For mending linen, I would only use a linen thread. If, when you have found the right thickness thread, you are anxious about whether it will be strong enough to darn with, consider drawing it over bee's wax before you sew. Do a practise/sample on a scrap of fabric to check, but I am fairly sure any wax residue would wash out in the first two or three washes. I have used ordinary linen lace thread, very thoroughly waxed, to repair horse harness and those repairs are still 100% after many years.
Jean, I use rayon a lot for lacemaking (because of the glorious colours) and it doesn't stretch noticeably during work. Used for close work in laces like Milanese, it is very good tempered and ends up on the firm/crisp side (great for pictorial, perhaps a little too crisp for clothing uses). Used for Torchon type laces where the threads are not so tightly packed, it is softer. To get a crisper effect here, I cord two or more strands to get the thickness I want. I also use it with cotton to get a contrast in texture and I reckon that as the two yarns are not pulling against each other (in the way thread used to sew a seam would be) that it will see me out. BTW, when I did my dressmaking training, l was taught to use silk to sew on wool fabrics, not cotton. But as silk became harder to find I used cotton and never noticed any difference in either sewing or end result and performance. And now I use Drima for most everything. Perhaps now our clothes aren't fitted skin tight over our corsets, and we mostly don't expect our clothes to last anything like as long, the thread used to sew with is no longer as stressed as it would have been. Jacquie, catching up on posts after only 3 days away. Why don't the "black holes" in arachne posts ever coincide with the holes in my internet access? - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED]
