hi hallo,
an other small test is fire
just burn a bit
and smell
if it smells like paper it will be cotton or linnen or hemp (could be
hemp if you say it is that old, hemp was sometimes trangly more
available then linnen)
then you do the Brenda magnifying test for making the difference to
long (linnen) and short staples (cotton)
if it smells quite burned plastic ......well..... c'est la vie
if it smells like you are burning hear or burning pigs skin
then you might think it is raw silk
francis
belgium
no more freezing
now it is raining
and wet
and dirty
...
laceandb...@aol.com schreef:
Delores,
Two other factors can make thread stiff; one is the amount of twist. There
was a cotton thread called Unity that was around when I started making lace
(about 30 years ago) which was *the thread* for Bucks as it was highly twisted
and the lace made with it was *crisp*.
Some threads are starched on the reel; Gutterman's cotton quilting thread is
one. This is starched to make it smooth to sew with, but when it is washed it
fluffs up a tid and is much softer. Disappointing for lacemaking if you
weren't expecting it.
Linen thread on the reel often doesn't feel that much different to cotton.
It is when you was if and iron it damp with a hot iron that the difference
shows. Linen feels like it has been starched.
Brenda's tip about looking at the length of the individual fibres is probably
the best and easiest, but I do also wonder if it might be poly-cotton. Most
of the threads on large plastic cones are industrial threads so although that
doesn't exclude cotton and linen, it is also very likely that it is at least
partly synthetic. If that is the case, we need to go back to Brenda again and
ask if polyester used for a cotton look-alike sewing thread is continuous
filament or short staple.
No reason you can't use it for lacemaking (sharp intake of breath from the
purists, perhaps). In fact if you ever want to mount lace on poly-cotton fabric
it makes sense to use a compatible thread for the lace. When you came to
wash and iron, the care instructions are the same for both. Malvary and I have
several blouses of Mum's, with applied lace, and some are cotton thread, some
polyester, but they all look just as good 20 or so years on.
Jacquie in England
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