Fabric 101: How to ID Fabric by Fiber, Weave, and Fire
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- Опубліковано 29 чер 2024
- What is the difference between a silk taffeta and a silk satin? Is wool twill the same as herringbone? How do you know what a fabric will be like when shopping textiles online? In this video, Nicole explains all the different things that go into making a fabric, and how to identify various fabrics by fiber, weave, finish, and weight, as well as demonstrating and explaining burn and bleach testing for those mystery fabrics.
If you've ever been frustrated trying to pick out fabrics for your project online, or been at the fabric store with an unmarked bolt of mystery fabric, this video will help you learn how to ID and understand what you're buying. Is that cotton or rayon? silk or polyester? wool or acrylic? Nicole has the answers!
This video is part of the inaugural #cocovid2020 . We hope you enjoy iy!
#cocovid
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Images & Video Credits -
..... Mt. Holyoke, Massachusetts - Silk. William Skinner and Sons. Quilling rayon, 1936
U.S. National Archives’ Local Identifier: 69-RP-24
Photographer: Hine, Lewis
www.flickr.com/photos/usnatio...
..... Elementary treatise on the finishing of white, dyed, and printed cotton goods, 1889.
Depierre, Joseph, George Thomas & Co.
bit.ly/3jI2UaR
..... Stock footage provided by Videvo, downloaded from www.videvo.net
..... Alabama Cotton Crop - pixabay.com/videos/alabama-co...
..... Sheep - pixabay.com/videos/sheep-anim...
..... Silk - pixabay.com/videos/silk-silk-... - Навчання та стиль
Bleach eats wool. I've always read not to bleach wool. No reason given. Just, "don't." Now I KNOW why!😳👍
and silk too! learned that the hard way accidentally bleaching a pair of silk stockings :-\
@@AmericanDuchess1 ouch!😳
Excellent information!
One clarification ... in traditional indigo denim, one set of yarns, the indigo ones, are yarn dyed before weaving. The reason you get fading is that the dye is not colorfast. Fastness is not related to whether the item is yarn or piece dyed, but to the chemical nature of the dye and its interaction with the specific fiber.
interesting, thanks!
Yes, denim is a white warp and an indigo dyed weft. Indigo dyed yarns will “crock” with friction from wear exposing more of the warp threads.
Bleach test is fascinating. I’ve got to try that on my mystery “silk” 👍🏻
You should!
Yes yes yes! Great video! I'm a trained seamstress and it makes me crazy that so many people mislabel fabrics, weaves and so on. I know, not everyone can have my knowledge but satin is not always silk and silk is not always satin and next time I'm going to refer to this video :D So thanks for making it!
I know the video is already made (lol) but next time you should make a category for each, natural man made fibers and synthentic man made fibers. This is (at leastin europe) the official classification since those categories have different starting materials (cellulose or petroleum) and it's also easier for people to understand that viscose is way better than things like polyamid.
It's also probably important for us europeans, that it's kind of forbidden to name fabrics 'rayon' and you won't really find it here. You need to search for Viscose, Modal or Tencel.
Also a very big thumbs up to show the burn test!
Why is it forbidden to label things rayon? Does rayon have a stigma attached to it in Europe?
@@MissPoplarLeaf It's a history thing. Rayon was the first name of the cellulose based artificial fiber, but the production has evolved and changed. The improved fiber was named viscose. Europe took on the new name while the US didn't although they use the improved production method. So if you buy rayon in the US you do NOT get rayon but viscose. In the end, both are made with cellulose but you won't find the name rayon on european lables since it's now staded in the textile production laws to use the name viscose
My usual way to determine fiber if my hands can't decide is to look how the fabric reacts to water. The most obvious thing is when a fabric feels kind of like cotton but don't soak up any water, there is some plastic based fibers in it. (Cotton soaks up a lot of water, polyester can feel nearly dry after you take it out of the washing mashine.)
I have no evidence for this to be true in every case, but this is how I learn fibers myself.
Great tip!
It's well known among outdoors folk that cotton shouldn't be worn for hiking, backpacking, canoe, etc. because it will retain water like nothing else and significantly increase your chance of hypothermia, should you get wet in an unplanned way. Cotton is considered the best material for bandannas for the same property.
