Source for waxed cotton fabric

Dear JPBill,

Waxed cotton material is no longer made, to my knowledge. Very flammable, very dangerous. It used to be used for chintz fabric, and was not a permanent finish. Now, oilcloth is a different matter. It is a scrim fabric coated with plastic, and you should still be able to find it under a different name. Try laminated fabrics.

Teri

It is still possible to but cotton waxed fabric clothing over here in the UK. AFAIK the wax is applied after construction - this is the stuff to use

As to flammability - I have worn my waxed jacket to Guy Fawke's/bonfire/firework night for the last twenty years and don't even have a spark burn in it. IMNSHO Polyester fleeces are much more likely to suffer damage.

HTH

Lizzy

Have you tried:

Croft Mill, who quite often have ex Barbour manufacturing stock... Ring them on 01282 869625

I seem to remember seeing this in Nancy's Notions catalog recently. The website is:

or call 1-800-833-0690. The clerks are very nice, polite and knowledgeable. I have no affiliation with the company, except as a very happy customer of many years. Emily

Nah... Waxed fabric is made as yardage already waxed. I've bought it, from Croft Mill: ex Barbour manufacturing stock, and damned good stuff it was too. Nikwax make a re-waxing compund for re-proofing your Barbour, or your Belstaff bike jacket, when they've done 30 years on the hills/bike.

The fabric makes great picnic blankets with a nice wool on the other side...

I stand corrected Kate - you have been perusing the Croft Mill catalogue for much longer than I have. I do like my waxed jacket, even though it is not Barbour. I have rewaxed mine and found doing it hot weather improved the wax penetration into the fabric. I still don´t think there is much of a flammability issue though.

Lizzy

I think we did it outside and used a hairdryer when we did Alan's old Belstaff!

I think we must be talking about two different things. Wax is flammable, and used for chintz fabric. Whatever the stuff is you're talking about must be a very different compound.

Teri

If you have ever seen photos of our royal family out shooting and they are wearing dark green coats, they are almost certainly wearing Barbour outdoor gear. Very waterproof, windproof, thornproof.... If the garment gets muddy you can literally hose it down. Fairly heavy to wear, but well designed for purpose.

Lizzy

Well, the fabric smells distinctly of parafin wax, as does the re-proofing compound! BUT as it's soaked into the cotton, it isn't something that flares up instantly when you drop a match on it.

Last real waxed cotton I've seen was at Rose City Textile, and that was a couple of years ago. Annette at their retail store may know if she's seen any lately.

you can try something like Nikwax's CottonProof... no it's not wax, but yes, it works.

Kay

I think that it's also called oilskin. I know the waxed cotton Drover's coats sold in Australia are usually described as being made of 'oilskin'.

Ah what a blast from the past! I well remember Belstaff gear from my days spent as the pillion on a myriad of different motorbikes.

It's the sort of fabric used for rugged outdoor all weather gear. It's been used for sailing gear for at least a century and is still used in Australia for Drover's coats

we have a couple of farms, we own several each and I also have a couple of posh British made ones as my 'stepping out' gear for when we have to face rough weather in a more upmarket surroundings than the normal cattle sales, stock yard work, cattle chasing etc.

Well, wax is certainly flammable (after all candles do burn) but not "very flammable" and certainly not "very dangerous" as you wrote upthread . Waxed cotton is considerably harder to set fire to than the ubiquitous polyester fleece.

PointNorth sell blue check and green waxed cotton

do FabricUK modern waxed cotton garments, to give you an idea of what we are talking about: this is not chintz. As far as I can tell, chintz is waxed for appearance, wheras waxed cotton is for waterproofing.

Dear Alan,

We are talking about two different things. Notice most of the responses are from the UK. This fabric you refer to might be readily available there, but not in the US. I taught textiles for twenty years, and never ran into it. It's not even listed in my textile books. I can see that it would be valuable on a farm, or for motorcycle riders out in the elements. And I didn't mean to start an uproar. I have a vivid picture in my mind of chintz curtains setting up a blaze that could get someone caught in a horrible fire. I had no idea that there is a product to make garments waterproof by rubbing it into the fibers.

Teri

Barbour and others are nothing more than cloth (commonly cotton), garments with a heavy coating of wax applied to repel the elements and weather. Quite similar to the "mink oil" paste that comes in tins, many Americans apply to various items of outerwear or shoes to make them "waterproof".

While paraffin is flammable, thus any wax made from same will flame, the stuff is not left on the surface, but rubbed into the cloth with the excess removed. When done properly the process is rather like polishing the furniture or floors, with only a very slight layer of wax on the surface forming a barrier.

Wouldn't expect to see much Barbour's or that sort of thing beyond the Northeast or perhaps any other area where the climate is cold, damp and quite often wet. Though today one sees crisp new Barbour's on those swanning about London who keep their jackets pristine. IMHO Barbour's aren't truly broken in until they've spent time in back of the Rover with the dogs sleeping on them, after day out on the moors! *LOL*

Certainly in the UK 'chintz' and 'waxed cotton' are VERY different fabrics! :D

Chintz is a fine plain weave cotton, printed with flowers and stuff (and occasionally just plain coloured), and glazed with starches and wax... It's mainly used for curtains and curtain linings these days, but it used also to be used for clothing, particularly in the 18th C and again in the 1950's, when those frocks with the big sticky-out skirts were all the rage! The trouble was, when you washed it, it lost that glaze and became rather limp and dull... It took industrial quantities of starch, steam and effort to get some of it back, and was a right royal PITA to do. I remember my mum doing this to various cotton frocks when I was small. The glaze is applied to the printed fabric after printing, and to one side only.

Glazed fabric has a similar appearance to calendared fabric, which is passed between two heated rollers to give it a shiny surface (effectively ironing it). This is a more permanent finish than the glazed finish, and the two can be confused. I think some modern 'glazed' fabrics are in fact calendared fabrics. Calendaring can be done to both man-made fabrics and natural fibres such as cotton and linen.

I don't remember that the glazed cottons of my childhood were any more flammable than any other curtain or frock fabrics.

Waxed cotton is much heavier. It's a sturdy fabric that is dyed and then heat treated with the wax to make it penetrate all the way through. This makes the cloth completely waterproof and rather heavy. It does have something of the wax candle about it when you touch it, but the wax doesn't generally come off on things (but don't store it next to yer posh silk frock just in case!). Washing is NOT recommended! When the jacket begins to wear a bit, you make sure the mud is dry and brush it off and apply your Nikwax reproofing* to it. Same with the Belstaff: knock the worst of the muck off and re-proof over the top of what won't come off! And if the inside of yer Belstaff is a bit whiffy, so what. Bike jackets are *meant* to smell of sweat, engine oil, paraffin wax and road dirt, aren't they? :)

The stuff you want is this: