[Northkeep] Identifying fabrics (was: linen-rayon blends...?)

[Betsy Marshall]

There is also the bleach test- put a small scrap- about thumbnail size
in bleach over night- any wool or silk (protein fibers) will dissolve,
any synthetic  or bast (cotton, linen) fibers will remain- great for
checking to see if your wool is a blend or 100%.
HTH, Pyro

-----Original Message-----
From: northkeep-bounces+betsy=softwareinnovation.com at ansteorra.org
[mailto:northkeep-bounces+betsy=softwareinnovation.com at ansteorra.org] On
Behalf Of Anawyn at aol.com
Sent: Monday, October 18, 2004 12:00 PM
To: northkeep at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Northkeep] Identifying fabrics (was: linen-rayon
blends...?)

Talana would be the better one to answer this. Hopefully she will see
this 
post and add her wisdom to it. I know that one of the ways you can tell 
synthetic is with a "burn test."  Take a small bit of the fabric and
light it with a 
match. If the charred remains looks like a clump that melted together
(like 
melted plastic), it is a pretty sure bet you have a synthetic. Natural
fibers 
will not react that way, they will simply char and turn to ash. Another
is a 
"crush" test, grab a palmful of fabric and squeeze it, if it wrinkles it
is most 
likely, at least in large part, a natural fiber. If it does not wrinkle
at all, 
most likely it is synthetic. Now that is not an absolute, some natural
fibers 
spring back well, and I have known some synthetic to wrinkle, but it is
a 
good general rule of thumb.
Hope that helps!
Anawyn
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