Circa 1890-1930 heavy mattress cover ticking. Thick red and white stripes. This fabric comes from what was originally sewn together like a giant sack and it was once used as a mattress cover. Original mattres buttons. This fabric was woven by hand, at a rate of about 21 inches for an entire evening's work. The fibers are both cotton and linen. The hand woven panels were woven on a narrow loom then pieced together.
The word 'ticking' is derived from the Latin word for case, 'Tica.' The fabric came to be known as 'denim,' as Nimes, France was one of the great producers of this ticking fabric. Ticking fabric was used for creating mattresses, as the European bedding system of old consisted of many layers of textiles - the ones at the bottom were stuffed with straw and fodder and topped with a dense denim (ticking) that was stuffed with feathers for the top layers.