This is getting more complicated than my small brain can absorb, but if I understand your thrust --
You need to consider that (at least in hand spinning, I don't know about commerically produced thread) that the fibers are spun one way, then plied from the last end back again. And then wound into whatever skein/ball one ends up with. If anything like hand spinning, I think the whole discussion is reduced to "my mother told me ... Because who knows how many times back and forth the plies have been taken? Regards, Carolyn > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > On Behalf Of Jane Partridge > Sent: Saturday, July 30, 2005 7:08 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [lace] S and Z - Choosing & caring for unusual materials > > > In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes > >My take is that it is the way thread is twisted in the manufacturing > >process > >that matters. You want to thread it in a needle in the same > direction as it > >comes off the manufacturer's spinning equipment. The tiny > fiber ends will lay > >down better in that direction and not be bent backwards > (against the grain). > > The end that comes off the manufacturer's spinning equipment > is the end that is at the start of the reel/cop it is wound > onto, not the end... in hand spinning (spindle - I haven't > experience of wheel) the fibre ends face away from the end > being added to - ie towards the spindle. It follows that if > this end was then wound onto a reel (rather than being made > into a "butterfly" on the hand from which you can draw the correct > end) then the end coming from the reel would have the fibre > ends facing the needle, not away from it. This is why you > pull thread from the centre of a skein, and wool from the > centre of the ball. > > In the manufacturing process, is the resulting product wound > immediately onto the small, 100m (etc) reels we buy, or is > there an intermediate large cop (after all, most thread is > produced for garment manufacturers who use much larger > quantities - the domestic market is a spin-off, if you will > excuse the pun)? > > My grandmother (wardrobe mistress to the Royal Shakespeare > Touring Company during the early 1900s) always said to thread > the needle with the "end from the reel". This is ambiguous - > the end away from the reel, or the end nearest to the reel? > Using reeled threads on sewing machines shows that some > threads "shed" more than others, (even threads of the same > manufacturer!) so I suspect that these threads are wound the > other way onto the reel (ie the rough end comes off first). > Presumably a case of always test the nap direction before > starting a new reel? > -- > Jane Partridge > > > -- > No virus found in this outgoing message. > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. > Version: 7.0.338 / Virus Database: 267.9.7/60 - Release Date: > 28/07/2005 > > - > To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing > the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write > to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
