If you have ever felt a vintage wool coat and sighed with bliss, there is a pretty fair chance it was made of melton. This fabric has a surface that has been finished to give it a felt-like, weather-resistant nap, and in the finest wool it makes a velvety soft coat. My mother called this fabric—about which she spoke reverantly—melton cloth. (Can't remember which is warp and which is weft? In case you're wondering, all the linked words here, and in the VFG Fabric Resource, will take you to definitions in the resource.) Melton looks much like thick felt with its twill weave or plain weave obscured by fulling and shearing of its nap (although the back of the fabric may show its weave). The dense, thick construction makes it wind and rain resistant and extremely warm. It is almost always dyed a solid color. The best melton is all wool and almost velvety. Less costly variations can have a cotton warp and woolen weft, and sometimes manufactured fibers are also used. Melton takes its name from Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, UK, where it was first woven and used to make jackets for fox hunting. Uses: Winter coats, uniforms, riding habits This is a close up of an Edwardian walking suit made of wool melton. See the twill line? Here's a late 40s wool melton coat A close up. You can just barely make out the twill weave: Here is detail from a 1960s US Army uniform winter overcoat being sold on eBay by kingofvintage1. Again, just that hint of the twill weave is visible. Please ask, tell, show, etc.
Exactly! And both are excellent if you like that kind of thing... I love stilton, not so keen on pork pies. Melton Mowbray is very near where I grew up. It's also the vicinity of the famous Quorn hunt, which has been going since the 17th Century. Not so keen on that either, but it explains the cloth being first used for hunting jackets. I had a beautiful mustard coloured Melton waistcoat, but I don't seem to have kept any pictures.
