Hi Vicki: Way way back, the cottons used in England were imported from India and the Middle East. Some cottons came from a place called Calicut (in India). Others came from a place called Mosul (now in Iraq). And thatâs where we get the words âcalicoâ and âmuslinâ from. Originally, they were just words that meant âcotton fabricâ, that came from one place or the other.
Reaching way, way back to my university training in linguisticsâsometimes when a language has two words that mean essentially the same thing, one takes on a different meaning, because you donât need to have both words in use. I suspect that in the U.S. there was a fad for âprinted calicoâ and that eventually the word âprintedâ was dropped and the word calico came to mean the print as well as the underlying fabric. Thatâs quite a common linguistic process, but itâs localized - and apparently didnât happen in England. Regarding muslin fabric, it is interesting that until quite recently the word did not refer to one particular weight or weave of cotton. I have found a quote from a fashion magazine from the Regency era (I throw this in for the person who is giving a talk on Lace to the Jane Austen Society), that says something along the lines of âitâs time to get out your winter weight muslinsâ, indicating that the word muslin at that time was still a general word for a plain-woven cotton fabric, that could come in different weights. Not all muslin was the sheer fabric people keep saying it was. Hope this helps. Adele West Vancouver, BC (west coast of Canada) > For whatever reason, in the US, âcalicoâ describes printed cotton fabric such as one uses in patchwork quilting, whereas âmuslinâ in the US is a somewhat coarse (usually) unbleached cotton, similar to what is known as âcalicoâ in the UK. What is known as âmuslinâ in the UK is known as cheesecloth or gauze in the US. I stumbled upon this discrepancy some years ago, but have no explanation as to how it developed. Does anyone? - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
