Ramie was "trendy" in the 1980s because it was not limited by the then-current textile import quotas. The Chinese, having a history of growing and producing it, saw this as an opportunity to get more products exported to the US. Because of its crystalline structure, it is hard to dye--even harder than linen (flax), IIRC.
Ann Wass -----Original Message----- From: Lavolta Press <f...@lavoltapress.com> To: Historical Costume <h-cost...@indra.com> Sent: Tue, Mar 12, 2013 2:13 pm Subject: Re: [h-cost] Fabrics Medieval vs Modern Ramie was trendy in the 1980s. I had a couple of 100% ramie blouses. They were like a slightly bristly linen, less shiny after ironing, and did not wear quite as well as linen. They retained dye at about the same level as linen, that is, less well than cotton. Then again, some of that may have been due to the quality of the blouses, which although not rock bottom quality/label/price were not high end, either. Fran Lavolta Press Books of historic clothing patterns www.lavoltapress.com www.facebook.com/LavoltaPress On 3/12/2013 7:40 AM, Kate Bunting wrote: > I once had a cardigan which included ramie fibre. According to Wikipedia this is the same plant as the "Chinese grass" that Fran mentioned, a kind of nettle. Apparently it is difficult to use alone as it doesn't stretch and has many projecting "hairs". I can vouch that this is true of stinging nettle fibre, which I once had a try at hand-spinning. > > Kate Bunting > Librarian & 17th century reenactor > Derby, UK > > _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
