Heavy canvas

[Twodogs]

Hello all

Lets chat about heavy canvas 15 oz plus having made a few bits using canvas i have noticed it all feels very stiff and rough to the touch .

I think most of it is due to the water proofing and fire resistance added to most of the modern canvas .

However when you handle some of the old canvas it has a really nice soft touch to it ..as does top end canvas soft goods like frost river...or is to just due to the waxing of the canvas?

OK I am rambling here where can you get old style soft canvas in heavy weight 15/18 oz ???

Thank you all for your input

P.S Sam this is all your fault making me order the frost river catalogue ..

Twodogs

 

[Toddy]

Yes, you can get really good soft handling canvas. But, and it's a big but, it's not cheap.
Much modern canvas is coarse woven and often the threads are slubby, that makes it's rougher to start with. It also leaves a much more open twist to the fibres that will absorb water more easily (well, it really just facilitates the water access, cotton will always be a 'thirsty' fibre). That water though, if the cloth is finely woven (think ventile) swells the fibres enough to stop any getting inside the garment or bag or tent.
Coarse woven doesn't swell tight enough though, so it gets tarred (in the past usually) or proofed.

Causes problems for tents though. We used to not be able to touch the wall or roof of a tent in the wet without drawing a finger down from the touch mark so that the water had a route to follow and not just drip through. Never hear of that nowadays.

Anyway, the better (relative, just different) woven canvas depends on more finely spun threads, and if you can get twill woven, then so much the better.

India's the place for the stuff, though hemp cloth (beautiful, lovely fabric, tough, hard wearing, looks and feels superb ) is available from Central Europe.

Monarch bought some stuff (like thousands of pounds worth of stuff) from a factory in Pakistan not so very long ago. They made leather work, flags, etc., for a film shoot at a fraction of the price here, and that was including air postage, etc., but the canvas was excellent.
If you like I'll ask him about the factory contact details ?

Failing that Ian (bilmo-p5) might be able to source something, he has amazing Google-Fu or Eric Methven who was making / designing Baker tents and had a lady doing the sewing up for him. She made tents and awnings and imported canvas from India by the bolt for those.

You know you can get heavyweight undyed denim ? or green dyed ?

Surprised you haven't seen something suitable at the Reenactor's Markets though.

atb,
M

 

[mrcharly]

Coarse woven doesn't swell tight enough though, so it gets tarred (in the past usually) or proofed.

M

Or painted

Traditional canvas decks or roofs on boats were done by laying down thick bed of paint, put canvas on top, stretch tight, then paint that. I had an old book detailing the technique. A friend followed the instructions to redo the roof on his barge - it worked pretty well.

 

[Toddy]

That's very true and much tidier in it's way than the tarring too!

M

 

[Twodogs]

Thank you for that information Mary,

Like a lot of things it seems not from the UK that is a great shame as we used to make most of it for the Empire ...

I never managed to get to the Reenactor's Market as I was sewing ...next time ...

Cliff

 

[bilmo-p5]

The only British company I can think of that might have what you're looking for, Cliff, is British Millerain.

I've had no dealings with them but looking at their site suggest they make a lot of stuff to order, which means buying a substantial quantity. I don't know of any other sources for 18+ oz canvasand there's only Fantastic Fabrics/C.H.Cross/Batya_1springs to mind for 15oz.

Many of these proofed canvasses soften up quite a bit with use, particularly outdoor use.

 

[Richard Francis Burton]

Interesting info there, Toddy. Full little Gems of Knowledges aren't you just.

 

[Toddy]

I knew I had a link someplace to canvas. We were sourcing it a few years ago to make over the knee gaiters for Redcoats, c1745.

Here you go

http://www.attwoollsmanufacturing.co.uk/fabrics/canvas-fabric/