Some points in choosing textiles

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS BULLETIN

  VOL. X.      NOV. 25, 1912      NO. 13

  [Entered February 14, 1902, at Urbana, Illinois, as second-class matter
  under Act of Congress of July 16, 1894.]

  Department of Household Science

  Some Points in Choosing
  Textiles

  By

  Charlotte M. Gibbs, M. A.

  [Illustration]

  PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY
  URBANA-CHAMPAIGN




SOME POINTS IN CHOOSING TEXTILES


In the past century a great change has come about in the position of
the woman in the home, which has very vitally affected her relation to
the textile industries. In the early days in this country nearly every
woman produced the clothing for herself and family, also the household
linens from the raising of the sheep or flax to the finished product.
Now all is changed; with the introduction of ready-made suits and other
garments, even the sewing is rapidly going from the home, while the
manufacture of cloth is a forgotten art.

In olden times the quality of home-spun and woven material was the best
possible to be obtained from the materials and methods known. Woolen
cloth was all wool, and linen cloth was not adulterated with starch, or
half cotton. Honest and durable materials were the rule of the day.

With the introduction of machinery and the factory system came keen
competition. Modern discoveries, chemical and otherwise, have increased
the possibilities of cotton, linen, silk and wool so that now it is
difficult to recognize the original fiber in some of the materials sold.

Thus on the one hand the field of textile knowledge has grown very
much, while on the other hand the knowledge of women concerning textile
fabrics has decreased, since they are no longer the makers of cloth,
nor do they always gain a knowledge of its characteristics through the
making of garments. The result has been that women depend more and more
on the word of clerks, who are often as ignorant as themselves, until
by painful experience the buyers learn some of the things to be avoided.

As cost of living increases, and demands upon the family purse
increase, it is more and more important that the woman of the household
should know how to spend the family income most economically. Since
from ten to twenty percent of this income is spent for clothing and
house furnishing, it is imperative that more thought and careful study
should be put upon this branch of household economy. The object of this
bulletin is to give some bits of information about textile fibers,
their manufacture and adulteration, which may help in gaining that
judgment in buying essential to every woman.

Certain adulterations and devices of the modern manufacturer are so
skillfully concealed as to be detected only by the use of chemical
tests, or the high power microscope. With these this bulletin will not
deal, but only with those qualities and adulterations which may be
detected without the aid of laboratory equipment. Much of course may be
learned by experience, but it seems better to save time and money by
knowing beforehand what is to be demanded, what guarded against.

Each one of the common materials used for textile fabrics, cotton,
linen, wool and silk, has its characteristics, each its definite uses.
Certain peculiarities in physical or chemical nature make each fiber
peculiarly adapted to certain uses, but so long as these general
qualities are maintained the variety of materials produced from these
fibers may be enormous. Combinations of fibers in one material,
adulteration with cheaper fibers, or with starches or metallic salts,
may serve to reduce the cost, and yet the purpose of the material
may be fulfilled. For certain purposes the materials may be used
interchangeably.


COTTON

Cotton is cheap and very plentiful. It has short, flat fibers, with
a spiral twist, thus giving elasticity and the possibility of being
spun into fine thread. Being in itself very useful and inexpensive and
capable of replacing, to a certain extent, any other fiber, it is used
in very large quantities the world over, and is manufactured into a
great variety of materials. The quality of these materials depends on
the strength of the fibers, the fineness or coarseness of material, the
weave, the color and design, and the adulterations.

Cotton, being cheapest, is not adulterated with any of the other
fibers mentioned, when the material is to be sold as cotton cloth, but
it can be made to appear heavier by the addition of mixtures called
sizing. Starches, gums, dextrine, glue, china clay, as well as other
ingredients in varying proportions, constitute this sizing which may
add a large percent to the weight of the cloth. The spaces between the
threads are filled up and a good finish is given to the cloth, although
the wearing quality is not increased. If present in large quantities
the cloth is greatly reduced in weight and firmness after the first
washing.

