Muslin Explained

Muslin is a cotton fabric of plain weave. It is made in a wide range of weights from delicate sheers to coarse sheeting. It is commonly believed that it gets its name from the city of Mosul, Iraq, but, originally it comes from Dhaki.

The 16th-century English traveller Ralph Fitch lauded the muslin he saw in Sonargaon (in modern day Narayanganj District, Bangladesh).^[1] He visited India in 1583, described Sonargaon, "as a town ...... where there is the best and finest cloth made in all India". Abul Fazl wrote "the Sarkar of Sonargaon produces a species of muslin very fine and in great quantity". During the 17th and 18th centuries, Mughal Bengal emerged as the foremost muslin exporter in the world, with Mughal Dhaka as capital of the worldwide muslin trade.^{[2] [3]} Dhakai Muslin was recognized as a Geographical Indication (GI) product of Bangladesh in 2018^[4] and Banglar Muslin (Bengal Muslin) was recognized as a Geographical Indication (GI) product of the Indian state of West Bengal in 2024.^[5]

In 2013, the traditional art of weaving Jamdani, a type of muslin, in Bangladesh was included in the list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

History

In 1298 AD, Marco Polo described the cloth in his book The Travels. He said it was made in Mosul, Iraq.^[6] The 16th-century English traveller Ralph Fitch lauded the muslin he saw in Sonargaon.^[7] He visited India in 1583, described Sonargaon, "as a town ...... where there is the best and finest cloth made in all India". Abul Fazl wrote "the Sarkar of Sonargaon produces a species of muslin very fine and in great quantity". During the 17th and 18th centuries, Mughal Bengal emerged as the foremost muslin exporter in the world, with Mughal Dhaka as capital of the worldwide muslin trade.^{[8] [9]}

It became highly popular in 18th-century France and eventually spread across much of the Western world. Dhaka muslin was first showcased in the UK at The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations in 1851.^[10]

Manufacturing process

Since all the processes were manual, manufacturing involved many artisans for yarn spinning and weaving activities, but the leading role lay with the material and weaving.^[11]

• Ginning: For removing trash and cleaning and combing the fibers and making them parallel ready for spinning a boalee (upper jaw of a catfish) was used.
• Spinning and weaving: For extra humidity they used to weave during the rainy season for elasticity in the yarns and to avoid breakages. The process was so sluggish that it could take over five months to weave one piece of muslin.^[12]

Characteristics

Thin

Muslins were originally made of cotton only. These were very thin, transparent, delicate and feather light breathable fabrics. There could be 1000–1800 yarns in warp and weigh for . Some varieties of muslin were so thin that they could even pass through the aperture of a lady finger-ring.^{[13] [14] [15]}

Transparency

Gaius Petronius Arbiter (1st century AD Roman courtier and author of the Satyricon) described the transparent nature of the muslin cloth as below:^[16]

Poetic names

Certain delicate muslins were given poetic names such as Baft Hawa ("woven air"), Shabnam ("evening dew"), and āb-i-ravān ("flowing water"). The latter name refers to a fine and transparent variety of fine muslin from Dacca.^[17] The fabric's characteristics are summed up in its name.^{[18] [19]}

Types

Muslin has several kinds of variations. Many of the below are mentioned in Ain-i-Akbari (16th-century detailed document)

• Khasa^[20]
• Tansukh^{[21] [22]}
• Nainsook
• Chautar^{[23] [24]}
• Alliballi^[25] The name embraces, 'superior',, 'good'.^[26]
• Adatais, a fine and clear fabric.^[27]
• Seerhand muslin was a variety in between nainsook and mull (another muslin type, a very thin and soft). The fabric was resistant to washing, retaining its clearness.
• and varieties of mulmul (Mulboos khas, Jhuna, Sarkar ali, Sarbati, Tarindam)^[28] were among the most delicate cotton muslins produced in the Indian subcontinent.^{[29] [30] [31]}

More variations

Mull is another kind of muslin. It is a soft, thin, and semitransparent material. The name is derived from Hindi which means "soft". Swiss mull is a type of which is finished with stiffening agents.^[32]

Decline under Company rule

During the period of Company rule, the East India Company imported British-produced cloth into the Indian subcontinent, but became unable to compete with the local muslin industry. The Company administration initiated several policies in an attempt to suppress the muslin industry, and muslin production subsequently experienced a period of decline. It has been alleged that in some instances Indian weavers were rounded up and their thumbs chopped off, although this has been refuted by historians as a misreading of a report by William Bolts from 1772.^{[33] [34] [35]} The quality, fineness and production volume of Bengali muslin declined as a result of these policies, continuing when India transitioned from Company rule to British Crown control.^{[33] [36]}

Uses

Dressmaking and sewing

Because muslin is an inexpensive, unbleached cotton fabric available in different weights, it is often used as a backing or lining for quilts, and therefore can often be found in wide widths in the quilting sections of fabric stores.

