Where does Baize come from?

Baize comes from the United Kingdom, Flanders and England, first documented in the 1500s.

Plate No. 138fabric

The felted nap of the card and billiard table.

First documented: 1500s
Origin: Flanders and England, United Kingdom
Fiber: wool
Weave: napped, felted woolen
Family: pile

Plate No. 138 · fabric

Baize

Baize is a coarse woolen cloth with a soft, raised, felted nap, most familiar today in a single iconic form: the green covering of billiard, snooker, and card tables, and the cloth of pinboards and the cushioned green baize door that separated servants from masters in grand houses. Brought to England by Flemish weavers among the new draperies of the sixteenth century, it was once a broad utility cloth made in many colors, but the smooth, quiet, dense green surface that grips a rolling ball is what fixed its name in the language.

Named for

From the older English bays, a plural treated as singular, from the French baies, names of a coarse woollen cloth brought by Flemish weavers.

Also known as

bayes

Modern equivalent

The closest cloth in this catalogue you can source today.

Felt →

Common questions

What is Baize made of?: Baize is a coarse woolen cloth with a soft, raised, felted nap, most familiar today in a single iconic form: the green covering of billiard, snooker, and card tables, and the cloth of pinboards and the cushioned green baize door that separated servants from masters in grand houses.
Where does Baize come from?: Baize comes from the United Kingdom, Flanders and England, first documented in the 1500s.
What is Baize named after?: From the older English bays, a plural treated as singular, from the French baies, names of a coarse woollen cloth brought by Flemish weavers.