There are a number of ways. Of course, the most reliable method is the laboratory method. It includes microscopic and chemical analyses. However, most often we have to resort to the organic method - determining the fabric by eye, touch, crumpling, stretching, tearing, burning.
By appearance linen fabric more shiny, cotton - matte.
The threads of the cotton fabric are even, while the threads of the linen fabric are thickened in places.
To the touch: linen fabric is stiffer, and when applied to a naked body it gives a feeling of cold.
For crumpling: linen fabric produces stiff folds that are difficult to straighten out. Linen fabric has almost no stretch either in the warp or in the weft, while cotton fabric stretches in the weft.
For thread break: Linen will have pointed ends, while cotton fabric will have fluffy and smooth ends.
For combustion: Linen fabric gives off almost no odor, and when cotton fabric burns, a sharp fire and acrid smoke are released.
In the same way, one can unmistakably distinguish natural silk from artificial And wool from wool mixture and mixed fabrics.
Approximately: artificial silk has a sharp metallic sheen, while natural silk has a soft matte finish.
To the touch: artificial silk is hard, while natural silk is soft. Woolen fabrics, depending on the nature of the fiber and its structure, can be very soft, semi-coarse and coarse.
For crumpling: artificial silk produces a stiff fold that does not straighten out easily. Wool fabrics are the most resilient and elastic. Pure wool fabrics are soft and, once wrinkled, straighten out slowly and completely. Semi-coarse and coarse pure wool fabrics - after crumpling, they give quick and sharp straightening.
To break: natural silk breaks with difficulty, but artificial silk breaks easily, especially when moistened, when it loses up to 70% of its strength. When a thread of artificial silk breaks, it crumbles into separate fibers, while threads of natural silk break off evenly, without crumbling. The wool thread does not break immediately, but first stretches significantly.
For combustion: natural silk is sintered into a ball and goes out, while artificial silk burns out completely. When the wool burns, it sticks together into a ball, goes out, and smells like burnt horn. If the light moves along the thread with the same smell of horn, it is a clear sign the presence of plant fibers or artificial shell. If the thread burns down to 1-2 cm and then goes out, also emitting a characteristic odor, then the presence of plant fibers or artificial silk makes up a significant percentage.
Wool blends for crushing and stretching do not give the same indicators as those inherent in fabrics made from pure wool.
How to determine the composition of the fabric? This question may arise to you if you have found pieces of fabric that were purchased long ago and forgotten in the closet. In addition, if you often travel and want to buy clothes made from natural fabrics at the Asian market, it makes sense to make sure the seller is honest so as not to pay the price of silk for cheap synthetics.
We will tell you how to determine the composition of a fabric using fire and what else to pay attention to.
Let us remember that the fabric is formed by interlacing the warp and weft threads. When both threads are made of the same fiber, the fabric is homogeneous; otherwise, the fabric will have a mixed composition. There is a laboratory method for checking the composition of fabric, which is based on analyzing the effect of special chemicals on it. We will tell you about a simple and accessible method at home, which is based on the different reactions of the material to fire.
You will need a small piece of fabric or at least a few threads. If you want to check the fabric composition of a finished product, you can pull out a few threads from the seam allowances. We bring to your attention a table in which you will see how different fabrics react to flame.
Results
In conclusion, we would like to add a few more signs by which you can determine the composition of the fabric.
- Natural cotton wrinkles a lot, it is warm in the hand
- Natural linen often consists of threads of different thicknesses; it wrinkles and feels rather cool to the touch.
- Natural wool hardly wrinkles
- Natural silk has a beautiful shine, does not wrinkle much and is warm to the touch.
- Viscose drapes well and wrinkles strongly, this material is soft and pleasant to the touch
- Synthetics are easily electrified, the material is cold to the touch and often a little rough.
It is usually not difficult to distinguish synthetic fabric from natural fabric in a store. Just read the composition of the material on the price tag, or ask the seller. In addition, natural fabrics are often much more expensive than synthetics. However, there are quite a lot of situations where the composition of the tissue is unknown. How can you find out what the fabric is made of? Read under the cut.
Serious doubts regarding the composition of the fabric may arise if you buy a piece secondhand, or if you discover large deposits of fabric of unknown origin at home. :) Sometimes I doubt the composition of the fabric even in the store. For example, if the cotton feels too silky or stretchy. Or if it doesn't wrinkle at all.
But why so scrupulously find out the true composition of the material? Firstly, to understand the fabric you have chosen. And secondly, . I am one of them. I feel hot in synthetics, but the worst thing is allergic reactions. Of course, there must be an integrated approach, and nutrition, as well as cosmetics, should also be as natural as possible. But clothing can be a big factor in combating unpleasant skin reactions.