When sewing clothing, a dressmaker may test the fit of a garment by using muslin fabric to make a test-model before cutting pieces from more expensive fabric to make the final product, thereby avoiding potential costly mistakes. In the United States, these test-models are themselves sometimes referred to as "muslins,” the process is called "making a muslin," and "muslin" has become the generic term for any test- or fitting garment, regardless of the fabric it is made from.

In Britain and Australia, the term for a test- or fitting garment used to be ^[37] Toile.^[38] The word “toile,” from an Old French word for “cloth,” entered the English language around the 12th century. (Today, toile simply refers to any sheer fabric, which may be made, for example, from linen or cotton.)

The modern German term for a test- or fitting garment is Nesselmodell.^[39]

Use in food production

See main article: Cheesecloth. Muslin can be used as a filter:

• In a funnel when decanting fine wine or port to prevent sediment from entering the decanter
• To separate liquid from mush (for example, to make apple juice: wash, chop, boil, mash, then filter by pouring the mush into a muslin bag suspended over a jug)
• To retain a liquidy solid (for example, in home cheese-making, when the milk has curdled to a gel, pour into a muslin bag and squash between two saucers (upside down under a brick) to squeeze out the liquid whey from the cheese curd)

Muslin is the material for the traditional cloth wrapped around a Christmas pudding.

Muslin is the fabric wrapped around the items in barmbrack, a fruitcake traditionally eaten at Halloween in Ireland.

Muslin is a filter in traditional Fijian kava production.

Beekeepers use muslin to filter melted beeswax to clean it of particles and debris.

Set design and photography

Muslin is often the cloth of choice for theatre sets. It is used to mask the background of sets and to establish the mood or feel of different scenes. It receives paint well and, if treated properly, can be made translucent.

It also holds dyes well. It is often used to create nighttime scenes because when dyed, it often gets a wavy look with the color varying slightly, such that it resembles a night sky. Muslin shrinks after it is painted or sprayed with water, which is desirable in some common techniques such as soft-covered flats.

In video production, muslin is used as a cheap greenscreen or bluescreen, either pre-colored or painted with latex paint (diluted with water).

Muslin is the most common backdrop material used by photographers for formal portrait backgrounds. These backdrops are usually painted, most often with an abstract mottled pattern.

In the early days of silent film-making, and until the late 1910s, movie studios did not have the elaborate lights needed to illuminate indoor sets, so most interior scenes were sets built outdoors with large pieces of muslin hanging overhead to diffuse sunlight.

Medicine

Surgeons use muslin gauze in cerebrovascular neurosurgery to wrap around aneurysms or intracranial vessels at risk for bleeding.^[40] The thought is that the gauze reinforces the artery and helps prevent rupture. It is often used for aneurysms that, due to their size or shape, cannot be microsurgically clipped or coiled.^[41]

Recognition

In 2013, the traditional art of weaving Jamdani muslin in Bangladesh was included in the list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.^[42] In 2020, it was given Geographical indication status as a product of Bangladesh due to efforts of the government of Bangladesh,^[43] the fourth GI-certified product after Jamdani sarees, Hilsa fish, and Khirsapat mangoes.

Revival

Muslin saree was woven in Bangladesh by a group of researchers under a government project. The research team has woven six muslin sarees in 2020. It is expecting to launch the muslin saree in the market in the next two years.^[44]

See also

• Delaine (cloth)
• Muslin trade in Bengal
• Jamdani
• Tanzeb
• Toile

Further reading

• Book: Eaton, Richard M.. The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760. 1996. University of California Press. 978-0-520-20507-9. 202–.
• Islam . Khademul . May–June 2016 . Our Story of Dhaka Muslin . . 67 . 3 . 26–32 . 895830331.
• Book: Riello. Giorgio . Parthasarathi. Prasannan . The Spinning World: A Global History of Cotton Textiles, 1200–1850. 2011. Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-969616-1.
• Web site: Gorvett . Zaria . The ancient fabric that no one knows how to make . BBC Future . BBC . 21 September 2022.
• Book: Bhadra . Siddharth . Status of The Cotton Textile Industry in Birbhum, Burdwan and Hooghly Districts of Burdwan Division During 1757 -1857: A Critical Overview. 2015 . University of North Bengal . Raja Rammohanpur, Darieeling . 21 March 2024.

