Crash.—Properly speaking, the name “crash” is only applied to the coarse Russian home-spun linen, which has been such a favourite from the beauty of its tone of colour. It is, however, erroneously applied to all linens used for embroidery, whether woven by hand-loom or machinery; and this confusion of names frequently leads to mistakes. Crash is almost always very coarse, is never more than eighteen inches wide, and cannot be mistaken for a machine-made fabric. It is woven by the Russian peasants in their own homes, in lengths varying from five to ten yards, and, therefore, though sent over in large bales, it is very difficult to find two pieces among a hundred that in any way match each other.
Bolton, or Workhouse Sheeting, is a coarse twilled cotton fabric, seventy-two inches wide, of a beautiful soft creamy colour, which improves much in washing. It is inexpensive, and an excellent ground for embroidery, either for curtains, counterpanes, chair coverings, or for ladies’ dresses, or tennis aprons.
It resembles the twilled cotton on which so much of the old crewel embroidery was worked in the seventeenth century, and is one of the most satisfactory materials when of really good quality.
All descriptions of linen, except the “oatcake” and “sailcloth,” can be embroidered in the hand.
