Jean Cotton

[bsbaker]

Does anyone on have anything made of Jean Cotton? Is it cooler than Jean wool? Are there any setbacks?

[toptimlrd]

Not sure what you are looking for. Jean cloth is a cotton warp and wool weft.

Contrary to a lot of popular belief cotton material that we call jean today was available as well. Many account the name denim as an English version of a fabric made in Nimes France. Levi Strauss and company made denim a household name post war but it does predate the 1860's. In fact I have read that George Washington toured a denim mill in Massachusets in 1789.

[FloridaConfederate]

Does anyone on have anything made of Jean Cotton? yep Is it cooler than Jean wool? nope Are there any setbacks? it frays easier and isnt as durable

Cotton Jean = weft and warp of cotton.

Chris Rideout
Tampa, Florida

[DeoVinde11]

I just purchased some jean cotton pants, they are very comfortable

[sgt lamb]

Ben tart makes cotton jean as well as cotton cassamire

[bsbaker]

I just purchased some jean cotton pants, they are very comfortable

That's why I ask, I plan to make a pair from a Galla Rock pattern. Hopefully it turns out well.

[toptimlrd]

Sorry about that, I thought this might have been related to an earlier conversation I had about the authenticity of denim so I was misreading the post.

[Southern Cal]

I realize this is a dated thread but after visiting a museum in Atlanta, I saw more than one CSA uniform garment, both jackets and pants, that appeared strikingly similar to cotton denim. I'm curious how common it was for CSA troops to have been issued cotton uniforms, or would cotton have been seen more with commutation type garments, or issued only in certain CSA regional departments? I'm making an assumption that today's cotton fabric is not an accurate substitute for the period cotton cloth one would find as CSA uniforms.

[doughboy]

Some drawbacks to cotton jean would be the loss of wicking ability thereby causing one to to be less comfortable during the day and sleeping in damp cotton can be extremely uncomfortable where sleeping in damp wool though not entirely comfortable would be bearable.
Christopher Wilson

[1 Yellowhammer]

I have a pair of cotton jean pants, but never wear them.

Reasons being

If they get wet they get heavy and you're going to be pulling your pants up the entire weekend and they dry VERY slowly.

They seem to be a lot hotter than the wool jean pants, believe it or not.

When they get wet, you become miserable. I promise.

Thats my 2 cents.

[Silas]

Cotton jean makes for a nice overshirt. I'm very pleased with mine. I'd stick with jean wool for trousers due to the fabric's durability as well as its wicking properties.

[Spinster]

Cotton Jean, warp and weft, is utter misery in the field, especially when wet.

There is a good reason that this fabric was a wartime exigency for southern uniforms. Even in the summer, it does not breathe as well as comparable weights and weaves of wool.

It was however, issued---Rocky's home unit listed above was one such recipient. The feller who made the original run for the reenactor unit said "never, ever, again" in dealing with the fabric, reproduced in proper weight and weave by Ben Tart.

If memory serves, some of the Texas Penitentiary jackets are also of this fabric.

[Phil]

Yes, the cotton jean and osnaburg cranked out by the Huntsville Pen was used for jackets, tents, knapsacks, haversacks and even trousers.

I've got a pair of cotton jean trousers, and I've had no problems wearing them. I'd wear them more often if I could get around to fixing that large hole in the seat.

I'll go against the conventional wisdom here and advocate cotton trousers. There are quite a number of original cotton trousers worn by Confederates during the War, and cotton jean's a bit underrepresented.

I've been wearing cotton trousers for years now, even at cold and wet events, and haven't died yet. In fact, at IPW, the Confederates wore a lot more cotton than did the Federals, and fared much better overall in the cold.

[Southern Cal]

So, cotton jean was in somewhat common use, though not the preferred uniform cloth, and likely less warm than the better examples of wools or wool jeans, especially in damp conditions as thick cotton wicks moisture but doesn't evaporate it quickly. Seems cotton jean would be a deep south, cotton belt, homespun, or as mentioned, prison inmate produced article.