The term bolting refers to the dry screening of a substance and bolting cloth was originally used for flour sifting by the milling industry. The fine mesh material later played an important role in the development of screen printing on fabric.

Traditionally silk cloth was used for bolting processes, although it is rarely used today. Polyester and nylon are now more popular in the milling industry for sifting because the materials are more consistent and long lived since they are synthetic. Yet, their bolting action is similar to natural silk. Sometimes stainless steel wire bolting cloth is utilized in various industries, which is even more durable and may help increase the bolting speed of screening machines.

Although various forms of screen printing had been used for many years, it was not until 1907 that a patent describing a particular process was awarded. That year, Samuel Simon of Manchester, England developed a fabric printing method in which a pattern was created from stencils that were drawn upon silk bolting cloth. The bolting cloth with the stencil attached was stretched tightly across a frame and then the ink or dye was brushed through the mesh. Today, the same basic process is often used for printing on signs and fabric, although metals and plastics have generally replaced bolting cloth as the favored screening material.