Monday, April 2, 2007

I think I may have been wrong....

Remember when I did my burn test for some of my Hong Kong "Armani" fabrics? Well I may have jumped to a wrong conclusion. I was reading Claire Shaeffer's book on fabrics last night and she had this table on testing contents of fabric by burning - lists smell, flame reaction, ash etc. So I decided to test again. This time I took some hair from DD's hairbrush and burnt that first - had a good sniff. Ok burnt hair. Next tried the check "Armani" - mmmmm....sniff...burnt hair! Tried another one - the same burnt hair smell - SILK - yippee. I then tried the third and it burnt quite fast and had a yellow flame, smelt like paper - so maybe cotton, or rayon or linen...linen smells like rope - but what does burnt rope smell like?

I jumped to the conclusion that the "Armani's" were poly previously, as the ash formed a lump and looked shiny. But testing again, this time just a few threads at a time, there was no poly smell and the ash crushed. I tested some known poly and the ash does not crush - it is like plastic - and it has that smell, like when you have the iron on too hot on a poly outfit.

Anyway, I am enjoying this.....I think I will test more over the next few days. Well this is one way to reduce the stash?

I am afraid not much sewing as my machine is in for service and it is school holidays. My girls love to shop, so my non work days will be spent on girly adventures! Also for Easter I will be visiting my parents upstate.

1 comment:

Summerset said...

Interesting findings, but I don't thinking burning your stash is a good way to get rid of it. Just joking - it is good to know your fiber content!