Well that confirms my suspicions about cheap kitchen towels.
@@lynn858 I don’t like the “microfiber” towels because they don’t soak up water well & makes drying dishes a pain. I knew I wasn’t crazy! 😅
@@lady_sir_knight3713 Linen and wool are great for outdoor activities. They both wick moisture away from the body, and wool is known to keep most of it's insulating properties even when wet.
I always wondered where the phrase "on tenterhooks" came from! Great video!
I've always mispronounced it as 'tenderhooks' 😅😅
@@93midnightsunrise I saw it written in a book when I was pretty young; otherwise, I would've assumed it was "tenderhooks" as well
Oh wow, I never thought of that!
I used to live in an area of Dublin called ‘the tenters’. When I asked about the name I was told that it was an area where linen used to be tented. That’s how I found out.
Very helpful. At some point in my life, I found I was able to just touch silk or rayon, and be able to "know" what it was. Can't do it with a lot of others. I would go through racks of clothing and guess, and then look at the labelled fiber content. I think it's a good learning experience to try to see if you can learn the "feel" of different fabrics.
I was hoping for a little more information about the many (MANY) different sub-types of fabrics, but that would probably take ages. Like, what is "lawn"? "Gabardine"? "Velveteen" vs. "velvet"? I look up many of these terms on Wikipedia, but if they could be shown and handled on video, I might get a better understanding, rather than just a verbal description.
Yes please! It would also be nice to hear all of the names pronounced correctly - because I bet I’ve got some wrong.
it's been a year, but i know that any fabric that ends with "een" is cotton fibers woven in the way that fabric is created. so velveteen is just cotton velvet, sateen is cotton satin, etc. i'm still looking for an explanation for lawn as well!!
Yes this^ and also with fabrics like georgette, taffeta, chiffon, organza...
Velvet (and corderoy - which is textured velvet) isn't a surface cut-tuft fabric (though velveteen is) - it's a complex weave with two fabrics woven with either one or two shuttles ( 1 or 2 wefts) depending on the finish wanted) facing in parallel and cut apart after weaving.
Thank you for mentioning a satin weave. For some reason it irks me to hear satin referred to as a fiber. It is so weird how we can assume others know what we know!
yes, there is a lot of confusion around that one, but hopefully this sheds some light on it in general. One of the coolest fabrics I've ever seen was wool satin!
American Duchess Wool Satin is beautiful, and the first time I saw wool gauze it blew my mind! So unlike the chunky stuff my winter coat was made of! 😂
@@AmericanDuchess1 that sounds amazing if love to see an example of that
This is exactly the kind of thing I've been looking for! I recently decided to try to start making my own clothes out of natural fiber materials, and the learning process has been daunting because it's hard to find a comprehensive source that explains all of these things well, so thank you! (Also the face you made for silk chiffon was the best 😂)
I don't even use fabrics and sew stuff. I do however crochet, knit and have looked into weaving so it was still very interesting and informative! I also imagine that the methods for figuring out what kind of fabric you might be dealing with will be applicable to yarn as well. Enjoyed this very much!
This is exactly what I needed! I've been trying to understand how to choose fabrics, this is perfect! Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
if you want to learn more I have to recommend Zoe Hong's fabric101 series! it's aimed more at fashion design students but theres a lot of helpful information for anybody 😊
Please do more videos like these. I was in a fashion program that got completely shut down because of covid and this was an incredible way to reconnect with the information I should be learning.
I thought I had a decent knowledge of fabric, but boy did I learn a lot just now! I'll be referring back to this video a lot, I think - thank you!
I recall a time when I was in a Chemistry class, and someone hadn't properly cleaned the lab workbench.
The teacher said some (mild) organic acid had been used in the previous lesson, which was probably why my linen shirt had no elbows left after I leant on the bench...
So some acids rapidly dissolve linen (and I'd bet other cellulose fibres) in a manner probably similar to bleach and protein fibres :)
Harley was a gorgeous little boy.
Poor kiddo. Rest peacefully angel.
Great refresher course on fabrics. I learned this kind of info back when I was in school....40+ yrs ago.
I've know about the bleach and flame tests for years, but having a visual resource is really helpful!
