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Calico History and Information

Calico is a plain-woven textile. In the United Kingdom, "calico" refers to fabric made from unbleached, and often not fully processed, cotton. It may contain unseparated husk parts, for example. The fabric is less coarse and thicker than canvas or denim, but owing to its unfinished and undyed appearance, it is still very cheap. This fabric is called muslin in the United States. As it is an inexpensive and readily available fabric, Calico is often used by tailors in the construction of toile - mockups of a garment for the purpose of testing a pattern. Also known as "Mutton Cloth" is used for wrapping food for cooking underground in a hangi.

The name Calico is derived from the name of the city of Calicut, Kerala, India. It is used a lot in soft furnishing. It has been made by the traditional weavers of calicut called 'chaliyans.'

In 1700, England banned import (and the use and wear) of cotton cloth from India, in an effort to prop up the English textile industry. Printed calicos were especially popular among women who were termed the 'Calico Madams'. The ban failed, and was strengthened in 1720 (known as the 'Calico Act', it was repealed in 1774). It almost destroyed the Indian textile industry, and India was forced to buy from the British textiles. Rishton was the first place that the cloth calico was woven on an industrial scale in the UK. Rishton is a small town in the Hyndburn district of Lancashire, England

Marvel's Mill in Northampton pictured in 1746 - 

the earliest known pictorial representation of a cotton mill

The Weaver's Complaint against

the Calico Madams

Every jilt of the town

Gets a callico gown;

Our own manufacks out of fashion

No country of wool was ever so dull:

Tis a test of the brain of the nation

To neglect their own works

Employ pagans and Turks,

And let foreign trumpery o'er spread 'em.

                       Anon. 1719

En vers jag råkade på, i mitt sökande efter annat  — och det slog mig hur aktuell den är, trots de nästan 300 åren, som gått sedan den skrevs.

Men callico madams, har jag aldrig hört talas om (fast jag nog borde känna till dem), så det blev till att bilda sig, något som visade sig enkelt. Jag hittar flera intressanta artiklar, men nöjer mig med att länka till två. (Jag inser ju att alla inte lever i min begränsade intressesfär).

kalikåʹ (jämför engelska calico, efter staden Calicut, Indien, nuvarande Kozhikode), medeltungt relativt grovt tvåskafts bomullstyg, oftast enfärgat i brunt eller grått.Det används bl.a. i bokbinderi. Termen calico används som samlingsbeteckning för tvåskaftade bomullsvävar tyngre än muslin (70 g/m2). Se även kattun.

kattuʹn (via tysk eller nederländsk förmedling av franska coton’bomull’, ’bomullstyg’, ett ord, förmedlat över italienska, av arabiskt ursprung), benämning på ett förr vanligt, ganska lätt, tvåskafts bomullstyg, som oftast var glättat och hade tryckt mönster.Det användes bl.a. som klänningstyg.