Caring for Wool Fabrics
Wool is one of the most versatile and serviceable fibers available, but it does require a considerable amount of care to keep it looking good. Wool can be found in a wide variety of fabric weaves and styles. Here’s a listing of the many fabrics made from wool:
Beaver cloth is a heavy woolen over-coating, napped and pressed down to resemble beaver fur. This fabric is also a plush fabric that is used for hats.
Botany/Merino wool is a fine wool made from worsted wool yarn.
Broadcloth is an all woolen or worsted fabric with a velvety feel.
Challis, a lightweight soft wool in plain weave, has a printed or woven design or flowers.
Chinchilla cloth is a heavy, spongy woolen overcoat fabric with a long nap that has been rubbed into a curly, nubby finish.
Donegal was originally a thick and warm homespun or tweed woven by Irish peasants in Donegal, Ireland. Donegal now describes the wool tweed that has colorful thick slubs woven into the fabric.
Felt fabric is a compact sheet of entangled, not woven wool, fur, sometimes cotton fibers. The felt is produced by processing a mat of fibers with moisture, heat, and pressure.
Flannel wool is a soft, lightweight fabric with a nap on one or both sides.
Gabardine is tightly-woven wool twill with a high sheen. This fabric is excellent for tailoring and wears well.
Glen Checks are usually seen in menswear and originated in Scotland. It is characterized by a variety of small, even check designs.
Harris Tweed is a hand woven fabric from Scotland with a soft feel.
Heather Mixture describes tweeds and homespun’s that have colors of heather and sand of the Scottish heather fields.
Herringbone wool is woven into a twill fabric that is reversed at regular spacing, creating a saw-tooth line.
Homespun is a loose, strong, durable woolen woven either by hand or machine with a coarse feel.
Houndstooth Check has a four pointed star check in a broken twill weave.
Jersey is a knit fabric that is usually knit in fine wool but can also be found in silk, and man-made fibers.
Lambs-down is a heavy knit fabric that has a spongy fleeced nap on one side.
Linsey-woolsey is a coarse fabric first made in Lindsey, England, of wool combined with flax or cotton.
Loden fabric is a thick, soft, waterproof, windproof, wool used in outerwear that has a characteristic green color.
Mackinaw fabric is a heavy double fabric in striking colored patterns.
Melton is a heavy-tick, short-napped fabric without a finish press or gloss.
Merino wool is soft and luxurious, resembling cashmere. This term is also used to describe the finest wools.
Oatmeal Cloth is a durable, soft, wool with a pebbled face.
Panama Cloth is plain, woven, worsted wool, sometimes resembling the texture of Panama hat.
Petersham is a very thick, waterproof woolen coating, usually dark blue, and is used for men’s trousers or heavy coats.
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