Adulterations of this kind can be detected by the feeling, a large
quantity imparting a harshness to the material. In very thin fabrics
the sizing may often be detected by holding the cloth up to the light
when the starch shows between the threads. Washing or thorough boiling
of a sample will show the amount of sizing present.

Another method of adulterating cotton is shown in certain kinds of
dotted swiss. A good swiss has thread dots woven or embroidered in the
cloth. Fig. 1A shows a piece of material sold at the price of a good
swiss, but in this case the dots are merely a heavy paste, printed on
the cloth. Fig. 1B shows the result of continued washing, where the
dots have disappeared, and Fig. 1C, the result of ironing with a hot
iron, which turned the spots brown before the cloth itself is harmed.

Mercerized cotton is a cloth produced by the action of a strong alkali
on cotton fiber rinsed under tension. It is a strong, attractive
material, with good wearing qualities. An imitation of this may be
made by the action of very heavy and very hot cylinders on ordinary
cotton cloth. The mercerized cloth has a high luster which it retains
after many washings while the imitation loses its luster with the first
washing.

Sometimes cotton cloth which has been on the market for some time is
weakened by the action of the chemicals used in bleaching, dyeing or in
the sizing. This may be easily detected by tearing the cloth.

Standard cotton materials such as muslins, organdies, percales,
calicoes and sheeting, differ only in the weight of the material,
fineness of thread, hardness of twist and method of finish. Ginghams
have the thread dyed before weaving and fancy weaves are frequently
used. Duck, denim and some other heavy materials have very hard twisted
threads and are frequently woven with a twill. Silkolene is a trade
name for a fine cotton cloth with a silky finish given after the cloth
is woven.

Mercerized cottons make lustrous materials as poplin, imitation pongee
and numerous attractive house furnishing materials.

India “linon” is entirely cotton, with a fleecy surface on the wrong
side, as is “outing flannel” and “canton flannel”.

Many “tussahs,” “voiles” and “economy linens” and other materials with
rather deceptive names are cotton materials made to imitate silk, wool
or linen.


LINEN

Linen was formerly the most important vegetable fiber, and was commonly
used for all household purposes. Of late years it has been largely
replaced by cotton with which it may be compared although there are
still uses for which we demand linen, and others for which we prefer
linen to cotton.

The linen fiber is long, smooth and quite lustrous, when spun into
a thread. It is very strong and there are not so many fuzzy ends as
are found in cotton. Cloth made from it is not only lustrous and rich
looking, but because of its smoothness stays clean longer than cotton.
The snowy whiteness of linen obtained with some difficulty in bleaching
is quite permanent, and since the fiber takes dyes with difficulty
and parts with them quite readily, it also does not retain stains as
persistently as cotton does.

Linen is much more expensive than cotton, and when linen prices are
paid linen should be demanded. Since the two fibers are rather hard
to distinguish, especially when heavily starched and given a good
finish, it is quite easy to deceive the buyer. “Linen” collars are
frequently largely cotton, “linen” handkerchiefs may not have a thread
of linen, as is apt to be the case with rather inexpensive embroidered
handkerchiefs, and table “linen” may be mercerized cotton, cotton and
linen, or even ordinary cotton.

[Illustration:

  A

  B

  C

FIG. 1]

To distinguish linen from cotton, examine the threads carefully; cotton
is made up of short fibers which project from the surface of the
thread, and become fuzzy when the thread is rubbed between the fingers;
when broken, cotton has a tufted end, while the linen fibers break
more unevenly and leave a more pointed end. The linen thread should
be stronger than the cotton; it has more luster and is usually more
uneven. Some kinds of linen have flat threads, but cotton is frequently
finished in imitation of flat thread linen.

The old test of moistening the finger and putting it under the cloth is
not always a sure one, as the moisture will not come through a heavy
linen, or one with much starch in it, and it will come through a sheer,
tightly twisted cotton. A better test is to put a drop of olive oil on
the cloth and press between blotting papers. The linen becomes more
transparent than the cotton.

There is a peculiar leathery feel about good table linen, which cotton
will not give, and the luster is different although the difference is
hard to describe.