This is super helpful! My main source of fabric, due to cost, is an overstock outlet where the bolts may often be dubiously labeled, if labeled at all. I suspect this has affected my historical projects in odd ways as I try to use something like a “wool blend” as though it’s all natural 😂 Now I can go back into my stash and see if my guesses on what was a natural blend and what wasn’t were correct!
indeed! that is also my main source of fabric and I've been "burned" more than once because I didn't take a lighter with me to do a little burn test (the store permits it).
Thank you. I am a stereotypical "guy" who does nothing with fabric, and I needed to find some natural plant based cloth for a particular project. I had a pile of old cloth in a box, and wondered if I had what I needed already, or if I needed to go ask for help at a fabric store. Your advice saved me money (and bonus: I like burning things). I now know it is cotton or linen (or something like it) and I can glue it to wood. Again, Thanks. Great video, I am less stereotypical now.
that's awesome!!
I found out about acetate the hard way when I was in my teens: I grabbed a random rag from my cabbage pile to remove nail polish!
This is such a great reference! Thank you so much!
This is a very helpful video, thank you!
This is so fascinating! Thank you for posting.
This was the clearest one place discussion. thank you!
So helpful! Thank you for this video!
This was more informative than I was expecting, and I appreciate it!
This was very informative. Thank you. I’d love to see a video on historic fabric terminology and when applicable their modern equivalents.
I love this video, it is very very interesting. Thank you very much for it.
Gorgeous!! Bravo!! Thank you very much!! France
Thank you. Such a great description.
Wow! This is so in-depth and technical! I LOVE IT! Thank you 💜💖
"How else do you describe trying to work on silk chiffon" UUUUUUUUUUUGH "uuuuuuuugh"
Yes.
true, though!
@@AmericanDuchess1 I wanna see a three hour working with silk chiffon video
omg this is so thorough compared to so many videos i watch, so easy to understand, thank you for spending the time to make this
You're so welcome!
This was fantastic. Very well done, terrifically informative. Would love more of these lessons!
Holy smokes. Thank you so much. Not only do I have a more concrete understanding of fabrics now, but I can share with my friends and family who are budding in their sewing interest!
Great Information, the burn test demonstration was particularly useful.
This is so helpful, especially the visuals! Thank you!!!!
Glad it was helpful!
This is more info than I was looking for, but it turned out to be SO interesting! You explained things very well, thanks!
Very informative. Thank you.
Super clear and thoroughgoing explanation, thank you so much for posting!
You're very welcome!
Fantastic. Thank You. This was a really interesting and extremely informative video.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great education for me, I am a fabric lover. Now I can be aware of what I am choosing. thanks ❤
Super helpful! thank you for your knowledge. I loved the burn test and bleach tests - brilliant!
Glad it was helpful!
This was a fabulous videos full of very useful and valuable information. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Brilliant! Thank you 😊
So informative, thank you! I've always wondered why one can have a silk satin and a polyester satin. Also, I love your eye colour and consequently choice of shirt colour. :)
Just what I needed! Thank you!
Glad it helped!
Thank you! I have a shawl/scarf from my great grandmother that I am trying to identify. I have some experience with yarn but not much with fabric.
It's satin weave or something similar, but I'm having a lot of trouble identifying the fiber - I think it must be a blend of some kind. I got it around a decade ago and I don't know how long she had it before then. Very soft, smooth, drapey, and shiny. Slightly warmer than cotton tends to be. It wrinkled after washing, but not excessively. I can't imagine it's wool and I was almost sure it wasn't petroleum-based (given the plastic-y feel of every other synthetic I've ever felt) until I found it was hydrophobic (when I handwashed it in cold water it also bled some yellowish dye). It's fuzzed up a tiny bit all over so while it might be synthetic, it definitely seems short-staple. Maybe a cellulose-based viscose/rayon?
I doubt I'll ever know for sure. But this video was helpful 👍
This is a great and wonderful video. I have learned sooo much! Please leave it up so that I can refer to it in the future.
it'll stay up forever, don't worry!
Hi.... From Italy!!!!! Wonderful channel
OH THE NICE SURPRISE !!
(seeing Nicole)
I find all your clips absolutely fascinating and informative. Thank you so very much for sharing your knowledge. ❤️💕❤️
So glad!
This was fantastic, thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it!
