BINDING! June 17, 1768 at the Colden Store, Coldengham, New York

Friday, June 17, 1768
Coldengham, New York
Store of Cadwallader Colden, Jr.

Binding

Samuel Clark purchased two and one-half yards of 'Binding' at two pence per yard at the Colden Store on this day, 250 years-ago. Binding was used to secure cloth edges in sewn garments.

Bias Tape (Binding). Image courtesy of madeeveryday.com

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This article is one in a series of a daily accountings of Colden Store transactions. Be sure you read the first installment for an introduction to the store. You should also read this article which appeared in the Journal of the Orange County Historical Society.

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Colden sold hundreds of yards of binding at his store. Binding sold for only two to three pence per yard and was rarely described as 'worsted.'

Binding was always sold along with other sewing supplies. Webster defined it in his 1828 dictionary as "something that secures the edge of cloth." Caulfeild confirms this in her 1887 Dictionary of Needlework stating that the term binding "denotes the encasing of the edge of any material...in the folded band of tape, braid, ribbon, or of any other stuff cut on the bias..."

The last definition indicates that the term might have been used interchangeably with ribbon and tape which were items frequently sold at Colden's store. Perhaps the term 'binding' was unique to material cut on the bias (diagonal to warp and weft) and folded.

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