The typical weaves used for linens are as follows. The damask, satin
or sateen weave used for table linens and towels is especially good
for the former because of the very smooth lustrous surface it affords,
but not so good for towels as it does not absorb moisture very
readily, although it is very attractive. Huck, an uneven weave, giving
a good surface for the absorption of water, makes splendid towels,
and decorated with designs in damask weave may be very handsome.
Many linens in plain weaves are available for clothing, embroidery,
etc., while the coarse Russian crashes are becoming quite popular for
decorative purposes.

The texture of linen is such that the heavier kinds hang well in folds,
lie flat on a table, and are very artistic for many purposes.


WOOL

Wool, the second fiber in amount used for clothing, is an animal fiber
and differs greatly from the vegetable fibers discussed. Wool from the
sheep’s back differs from hair of goats or other animals in several
ways. Wool is very curly, and possesses a scaly structure in a much
more marked degree than hair, in which the external scales lie flat.
The surface of wool has sometimes been compared to a pine cone, or the
scales of a fish, although these two are quite different. The scales on
the wool fiber when moist and warm stand up, more as the pine cone, and
when cold and dry or cold and moist, lie flat. This peculiar structure
of the surface of the wool fibers gives them the property of felting,
or matting very closely together. Wool is also quite elastic, although
it has not great strength.

Since the demand for woolen cloth far exceeds the supply of new wool
there are many devices for making the supply go a long way, and
consequently many methods for deceiving the buyer. In adulterating a
material the manufacturer seeks a material cheaper than the fiber he
wishes to adulterate, one which can be concealed readily. Wool when
combined with the cheaper cotton fiber makes a material which wears
well, but does not keep its shape as well as all-wool cloth, is less
warm, and should of course receive a lower price than all-wool.

Because of the felting property of wool it is quite possible to conceal
a good deal of cotton under the surface of the woolen cloth, and when
the fibers are mixed before the threads are spun the task of detecting
them becomes doubly difficult.


WOOLENS AND WORSTEDS

Two classes of cloth are manufactured from wool. Woolens are made
usually of short wool carded and spun into yarn in which the threads
lie in all directions. This is woven into cloth which usually has
the surface heavily felted, so that all of the intersections of
threads in weaving are covered. Here then is splendid opportunity
for adulteration, since cotton or poor wool may be covered up by the
surface felting.


WORSTED

The other class is made from longer staple wool, combed, and drawn
until the fibers are parallel, then hard twisted. When woven the ends
of the threads do not project on the surface, and the finish is not
intended to cover the weave, hence it is more difficult to adulterate
unless entire cotton threads were woven with the worsted, and these are
more easily detected than a mixture of cotton and wool, or shoddy in
woolen cloth. Common examples of woolens are flannels, broadcloth and
venetian cloth; of worsteds, serge, challie, men’s suitings and voile.
Mohair is a worsted cloth woven of the wool of the Angora goat, with a
warp usually of cotton or silk.


[Illustration:

  A

  B

  C

  D

FIG. 2]

The most reliable tests for a mixture of cotton and wool are chemical
or microscopic ones, but as these are not practical for the average
buyer, others must be sought. Wool has luster and “kinks;” the ends of
the threads are stiff and look rather wiry. When a sample is carried
home, burning will serve to distinguish between the two. Wool burns
slowly, chars, has an odor of burnt feather, goes out easily and leaves
a crisp ash; cotton burns quickly with a flame, with little odor and
leaves no ash.

A little practice in breaking the threads will help one to distinguish
between the two; the difference is not one that can be easily
explained, but the experienced housewife knows it well.

Fig. 2A shows a sample of all-wool cloth, of the class of worsteds
which cost seventy-five cents a yard. Fig. 2B shows a sample of
cloth of the same price, called by the clerk, all-wool, but which on
examination was found to have only four threads of wool to every twelve
threads of cotton. Fig. 2C shows this same cloth with the wool removed
by strong alkali, caustic potash, leaving the cotton. Fig. 2D shows the
wool left when the cotton has been ravelled out, or has been removed by
a strong acid solution.

