the historical use of cotton for patching in the frontier era would be highly unlikely. Linen and wool were by far the most common fabrics in the north-american frontier era. What little cotton fabric there was, prior-- to say the early 1800's, was usually an import from India (calico was cloth from Calcutta) and was a luxury item in nearly the same price range as some silks.
The development of the British fabric industry's ability to produce cotton fabric was a MAJOR technological advantage which lead to the development of the cotton-culture in the american south--with all it's subsequent ramifications.
Linen came in many grades and qualities, from coarse sailcoth to delicate nearly transparent cloth as fine as silk. Linen production from flax was a critical home industry, all those spinning wheels and looms in american pioneer cabins were for linen and wool either separately or in combination.
The French, in an attempt to protect their home-county fabric industry, prohibited private ownership of spinning wheels in their north american colonies. As I recall; one of the post F&I war (british) take-over inventories at Ft DeChartres listed a number of "confiscated spinning wheels"
