
unsuitable.
I suspect that butter muslin is a particularly fine variety
of cheesecloth -- such cheesecloth as I've seen had rather
large holes between the threads. It's mostly found in the
form of dust rags. (I presume that better cheesecloth was
available when Aunt Lois made her own cottage cheese.)
(I use a stainless-steel steamer when I want to drain yogurt
to make dip.)
I think that only quilters say "calico" in North America
now, and use it to mean tiny sprigged prints that are
supposed to look old fashioned. I believe that "calico"
used to mean what we called "cotton print" in my youth, and
now call "quilter's cottons".
--
Joy Beeson
http://joybeeson.home.comcast.net/
http://roughsewing.home.comcast.net/
west of Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.A.
where it's a lovely fall day
and house painters are walking around on my roof.
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