Plate No. 137fabric
The thick, shaggy, weatherproof nap of Irish frieze.
- First documented
- Middle Ages
- Origin
- Ireland, Ireland
- Fiber
- wool
- Weave
- heavy woolen with a shaggy raised nap
- Family
- twills
Plate No. 137 · fabric
Frieze
Frieze is a heavy, coarse woolen with a thick shaggy nap raised on one side, long associated with Ireland, where Irish frieze was the standard cloth of cloaks and greatcoats for working people. The dense raised pile sheds rain and holds warmth, which made it the outerwear of farmers, drovers, and soldiers through centuries of damp Atlantic weather. It is the rough, weatherproof end of the woolen family, valued for protection rather than refinement.
Named for
From the Old French frise, a napped cloth; the word is tied to the curled, frizzed surface rather than to any one place.
Sources & References
- 1.Frieze (textile), Wikipedia
- 2.Fulling, Wikipedia