Notes and References

1. Book: Shamim . Shahid Hussain . Selim . Lala Rukh . 2007 . Handloom Textiles . Selim . Lala Rukh . Art and Crafts . Cultural survey of Bangladesh series . 8 . Asiatic Society of Bangladesh . 552 . 299379796.
2. Book: Eaton, Richard Maxwell . 1996 . The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760 . University of California Press . 978-0-520-20507-9 . 202 . 13 February 2016 . 4 April 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230404212612/https://books.google.com/books?id=gKhChF3yAOUC&pg=PA202 . live .
3. Book: Karim, Abdul . 2012 . Muslin . http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Muslin . Islam . Sirajul . Sirajul Islam . Jamal . Ahmed A. . Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh . Second . . 31 October 2015 . 5 July 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150705005108/http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Muslin . live .
4. Web site: মঞ্জুরকৃত জিআই পণ্য . dpdt.portal.gov.bd . 21 March 2024 . en.
5. Web site: Intellectual Property India - Journal 182 . 21 March 2024.
6. [Marco Polo|Polo, Marco]
7. Book: Shamim . Shahid Hussain . Selim . Lala Rukh . 2007 . Handloom Textiles . Selim . Lala Rukh . Art and Crafts . Cultural survey of Bangladesh series . 8 . Asiatic Society of Bangladesh . 552 . 299379796.
8. Book: Eaton, Richard Maxwell . 1996 . The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760 . University of California Press . 978-0-520-20507-9 . 202 . 13 February 2016 . 4 April 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230404212612/https://books.google.com/books?id=gKhChF3yAOUC&pg=PA202 . live .
9. Book: Karim, Abdul . 2012 . Muslin . http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Muslin . Islam . Sirajul . Sirajul Islam . Jamal . Ahmed A. . Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh . Second . . 31 October 2015 . 5 July 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150705005108/http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Muslin . live .
10. Web site: Gorvett . Zaria . The ancient fabric that no one knows how to make . 2023-06-06 . www.bbc.com . en . 10 July 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210710061655/https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210316-the-legendary-fabric-that-no-one-knows-how-to-make . live .
11. Book: 1851 . A descriptive and historical account of the cotton manufacture of Dacca, in Bengal . John Mortimer .
12. Ashmore. Sonia. 2018-10-01. Handcraft as luxury in Bangladesh: Weaving jamdani in the twenty-first century. International Journal of Fashion Studies. 5. 2. 389–397. 10.1386/infs.5.2.389_7. 166980808. 4 December 2020. 9 July 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210709185802/https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/intellect/infs/2018/00000005/00000002/art00009. live.
13. Book: Watson, John Forbes. The Textile Manufactures and the Costumes of the People of India. 1867. Allen. 75.
14. Book: Balfour, Edward. The Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia, Commercial Industrial, and Scientific: Products of the Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal Kingdoms, Useful Arts and Manufactures. 1885. Bernard Quaritch. 830.
15. Book: Indian Journal of Economics. 1998. University of Allahabad, Department of Economics. 435.
16. News: 2017-01-14. Legendary fabric. 2021-07-09. Deccan Herald. en. 9 July 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210709190045/https://www.deccanherald.com/content/591475/legendary-fabric.html. live.
17. Book: Weibel, Adèle Coulin. Two thousand years of textiles; the figured textiles of Europe and the Near East. 1952. New York, Published for the Detroit Institute of Arts [by] Pantheon Books. Internet Archive. 54.
18. Book: Fairchild's dictionary of textiles. 1959. New York, Fairchild Publications. 4.
19. Book: King, Brenda M.. Silk and Empire. 2005-09-03. Manchester University Press. 978-0-7190-6700-6. 61, xvi. en.
20. Book: Museum. Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II. Textiles and Costumes from the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum. Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum Trust. 1979. XII.
21. Book: Khadi Gramodyog. Khadi & Village Industries Commission. 2001. 88.
22. Book: Congress, Indian History. Proceedings. Indian History Congress. 1967. 243.
