mysterious fabric

[Deborah Hoffman]

Dear Seelangovtsy!
 
I was wondering whether any of you may have encountered a fabric known as malestin (малестин). 
 
The context is: a family is in exile after having been dekulakized, and the mother turns an old coat out of this material into a jacket for her daughter. "Mne mama sshila iz staroi malestinovoi kurtki-spetsovki pal'to."
 
No living person I've encountered seem to know what it is, and some claim the word does not exist in Russian or I otherwise must have been mistaken, so I'm thinking it must be obscure and/or obsolete.
 
I've found only 2 references online (and none on paper)
 
here: http://kazaki-sc2.narod.ru/exc1.html
«В летние школьные каникулы нас гусей у священника за трёхразовое питание, малестиновые штаны и ситцевую рубашку, которые получал к началу занятий в школе осенью.»
 
and here: http://libsi.liim.ru/creations/f-003/f-003-05.html
<<Переводил деньги домой родителям, рублей 500 перевел, одежду хорошую завел: костюм, сапоги лакированные, рубашки и штаны малестиновые широкие>>
 
Any tips welcome - moleskin has been suggested but I always thought of that as a more delicate fabric than these usages would suggest.
 
Thanks in advance,
Deborah
 
 
Deborah Hoffman, Esq.
Modern and Classical Language Studies
Vice-Chair, Graduate Student Senate
Kent State University

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