New lining fabric for a Harris Tweed jacket?

[Seb Lucas]

My tailor says I should get a thin cotton fabric to replace the old, shredded polyester lining of my still robust trusty tweed. I'm not so sure since I have never seen a tweed jacket with a cotton lining before. Bemberg rayon maybe. Can anyone suggest a tried and true fabric to you use to replace a tweed jacket lining? Maybe a particular type of cotton?

 

[Tomasso]

In the 70s I had a tweed suit made by my grandfather's/father's tailor in Galway (my GF's home town). It had a full cotton lining, jacket and trousers both. I remember the jacket being a bit difficult to put on due to the cotton lined sleeves catching on my cotton shirtsleeves. I recall asking my father why they didn't use regular smooth lining like bemberg or silk and he said that cotton lined tweed was an Irish thing and that I'd get used to it. Anyway, I never got used to it so I had my local tailor replace the cotton sleeve lining with silk or bemberg, I forget which. The jacket then slid on and off like a charm. That's all I got.

 

[herringbonekid]

Seb, there's no practical reason to line a tweed jacket with cotton. most vintage tweed jackets are lined with some type of standard rayon lining. some vintage (30s-40s) Brit jackets have a particular type of striped cotton lining in the sleeves which isn't slippery, but it seems to serve no purpose.

 

[GBR]

Seb, there's no practical reason to line a tweed jacket with cotton. most vintage tweed jackets are lined with some type of standard rayon lining. some vintage (30s-40s) Brit jackets have a particular type of striped cotton lining in the sleeves which isn't slippery, but it seems to serve no purpose.

Good British coats will have a striped silk or satin lining for the sleeves, not cotton.

 

[Fastuni]

There was both (artificial) silk, and (brushed) cotton for sleeve lining.
Brushed cotton has a very smooth surface.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Mostly Bemberg cupro, though. The cotton hbk references is less common and inferior to Bemberg, IMO, at least after this length of time. Funnily enough Bemberg tends to be much more expensive than similar silk fabrics these days, given the mass Chinese silk production we have now. Old British jackets, even very high end ones, tend to be lined in rayon twill, too, rather than silk.

Interestingly, though Bemberg is rayon, it uses cotton husks as the source for the cellulose.

Good British coats will have a striped silk or satin lining for the sleeves, not cotton.

 

[Seb Lucas]

I was thinking Bemberg cupro too. Unfortunately no one seems to stock it in Australia. I've been trying to find it but can't.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

There's someone in Thailand on eBay who stocks the best Japanese stuff. No stripes though, as I recall.

I would be astonished if you couldn't find it in Australia. Ask your local tailor. He's bound to source it somewhere.

 

[Seb Lucas]

There's someone in Thailand on eBay who stocks the best Japanese stuff. No stripes though, as I recall.

I would be astonished if you couldn't find it in Australia. Ask your local tailor. He's bound to source it somewhere.

I've spoken to 4 tailors. Three said they didn't use it these days and one said cotton was better. The fabric stores only sell Bemsilk an acetate, not rayon version and not as good. I bet some small obscure supplier has it but it will take a long search.