In my opinion, with experience, many fabrics can be identified by touch. For example, natural wool has a very recognizable smell and is easy to recognize by touch. But, of course, you can always run into a very well-made synthetic fabric. How to determine the composition of the fabric? For this we need... Matches or a lighter. Yes, yes, we will check the composition of the fabric this old-fashioned way.
For my experiment I selected:
Viscose lining fabric.
Unnamed fabric, synthetic in my opinion.
Unnamed chiffon, similar to synthetics.
Let's start the experiment. A general rule for all natural fabrics: the ashes should be ground into powder. The ashes of mixed fabrics cannot be ground into powder; lumps will still remain between your fingers.
How should wool behave?
The wool curls up into a ball and emits a burnt lint smell.
Result: I admit that wool was the most difficult for me. Since almost all wool was added, this slightly changed the reaction of the fabric to ignition. And, as you can see, the ashes were not ground into powder.
Cotton should burn like paper.
Result: a piece of fabric caught fire like paper, the ashes were perfectly ground into powder. Confirming the composition of cotton was very simple.
The burning silk should “jump” above the match and not emit any odor.
Although we ourselves sometimes do not mind being deceived. In pursuit of a low price, instead of quality materials, we often give preference to cheaper fabrics. At best, such savings result in discomfort when wearing, at worst - allergies and other health problems.
What fabrics should you buy from when building your wardrobe? How to avoid falling for the bait of unscrupulous sellers? Is it possible to determine the composition of a thing without laboratory tests? We talked about this and much more with Galina Skripko, Candidate of Technical Sciences in the specialty “Technology of Textile Materials, Garment and Knitted Products” on AiF.ru.
It's not cold in winter, it's not hot in summer
Natalya Kozhina, AiF.ru: Galina Alekseevna, what is “healthy clothing”, which in fact should make up our wardrobe?
Galina Skripko: Clothing is considered healthy if the textile material is made from natural raw materials (cotton, wool, flax, natural silk, etc.) or from material with a high content of it.
It is always comfortable to wear such clothes: it is not cold in winter, and not hot in summer, because the material containing natural fibers, has a unique property - to retain heat for a long time, slowly cooling, and vice versa, to remain cool, slowly heating up. Such material does not have a negative effect on the human biofield, since natural fibers are not capable of accumulating static tension. Due to the high breathability and ability of the material to absorb moisture, the clothing becomes hygienic.
N.K. “AiF.ru”: Is it possible to determine good and high-quality fabric only by its price?
G.S.: No. The initial price for the product is determined by the manufacturer, the final price is determined by the distributor. Both focus on consumer demand when determining prices. In this case, less fashion clothes, but High Quality, can be offered to the buyer at a lower price than a branded one made from lower quality raw materials.
Sometimes, in order to increase sales, manufacturers and distributors of textile products directly deceive the buyer by indicating deliberately false information about the fiber composition of the material on the product label or price tag.
N.K. “AiF.ru”: If price is not an indicator, then what factors can help determine the quality of the fabric?
G.S.: Subjectively, the quality of a material can be determined by appearance and touch. Some natural fibers have a characteristic odor. For example, wool has its own smell, it is difficult to describe it, but when we smell it, we remember it. Why does wool smell? Because she has fatliquoring agents, these products have such a specific smell. Cotton smells fresh.
It is difficult even for a professional to determine the naturalness of modified fabrics by external signs. Thus, fabric or knitwear made from mercerized cotton (Mercerized cotton is cotton that undergoes alkali treatment. The fiber becomes thinner, shrinks less and is more even) in appearance differs little from material made from polyester cotton-like fiber.
In everyday conditions, to determine the type of clothing fibers, we can recommend a method based on the characteristics of combustion and the characteristic odor of the combustion residues of the fibers. For example, cotton yarn burns quickly, leaving a burnt paper smell; the burnt residue is easily crushed between your fingers. Yarn made from polyester fibers is characterized by rapid attenuation, the burnt residue has the appearance of a solid black ball, and there is no smell. The presence of wool or natural silk in the yarn is determined by characteristic smell- burnt horn. If the combustion residue does not crumble when rubbed between your fingers, then the yarn contains synthetics.
N.K. “AiF.ru”: Often in a store you can see things made of 100 percent cotton (i.e., identical in composition), but at the same time they will feel completely different to the touch, why? In this case, what fabric should you choose?
