[MR] fabric identification

[Margaret Roe]

Stefan,



It all depends on how long you leave the fabric in the bleach, but the short answer is that natural fibers dissolve before synthetics.

I have a chart here, http://www.mroeproductions.com/fabrics.html (in Excel), that details the properties of both natural and man-made fibers, what can destroy them (bugs, mildew, etc.), and how to identify them using both burn and bleach tests.  

If you want to add it to your website, let me know.  This is only a temporary location for it, so please don't just put up a link to it.


IHTH, 

Margaret Roe



Clothing resources at www.margaretroedesigns.com
Check out the new article, "Foreign Influences on Women's Elizabethan Fashions"!


________________________________

------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Thu, 9 Jun 2011 14:43:46 -0500
From: Stefan li Rous <StefanliRous at austin.rr.com>
To: Atlantia maillist <atlantia at atlantia.sca.org>
Subject: [MR] fabric
 identification
Message-ID: <2FC6AFC1-FEF5-49D5-BE90-558BFD4332E3 at austin.rr.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes

Do other natural fabrics than cotton also desolve in bleach? Do all  
synthetics survive?

This sounds like this test might be useable to identify unknown  
fabrics. I know that a burn test is the most common way, and easier to  
do at the fabric store, but I'm wondering if this technique might add  
some details.

For
 those interested in other fabric identification tests, see this  
file in the TEXTILE ARTS section of the Florilegium:
fabric-ident-msg (24K) 12/30/04 Identifying unknown fabric w. various  
tests.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/TEXTILES/fabric-ident-msg.html

Of course, if anyone has some other techniques they used successfully,  
I'd love to get them by email or on this list to add to this file.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org
 ****