Fig. 3 shows a sample of mohair in which the wool has been partly
removed, and the cotton warp is left. In this case the price is not
high, and because of the character of the cloth the mixture is a good
one, light, smooth, and clean. This cloth is not sold for all-wool, so
is not considered adulterated.

[Illustration: FIG. 3

SHODDY]

As has been said before, the demand for woolen goods is so much greater
than the supply that it is necessary to resort to various measures
to increase the supply of cloth. One method is to use the wool over
and over again. Rags are bought up by the rag man, sold to the larger
dealer, again to the “shoddy” manufacturer who cleans them, sorts them,
tears them to pieces, using the best all-wool rags to produce fibers,
which are respun and again woven either separately, if of very good
quality, or mixed with new wool or cotton. Such a material is warm,
looks well for a time and has its place, but must not be bought for
new wool, or demand the price of good woolen cloth. This industry is
enormous and shoddy is often found in expensive novelty materials as
well as in cheap “all-wool” cloth. Because of the shortness of the
fibers it may be detected readily, when used alone, but in combination
with good wool it is more difficult.

One class of shoddy consists of very short fibers, clippings from the
mills, which are worked into the surface of a felted cloth after it is
woven. These short fibers after a time work out, and are found in the
bottoms of coats, inside the linings, etc., leaving the surface of the
cloth threadbare.

Fig. 4 shows a piece of shoddy cloth, sold for all wool at fifty cents
a yard. This cloth would be warm, but does not look as well as more
expensive cloth, and will not wear as long as new wool. There is some
cotton mixed with the wool before spinning, therefore it is difficult
to detect.

[Illustration: FIG. 4]


SILK

Silk is frequently known as the fiber of luxury. It is the most
expensive to cultivate, the most beautiful and the strongest fiber.
Since it is the most expensive fiber to buy, and the demand for it
is so great, the temptations to adulterate are also naturally very
great. The long, strong, lustrous silk fiber which bleaches and dyes
beautifully and is fine as a spider’s web, is not to be duplicated. The
best grade or “reeled silk” is taken from the cocoon in one continuous
thread which may be several hundred yards long. In manufacturing
reeled silk many defective cocoons are found in which the fibers are
not perfect, or are broken. The silk from these cocoons may be treated
like a short fiber and spun into threads varying in strength according
to the length of the fibers. This so-called “spun” silk has not the
high luster nor strength of “reeled” silk, but is often used as warp
with reeled silk filling, or in imitation pongee, and back of satins,
velvets and in many other ways.

In olden times the price of silk was much greater than now, but the
material was much more durable. Silks which have been laid away for a
hundred years are still in fairly good condition. Now our silks are
much cheaper, but the result is that when they are put away, even for a
few months they may fall into bits, and their wearing quality can not
be compared with the good old silks of long ago. The reason for this
change is not hard to find. The cost of raw silk is about thirty times
that of raw cotton and the waste at least five times that of cotton.
The manufacturer must make up in some way if he is to sell silk at the
prices demanded by the public.

Silk has a very great ability to absorb dyes and metallic salts without
apparently changing the quality of the material, and since dyes and
metallic salts are much cheaper than pure silk, the manufacturer
makes great use of these materials. Loading is the common name for
this process of treating silk and it is common practice to add thirty
percent of foreign material, just the percent lost by the silk when the
gum is removed, while it is possible to add two hundred fifty or even
three hundred percent.

When we buy novelties and do not care how short their life is to be,
these heavily weighted silks answer the purpose very well, but when we
wish for durability and the silk begins to crack and split or to become
shiny after a few wearings we realize the disadvantage of our modern
methods. Practically no silk can be found on the market entirely free
from loading, but there is a great difference in the amount present.