23. Book: Burnell, Arthur Coke. The Voyage of John Huyghen van Linschoten to the East Indies: From the Old English Translation of 1598. The First Book, containing his Description of the East. In Two Volumes Volume I. 2017-05-15. Taylor & Francis. 978-1-317-01231-3. 60.
24. Book: Sangar, Pramod. Growth of the English Trade Under the Mughals. ABS Publications. 1993. 978-81-7072-044-7. 171.
25. Book: Fairchild's dictionary of textiles. 1959. New York . Fairchild. Internet Archive. 15.
26. Book: Burnell. A. C.. Hobson-Jobson: Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words And Phrases. Yule. Henry. 2018-10-24. Routledge. 978-1-136-60331-0. 706. en.
27. Book: Montgomery, Florence M.. Textiles in America 1650–1870: a dictionary based on original documents, prints and paintings, commercial records, American merchants' papers, shopkeepers' advertisements, and pattern books with original swatches of cloth . 1984 . New York; London . Norton . Internet Archive. 978-0-393-01703-8. 143.
28. Book: Sinha, Narendra Krishna. The Economic History of Bengal from Plassey to the Permanent Settlement. Firma K. L. Mukhopadhyay. 1961. 177.
29. Dey . Gouri . 2015 . Fashion and Designing under the Mughals (Akbar to Aurangzeb): A Historical Perspective . PhD . Textiles under Mughals . University of North Bengal . https://ir.nbu.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/2751/13/13_chapter%205.pdf . 87 . 29 June 2022 . Cotton clothes: 1. Khasa per piece (than) – 3 rupiya to 15 muhr 2. Chautar per piece – 2 rupiya to 9 muhr 3. Malmal per piece – 4 rupiya 4. Tansukh per piece – 4 rupiya to 5 muhr . 9 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220109190952/https://ir.nbu.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/2751/13/13_chapter%205.pdf . live .
30. Book: Chaudhury, Sushil. Spinning Yarns: Bengal Textile Industry in the Backdrop of John Taylor's Report on 'Dacca Cloth Production' (1801). 2020-03-10. Routledge. 978-1-000-07920-3.
31. Book: Bhattacharya. Ranjit Kumar. Indian Artisans: Social Institutions and Cultural Values. Chakrabarti. S. B.. Anthropological Survey of India, Government of India, Ministry of Culture, Youth Affairs and Sports, Department of Culture. 2002. 978-81-85579-56-6. 87.
32. Book: Thompson, Eliza Bailey . Cotton and linen . 1922 . New York . Ronald . University of California Libraries . 70.
33. Book: Bolts, William . William Bolts . 1772 . Considerations on India affairs: particularly respecting the present state of Bengal and its dependencies . Printed for J. Almon . 194–195.
34. Book: Edwards, Michael . June 1976 . Growth of the British Cotton Trade 1780–1815 . Augustus M Kelley Pubs . 37 . 0-678-06775-9.
35. Book: Marshall, P. J.. 1988 . India and Indonesia during the Ancien Regime . E.J. Brill . 90 . 978-90-04-08365-3.
36. Book: Samuel . T. John . 2013 . Many avatars : challenges, achievements and the future . [S.l.] . Friesenpress . 978-1-4602-2893-7.
37. Oxford English Dictionary: "toile"; its earliest known use in this sense was recorded in 1561.
38. Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English ISBN 019 431 5339, 2000, page 1367
39. Guido Hofenbitzer: Maßschnitte und Passform – Schnittkonstruktion für Damenmode: Band 2 Europa-Lehrmittel; 2. Edition (5. Oktober 2016) ISBN 978-3808562444, Page 26
40. Pool . J. . 1976 . Muslin gauze in intracranial vascular surgery. Technical note. . Journal of Neurosurgery . 44 . 1 . 127–128 . 10.3171/jns.1976.44.1.0127. 1244428 .
41. Berger . C. . Hartmann . M. . Wildemann . B. . March 2003 . Progressive visual loss due to a muslinoma – report of a case and review of the literature . European Journal of Neurology . 10 . 2 . 153–158 . 10.1046/j.1468-1331.2003.00546.x. 12603290 . 883414 . free .
42. News: Jamdani recognised as intangible cultural heritage by Unesco. 2013-12-05. The Daily Star. 5 December 2013. 6 December 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20131206185959/http://www.thedailystar.net/beta2/news/jamdani-recognised-as-intangible-cultural-heritage-by-unesco/. live.
43. News: Muslin belongs to Bangladesh. 2021-01-01. Prothom Alo. 2 January 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210102120521/https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/good-day-bangladesh/muslin-belongs-to-bangladesh. live.
44. Web site: Legendary Muslin revived again, Textile Today, 2 January 2021 . 2 January 2021 . 2 January 2022 . 2 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220102145521/https://www.textiletoday.com.bd/legendary-muslin-revived/ . live .