Hello Delores
I have a 1950s book "The Identification of Textile Fibres" which goes
into great detail about microscopic and chemical tests to distinguish
one fibre from another, but unless you have your own laboratory to
hand....
If you are just trying to decide between linen and cotton the best
thing is to look at it with a powerful magnifier, at least x8. Untwist
the plies and then untwist a single ply and the individual fibres will
separate out. If it's cotton none of the fibres will be more than
about an inch or so long, if it's linen they will be much longer, up to
about a metre/yard in length. Also spun linen/flax tends to have slubs
in it whilst cotton is generally much more uniform. Linen thread is
nearly always spun in the S direction, cotton can be either.
Is there a label on this cone? or anything printed onto the cone itself?
Brenda
Could someone tell me how to test a thread to see if it might be
linen? I
have a large cone of thread I believe is linen but would like to know
for
sure.
Brenda in Allhallows, Kent
http://paternoster.orpheusweb.co.uk/index.html
-
To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line:
unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to
arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
