Finishing Trades

Norwich cloths were associated with specialised and distinctive finishing processes. This was sometimes known as ‘dressing’ the cloth, and produced cloth that was glossy, stamped, watered to produce a moiré effect, or crimped.
Unlike the woollen cloths made from short fibre fleeces, worsted were not fulled to felt them or napped and cropped across their surface. Instead, they were calendered or pressed. Calendering was originally carried out while the cloth was wet, but dry calendering was introduced by the Flemish. One disadvantage was that the latter were not weather-proof and spotted in the rain.

The finishing techniques developed by the Strangers were refined in the 18th century, when it became fashionable to give a high shine to accentuate the brilliant colours of callimancos. The plain weaves of camlets were also embellished by hot-pressing; the imprinting of embossed patterns by applying hot plates over a carved block. This trade developed as a separate craft from 1682. Camlets were sometimes given watered or moiré treatments to imitate watered silks.

The crape industry also perfected elaborate finishing processes. Silk gauze was spun with a twist, and woven to produce a pronounced crimped effect. It was then dressed with a variety of gums, starches and other glutinous substances to produce the dull stiffness appropriate to mourning cloths.