Warp threads in jeans or cassimere turning brown over the years

[Joe Walker]

In my original Columbus Depot jacket the warp (it is cassimere) is a caramel to dark brown color. I am not convinced that it was always this color. I have researched and found that it was common for powdered starch to be applied to the warp to aid in weaving (lubrication?). Heat will turn the starch brown. My jacket was exposed to heat -such as an attic - in its life. I was wondering if anyone out there has seen reseach regarding the warp in CS uniforms or civilian cloth turning brown.

Joe Walker

[Gallo de Cielo]

Howdy Joe,

Good to see you on the forum!

This is a good question that you've raised. I spoke with a lad who examined the Appler jacket in St. Louis and it is cassimere which APPEARS to be on a brown warp. He speculated, as you have, that age, conditions, etc had turned the natural warp brown.

I see you are on the Vicksburg roster. I'll see you there.

Kind regards,

[Garrett Silliman]

Howdy Joe,

Good to see you on the forum!

This is a good question that you've raised. I spoke with a lad who examined the Appler jacket in St. Louis and it is cassimere which APPEARS to be on a brown warp. He speculated, as you have, that age, conditions, etc had turned the natural warp brown.

I see you are on the Vicksburg roster. I'll see you there.

Kind regards,

Joe,

Welcome to the AC and great question. Please find the attached photo of the Atkins Jacket. You'll notice that the warp appears to fall into a similar pattern of discoloration. On the interior of the jacket the natural color of the warp threads is clearly visible; however, when viewed next to the threads with a greater exterior exposure their appear brown in spots. From what I observed, this appeared throughout the jacket exterior and would not be attributed to staining etc (at least it didn't appear to be so). This may explain the variation in warp thread color. Fred, I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on this pic. Thanks, Garrett

[coastaltrash]

Garrett,
Great shots.

[tmdreb]

Joe,

The jacket in the Mansfield museum appears to be made of a rather brown shade of gray wool on a brown cotton warp unless you look at the seam allowance and see that it's really a very gray wool and a natural warp. In this case, the jacket just seems to have gotten quite dirty with Louisiana red dirt, giving it an appearance much different that it originally had.