Calamanco (also calimanco, callimanco, or kalamink) is fabric with a glazed surface that was popular in Europe and the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was typically made of worsted-spun wool yarn, and the glazing was achieved by calendaring (pressing the cloth between hot rollers), by surface-rubbing with a stone, or by applying wax to the surface. The name comes from a Spanish term for

worsted wool Worsted ( or ) is a high-quality type of wool yarn, the fabric made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from Worstead, a village in the English county of Norfolk. That village, together with North Walsham and Aylsham, f ...

. Calamanco goes back to the late 16th century but was most popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was made in a number of different weaves, including plain and satin weaves, damasks and brocades. Early in the period, it was used in clothing, but later on it was more commonly used for bed coverings, and surviving fragments are often found in

quilts A quilt is a multi-layered textile, traditionally composed of two or more layers of fabric or fiber. Commonly three layers are used with a filler material. These layers traditionally include a woven cloth top, a layer of batting or wadding, a ...

of the era, especially whole-cloth quilts. The surface sheen of the calamanco sets off intricate quilting patterns.

In popular culture

Calimanco has also been used as an alternative name for calico cats. It appears to have originated as a regional term in the English county of

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

in Norfolk was a center of calamanco manufacture. Calamanco is the name of a mare in Great Britain born around 1990; several of her offspring won races in the early 2000s.

References

{{Authority control Textiles Technical fabrics