On Thursday 04 May 2006 7:39 pm, michaela wrote: > > >Although, even if what I've got is actually 100% silk, I have to > > >say--I'm not thrilled with it. It doesn't look or feel very > > >luxurious, has a short pile, and doesn't have much sheen at all. > > The silk velvet I handled from the 1880s has a very short pile as well. In > fact it looked and felt just like a good quality cotton velveteen (washed > and dried to soften.) I couldn't tell which direction the pile ran in the > sample though as it was made up into a cap. > I saw a documentary about Shakespeare at the same time and a bolt of > crimson silk velvet was rolled on a table which again was low sheen, fairly > stiff to the hand and again looked like a good quality velveteen on screen. > They were showing fabric because Shakespeare got a certain amount of red > fabric as did other people for some purpose (James' Coronation I think) > they were showing what the various fabrics could have been, they thought it > likely he got wool though rather than the silk velvet. > > Needless to say I prefer velveteen I can get to the "silk" velvet I can get > for dress before the early 20thC.
For what it's worth, it is possible to find *wool* velvet. There's a high-end upholstery fabric dealer on Ebay called Carolina Fabrics that sells it. I haven't ordered any, so I don't know what its hand is like, but it doesn't come cheap. -- Cathy Raymond <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> "I'm starting to like the cut of this man's gibberish." --General Fillmore (from "The Tick," episode 2) _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