You made it so easy to understand, even for a complete novice like me! Thank you so much!!
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks! Very helpful
This was so great and helpfull!
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you for this video! I’ve been wanting to learn more about fabric and how to tell different kinds of fabrics! 😁 🙏🏻
(And it was interesting to learn about the names)
You are so welcome!
yesss
Thank you so much! This is so informative! 🇦🇺👗👒🌸😎
Thank you for making this video! I have wanted a beginners guide to fabrics for so long. The tags on fabrics make so much more sense now!
Glad it was helpful!
just perfect and to the point , loads of information in a very systematic manner and short period . Would love to learn more as it was fantastic
Glad it was helpful!
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼🤩👍🏼Thank you so much! This video is so helpful! Thanks!!!🖤
Glad it was helpful!
Tearing and pulling the fabric apart can also tell you a lot about what material you have in front of you! The longer linen fibers created longer frayes than cotton, you may be able to determine if you have filament fibers or not and cotton tears easier when it's dry than when it's wet while viscose is the other way around.
Thank you vey much for a most excellent video . :)
You are welcome!
Very informative video!
Glad it was helpful!
What a really interesting and informative Vlog, I've worked in the textile and fashion industry for most of my life but it's always good to get an update to reaffirm what you have learnt over the years. Thanks Jason from England 🤓
Glad you enjoyed it!
This is the most informative, organised and rich in content video I have came across about Fabric. it really explains a lot and answers many common questions that are logically asked. Thank you and looking forward to more videos to come.
Glad it was helpful!
This was a very helpful video, as weaving is one of my hobbies, I know some things of it but not what they are in English (I remember warp as the thing that is wrapped around whatever that thing is called but hopefully I now remember weft as well).
glad it was helpful!
Thank you so much!!
You're welcome!
I have a new found appreciation
This is so helpful and exactly what I was looking for on UA-cam, thank you so much! 🙂
Glad it was helpful!
Hi there I’m making one of your corset from the highlander pattern and I was wondering what is the best thread to use to make it many thanks I love your channel I have both your books as well and love them I love the 18 century
I'm literally taking notes
When it comes to warp/weft memory tricks, I use a very similar one as I do for stalagTite/stalagMite (the T looks like a hanging one and M like coming up from the ground). So wArp goes up and down, wEft side to side 😁 And that is possibly the least grammatically correct thing I've ever written 🙈
... around burn test 15 or 20, when sorting your scrap collection between cotton and cotton + plastic, do not fall into the habit of blowing out the flame and immediately grabbing the burnt part with your fingers.
Eventually you will come across one that has a high plastic content and it will burn your fingers rather than falling to ash.
Further safety note: when working with flame or extremely hot objects such as when welding, WEAR COTTON. 100% cotton shirt - keeps you cooler too. Jeans. Not stretch denim. Not yoga pants. Directly burning your skin is preferable to having even a small spot of synthetic clothing burn TO your skin.
That's the reason why, by law, electricians' work clothes need to have a high natural fiber content.
Because when you get grilled, you shall not burst into flames and have molten plastic all over you.
Almost 14k views and only 6 dislikes.. and with good reason! I've learned a lot from this video and I would love to see more 101's
thanks!
I noticed an old acquisition of wool was probably a fairly large percentage blend when I burned and ironed it.
When I burned it, it turned into small beads at the edges my recently purchased full recycled wool barely budged at all on the highest setting even when pressing with steam but the older fabric made small, hard beads on the surface that looked like little insects and it smelled a bit like burning plastic. It still works very well as a small cloak but I am extra careful around fire with it
Excellent video! I've yet to find a cotton organdy seller / manufacturer who offers well tentered organdy. All the orgady I've found so far has been super wonky and thus hard to wotk with, as many petticoats take a lot of it, so it's hard to straighten by yourself.🤪
I love this video! Great necessary information on fabrics.
As an aside, I love your cardigan! Did you make it and if so could you share the pattern? It’s so lovely!!!
I know right!?!! It’s gorgeous! I love the color 💚
I always learned that there is a distinction between manmade and synthetic. Synthetic would be petroleum and chemical based while manmade is a catch-all term for non-natural fibres that includes cellulose based fibres.
in the video we use it as a catch-all term.
