thumb|300px|Textile samples: fustian, [[linen and moleskin]]
Fustian is a variety of heavy cloth woven from cotton, chiefly prepared for menswear.
History and use
thumb|Corduroy: This modern diagram shows the warp (3) and the long (red-4) and short (green-5) weft threads; traditionally the knife (1) and the guide (2) are attached and the cutting motion is upwards.
Known in Late Latin as fustaneum and in Medieval Latin as pannus fustāneus ('fustian cloth') or tela fustānea ('fustian mesh'),
It embraces plain twilled cloth known as jean, and cut fabrics similar to velvet, known as velveteen, moleskin, corduroy etc. The original medieval fustian was a stout but respectable cloth with a cotton weft and a linen warp. The term seems to have quickly become less precise, and was applied to a coarse cloth made of wool and linen, and in the reign of Edward III of England, the name was given to a woollen fabric. By the early 20th century, fustians were usually of cotton dyed various colours.
In a petition to Parliament during the reign of Mary I, "fustian of Naples" is mentioned. In the 13th and 14th centuries priests' robes and women's dresses were made of fustian. In the early 20th century, dresses were still made from some kinds, but the chief use was for labourers' clothes. From the mid 1600s to the mid 1700s, fustian was often used for bed hangings.
Fustian, by the 1860s, referred to any cut weft cotton fabric, and its manufacture was common in towns of the fringe of the Lancashire cotton region, such as Congleton in Cheshire, Mow Cop in Staffordshire and Heptonstall in Calderdale. Wilmslow, in Cheshire, was a major centre for the cutting of Fustian. From 1800 to 1850 it was commonly called Baragan Fustian, and much used in Australia.
Manufacture
left|thumb|A loom used to manufacture fustian
Fustian cutting was a laborious process using a fustian cutting knife. This tool was around long, and looked like a long spike; about from the tip, the top edge was sharpened into a blade. It was inserted along the fabric alongside two warp threads, and under the raised weft, and as it was guided forward the blade severed the weft. In corduroy, there were seven ridges to the inch, so along a bolt, there would be about 320 cuts to be done.
In the 1860s, the cloth would be stretched over a table, and the cutters would walk the length of the table as many times as was necessary. In recent times the cloth was tensioned over a table where all the cuts were made, and then the cloth would be released and the next two yards tensioned onto the table. Over a 60-hour week the cutter would be expected to produce of 7–8 ridge corduroy. Velveteen was cut the same way but had 32 ridges per inch, so production would be proportionately less.
Fustian also refers to pompous, inflated or pretentious writing or speech, starting from the time of Shakespeare. This literary use arose because the cloth type was often used as padding, hence, the purposeless words are fustian. Bombast, plant fibre used directly as padding (and not as fabric), has a similar literary meaning.
See also
- Barragan (cloth), Spanish term describing a variety of medieval textiles
- Evolution of blue jeans
- Fustanella, a skirt-like men's garment
Citations
General and cited references
- Pickering, Paul, A., "Class Without Words: Symbolic Communication in the Chartist Movement", Past and Present, cxii, August 1986, 144–162.