Every pattern has a paper trail.

Gingham, denim, paisley: every named cloth was first woven somewhere, named for something, and carried a route to reach us. Here is that record, with the geometry of each pattern rendered from its own specification, and a source under every claim.

Today’s specimen

Plate No. 145 · fabric

Waxed Cotton

Waxed cotton is the traditional answer to rain: a tightly woven cotton, often a plain or twill, impregnated with paraffin or beeswax so water beads and runs off. It grew out of the sailcloth trade, where sailors rubbed grease and oil into flax sails to shed spray, and by the nineteenth century Scottish mills were selling proofed cotton for foul-weather gear.

First documented 1800s · United Kingdom

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