Burning is the simplest test for good silk; a thread of pure silk will
burn slowly leaving as it burns a very small amount of crisp ash in a
ball at the end of the thread. Heavily weighted silk burns and leaves
the ash in the form of the original thread; this ash of course drops to
pieces readily. Fig. 5A shows a piece of taffeta sold for one dollar
a yard. Fig. 5B shows the result of burning the silk. This ash, left
in the shape of the original sample, is made up of metallic salts,
dyestuffs, etc. A very small percent of ash would be left from the silk
itself.

Another method of adulterating silk is with cotton. The fibers are
not spun together here as the cotton and wool, but the threads of the
two materials are woven together. In satins, velvets and brocades the
cotton is entirely covered by the silk threads on the surface, and
appears as the back of the cloth. In cheap silks a fine cotton thread
sometimes forms either warp or filling.

Pongee is a material made from the cocoon of the uncultivated silk
worm; rajah, tussah and other uneven, coarse materials are from the
same source. These silks are very strong, but do not have a high
luster. Mercerized cotton looks quite silky and is sometimes mixed with
these silks, or a material of mercerized cotton and spun silk may be
sold for pongee, or even a material entirely of mercerized cotton.


CONCLUSION

To sum up, the adulterations most likely to be found and the tests for
them are as follows:


METHOD OF ADULTERATION

1. By combination. Use of other fibers than the one indicated by the
name of the material. Example, cotton in woolens, cotton in linens, etc.

2. By substitution. Selling one fiber under the name of an entirely
different one. Example, mercerized cotton sold for silk or linen.

[Illustration: A

B

FIG. 5]

3. By increasing the weight of a material. a, Cottons and linens with
starch; b, silks with metallic salts and dyes.

4. By giving a finish which is deceptive. a, Heavy pressing or
calendering an ordinary cotton to imitate mercerizing; b, finishing
cotton to look like linen; c, printing paste dots on cotton to produce
the effect of embroidered dotted swiss.

5. By use of made-over yarns. Example, shoddy in woolens, also addition
of short wool, felted in surface.


TESTS FOR ADULTERATION

1. Examination of cloth to see if all threads are alike, and to
distinguish kind of thread.

2. Examination of individual threads.

  Cotton: short fibers, ends appear fuzzy in thread.

  Wool: short fibers, decidedly kinky and stiff.

  Silk: long straight fibers with luster; if spun silk, fibers short;
  thread looks more like cotton; breaks more easily than reeled silk.

  Linen: strong threads; high luster; when broken ends very uneven and
  straight.

3. Burning tests: a, cotton burns quickly with flame; b, wool burns
slowly, chars, gives off odor of burnt feathers; c, silk burns slowly,
leaves small crisp ash, and when weighted leaves more ash; d, linen,
similar to cotton.

4. Linen if without much starch, becomes translucent when treated with
olive oil; cotton remains opaque.

5. A mixture of cotton and wool when wet, wrinkles more than pure wool.

6. A careful examination of the finish of the material. Observe if
alike on both sides, if the apparent beauty of the material is due to
finish or to good quality of material.

Finally, the best grades of material are generally what they seem to
be; although this does not always hold true in silks, nor in materials
where the effect is more important than the wearing quality. Expensive
broadcloths, worsted suitings, expensive table linens, good cottons,
do not pose for more than their true worth. It is when one turns to
novelties, to silks and to inexpensive materials that one needs to be
most vigilant. Be sure the inexpensive is not cheap, unless you want a
material, cheap in wearing quality and appearance, as well as in cost.


OTHER POINTS IN BUYING

Aside from the question of whether the buyer is getting the kind of
material she pays for as to character of the fiber, there are other
things to be considered in choosing textile fabrics.

The weave affects the appearance and often the wearing quality of
cloth. A close twill weave makes a firm, durable material, while the
loose basket weave gives quite a different effect and is frequently
lacking in firmness. The satin or sateen weave makes a beautiful
surface especially in linens or silks, but may cover up defects in
the hidden threads. Fancy weaves in cotton novelties, in shirt waist
materials and in fancy mulls, etc., often leave loose threads which
become soiled easily and may not be as attractive after washing. A
cloth with a very heavy cross thread or filling, and a very fine
warp, or vice versa, may split because of the great difference in the
strength of the threads.