Is there a badge that was set with this video? I’m trying to collect as many as I can but was pretty sick all weekend so I’m just getting a good look at everything now!
The wool texture thing makes sense as to why it felts easily.
Do we have a badge code?
no, we did not set up badges
super interesting... might have some small science experiments in my future, haha
This would be a kick ass science fair project.
Fibers are sometimes dyed before spinning, hence expression "dyed into the wool." There are blending reasons to do this. I am a hand spinner and weaver
yep, there are many different types and times of finishing.
I love your sweater. Did you make it? If so, can you share the pattern you used?
❤️
Denim is dyed at the yarn stage not the fabric stage. It’s made specifically of white and blue threads.
Having hand spun cotton, the fibre is not "inches" long, it wouldn't even measure 1 inch. It's stupid short and hard to work with.
I believe Egyptian cotton is 4" long, which is why it's so niiiiiice
Cotton fibers come it lots of different lengths. They get sorted and the length plays a massive part in declaring the quality. So maybe try again with a more expensive quality^^ When you are just starting out I suggest wool:)
@@PX_Xaver Yeah, good wool is the best/easiest to learn to spin with. I spun with different wools for about a year before I added silk blends, then plain silk hankies and bamboo. I didn't even *try* cotton until I'd been spinning for 12-13 years.
Laura Hill oh, that’s good to know. I’ve tried cotton, and it had a decent staple length, but I slunk off with my tail between my legs and went back to wool. I just could not get it to produce a decent strength thread. I tried on a takli and a spinning wheel, but nothing. I will try cotton again in 8-9 years or so 😂.
@@merindymorgenson3184 I ended up getting a brass cotton spindle (forgetting what it's called at the moment) and learned long draw/supported spindle spinning for cotton. But yeah, it took a long time to even try that.
Oo, I've never heard of the bleach test before! Good to know! Could you tell me why a Thai silk has such a different hand from other silks? It's stiffer and almost... matte where other silks have sheen.
sure! Thai silk is "raw" silk - they don't process it in the same way or as much, one could say.
@@AmericanDuchess1 Ohh! Fascinating!
I love how she says "acrost"
What kind of Silk that you used in your Victorian Stockings I mean is it Chiffon, Georgette or Jersey etc...
our stocking are knit, so we're using the fiber rather than a textile.
I watch a fair amount of other historical costuming channels, one such channel had suggested lightweight natural fibers as it had a higher chance at letting air through in warmer temps and I have a question. If Rayon is only considered a synthetic fabric because it is man made, does it also share the same properties as other more "natural" fabrics such as cotton organdy/crushed back satin? (I really don't know fabrics)
Rayon was meant to mimic the properties of silk, and in my opinion it breaths and acts in much the same way. I do not personally find it a very cool or wicking fabric to wear like linen, though it is vastly more comfortable than polyester!
How do I classified free-flowing fabric
How do they test for shatnez, which is a religiously prohibited mix of wool & linen fabric ?
you could use the bleach test and see if part of it dissolves. You could also look at the fibers under a microscope.
Trying to id a fabulous fabric I have been given is a so hard, I wish I could just say on salvage that being said think I know it's synthetic 😞
What does "knit" or "knitted" mean?
Hello, I was wondering if you could tell me something. I really want to make Elizabeth Swanns dress that she wears in Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl, and I really need to know if she is wearing a Robe al a Francaise, or a mantua, and whichever one she is wearing, is it accurate to the time? (Which I found out is the 1720's) Also if you could tell me what other dress types were around back then :)
I would really appreciate your help!
hi! There are a couple dresses she wears in the movie - the light one at the beginning is a robe a l'Anglaise and from around the 1770s. The burgundy one she wears on the ship is supposed to be a 17th century dress, inspired by gowns in the last 30 years of that century or so. Neither of them were worn in the 1720s, though.
@@AmericanDuchess1 Okay thank you so much for telling me!💫💜
I realize that I cannot afford printed quilting cotton from companies that would ensure the print and grain are precisely aligned - if such a thing is possible, and if any company were to do it - but it’s maddening. So maybe stretching it diagonally will help. Can’t hurt.
it definitely helps! I used an IKEA duvet cover for an 18th century jacket and it was way way way off-grain. The diagonal tugging to re-tenter the fabric really helped.