The term ticking has become synonymous with a cotton or linen cloth featuring crisp, narrow stripes; a cloth that segues comfortably from under-counter curtains in utility rooms to smart upholstery in elegant drawing rooms, and everything in between. In truth, the name refers as much to the tight weave of the textile as it does to the stripe. Sometimes a tight twill but more authentically a firm herringbone, the ticking weave originated with the need to encase the fillings of early mattresses in a way that prevented straw, chaff, leaves, rushes, bracken, feathers and other fillings from poking through and prickling sleepers awake.
These refillable, sack-like structures were widely referred to asa case or sheath, and the Ancient Greek word for receptacle – and over time, the textile used to make the tick became referred to as ticking.