Sometimes figures are woven in such a way that when the cloth is
finished each figure has short ends of thread. For example, in weaving
madras curtain material, the filling thread which makes the figure,
jumps from one figure to another, and after the material leaves the
loom the loose threads are cut off of the back of the material. Often
these short pieces wash out or the ends become rough and fuzzy looking.

In choosing a material from the large variety on the market the
first thing to be determined is the use to which it is to be put,
then determine what is appropriate to that use. The cloth which is
suitable for a street suit is obviously not suited to the party gown,
neither are laces of dressy waists appropriate for working clothes.
Clothes that are to be worn constantly need to be of material that
will stand frequent cleaning. In materials used in house furnishing
certain ones must be cleaned often, and unless one can afford to pay
frequent cleaner’s bills, washable materials are better for curtains,
bed-spreads, table-covers, etc. The cost is the next point to be
considered, and that must necessarily be determined by one’s purse. It
is not always economy, however, to buy the inexpensive things, for, as
we have seen, the inexpensive articles are more likely to be the cheap
ones. With our desire for continual change, our love of novelty and fad
we have become very extravagant. So long as the fashion demands new
garments every few months and women attempt to follow the styles, they
must choose inexpensive materials unless they have a large amount of
money, and care nothing for wearing quality. In the end, however, the
woman who buys carefully, makes use of conservative styles which do not
change every few months, and chooses handsome material, is not only
more economically, but also usually better dressed.

The hygienic properties of materials should be carefully considered.
Those next the body should be able to care for the perspiration and
the excretions of the skin. Woolen and silk are best suited by their
physical structure to do this, but wool is too warm and too irritating
to many people, and does not wash well, while silk is too expensive.
Many kinds of cotton underwear have been manufactured which by their
structure aid in absorbing moisture. Underwear knitted or woven with
meshes containing large enclosed air spaces is more hygienic than
closely woven cotton garments. The air spaces in the mesh material
are non-conductors of heat, and also ventilators. The closely woven
garment does not allow a change of air next the skin and becomes clammy
when moist. Garments which come in contact with the outside air must
be more closely woven to keep out the wind. Two layers of lighter
weight material are warmer than one layer of thick because of the
non-conducting air between. Heavy clothes are bad for the body because
of the extra load which must be carried about.

Finally, in choosing materials, if one is to have the greatest pleasure
from them and give one’s friends the greatest pleasure, color and
design are very important. Colors should be suitable to the use, and
to the person who is to wear the material. Bright colors make one
conspicuous, and are exciting; dull ugly colors are depressing, while
soft rich colors are elegant, becoming, and in good taste.

Designs should fit the place in which they are to be used. Rugs should
be so designed that they serve as a background to the furniture of
the room as well as add richness in color and some variety. Materials
which are to hang in folds should have designs which do not depend
on smoothness of surface in order that they may be effective. For
clothing, designs should be inconspicuous, modest stripes, dots and
plaids being most successful, except on very soft thin materials when
larger and less conventional designs may be used.

To be an intelligent buyer it is necessary then that the woman knows
before she purchases a piece of cloth just where it is to be used,
just what she can afford to pay for it, what she should be able to get
for that amount of money and then be able to tell whether the piece of
cloth she buys is really what it is represented to be. At the present
time the rush to the bargain counter, the enormous amount of cheap,
poor material manufactured, and the great waste in dress, all go to
prove that there are many women who are not intelligent buyers.

When women demand a better quality of materials and refuse to buy the
cheap things, the manufacturers will cease to produce worthless things.
Perhaps however, before that day arrives, the thoughtful workers of the
land will have succeeded in passing a pure textile law, which shall do
for our cloth what the pure food act is doing for our food supplies;
then the honest though ignorant buyer will be protected, but it will
still be her part to demand good, artistic and useful materials.

       *       *       *       *       *




Transcriber’s note


Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice.

Spelling was retained as in the original except for the following
changes:

“certain nses, but”       “certain uses, but”