Whoo, I nearly missed this one....
I have already offered at another list, where it came up, to have a look at
that particular velvet from Distinctive Fabrics under the microscope, cause
that's what I do with all my so called "silk velvets". The problem with burn
testing is that rayon is sometimes hard to differentiate by smell and
behaviour, but a bleach test will normally tell you straight away if it's
rayon or silk. Under the microscope, you will see the striations of the silk
(irregular, with small bits of sericin on the fibres) and you can compare
them to rayon striations (which are very regular, seeing that it's pressed
through a nozzle when the fibre is created, and no sericin of course). There
is also a difference in thickness of an individal rayon fibre and a silk
filament.
The only place so far that I have been able to find easily obtainable 100%
silk velvet is in Germany, a place called "Gewand und Tand" (very loosely
translated: Garb and stuff). They sell white silk velvet, 140cm wide for
~59 (~US$70)/m, and I've analysed the fibre content under the microscope,
it's the real deal! The one from the Silk trading company is indeed very
heavy, but only the pile is silk, since they need their fabrics for
upholstery and make the backing out of tough man-made fibres for that
purpose.
Since I don't do later periods (as in 17th century upwards) I can't speak
for those velvets, but some early velvets (14th, 15th century) in the V&A in
London show a very low pile and beautiful sheen and that's even in a sample
that has three different heights of cut and uncut velvet. The silk velvet
from Germany has a low pile, but a wonderful sheen, which is nothing like
the rayon pile. I got several samples to compare and I took it to the V&A as
well and it really looks the part... the only difference is that the
original textiles have a pattern woven in different colours.... but I'm
working on at least getting a two height cut pattern working even if the
fabric will be one colour only. It's not too heavy, but with a nice lining,
it drapes wonderfully.
Hope this helps, if anyone is interested in the German source, I can post
the link.
Cheers,
Caithlinn
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