G.S.: Everything is correct. Textile materials with the same fiber composition can have different textures. Texture is determined by the density of the fabric and its thickness. The density of the fabric depends on the density and type of weave of the yarn, and the thickness depends on the thickness of the yarn. If we talk about cotton fabrics, their range is very wide: calico, chintz, satin, crepe, cashmere, flannel, flannel, cambric, etc. The thinnest and most expensive fabric is cambric. It is made from fine, tightly spun cotton yarn, which is obtained from high-quality long-staple cotton. When assessing the quality of the fabric or material of the product, you should carefully examine its surface for defects: thickening of the yarn in limited areas, flakiness (the presence of small lumps of tangled fibers on the surface of the fabric), knots, violations in limited areas of the density of the fabric due to vacuum or compaction between the interweaving of threads , the presence of distortions in the direction of the threads, uneven coloring, displacement of the pattern, etc.
Fabric and knitwear, the yarn of which is made from high-grade fiber, has a smooth surface. The denser the material, the less it deforms during product operation. However, dense material does not mean thick.
W, CO, CVI - designations that are important to know
N.K. "AiF.ru": What fabric should be used when creating a children's wardrobe?
G.S.: The production of children's clothing requires its compliance with sanitary and hygienic rules and regulations (SanPin), according to which children's underwear up to size 32 and hosiery up to size 16 should not contain synthetic fibers. It is allowed to replace part of the cotton with artificial fiber - viscose:
- up to 10%, for toddler underwear (up to size 28) and hosiery up to size 16;
- up to 30%, for children's underwear up to size 32.
N.K. "AiF.ru": What fabric composition is ideal for underwear and swimsuits?
G.S.: Underwear made from 100% cotton jersey is considered ideal. To increase the elasticity of knitwear, it is permissible to add elastic thread (elastane, spandex) to the yarn, the content of which should not exceed 2-1%. Underwear made from such knitwear is not only hygienic, but also more comfortable, as it fits tightly to the body.
N.K. “AiF.ru”: Galina Alekseevna, please tell us about the symbols that are often used on labels, what do they mean?
G.S.: The designation of raw materials must contain the full name of the types of fibers or their abbreviated designation. The abbreviated designation is mainly used by foreign manufacturers. For example, cotton (cotton) - CO, ALG; flax (flax) - Li; wool (wool) - W or WP, WL, WA (alpaca, llama, angora wool): silk (silk) - SE. For artificial chemical fibers the following designations are used: viscose (viskose) - Vis, VI; high-modulus fiber (Siblon, Modal) - CVI, MD; acetate - AC. Synthetic fibers are designated: polyester (polyester) - PE, PE, PES, PL; polyacrylonitrile (acrylic) - PAN, PAC, RS; polyamide (polyamide) - PA, RA; polyurethane (polyurethane, elastane) - PU, PU, EA.
In duplicated canvases, the composition of the raw material is indicated separately for each layer.
When secondary raw materials are included in the material, the words “recycled raw materials” and its type must be indicated.
Fans of everything natural in the interior will undoubtedly appreciate linen. Deliberate modesty or strict luxury is gaining popularity - linen curtains become a decoration for an expensive interior. Considering that the material is capricious and requires special treatment, it is important to know its features if you want to hang this fabric option in your home. Everything about choice and care is described below.
Any of the options is not cheap. But when purchasing, the owner of an apartment or house can count on exceptional durability.
Advantages and disadvantages of linen curtains
The only drawback that the fabric has is that it is very difficult to iron linen curtains. Therefore, instead of drying, the material is immediately ironed while wet and immediately hung on the window in order to prevent wrinkles from forming when folded.
How to distinguish natural linen from artificial
As already said - natural material it costs expensive. But at the same time, unscrupulous manufacturers sin by selling curtains whose imitation of linen is done very skillfully. How to distinguish it if the task is to purchase clean fabric:
- By shine. If flax is not, it does not give a spark.
- By burning. The synthetic thread will melt and roll into a drop of resin. Whereas the natural product will crumble into ashes.
- Light touches to the material will not cause any discomfort. In addition, the fabric will not linger on rough skin or nails.
- In terms of strength. It is difficult to break a linen thread.
- By color. Natural linen is never white. Business card– light gray or yellowish tint.
Well, in terms of wrinkleability - a piece of fabric clenched in a fist will not become the same without smoothing it with an iron. Nevertheless, artificial linen for curtains is very popular on sale in relevant retail chains. It looks decent, and only experts can distinguish synthetic material from the real thing.
How to sew linen curtains
First you need to decide on the room where such curtains will hang. They do not require a special interior, but are ideal for children's rooms and bedrooms. acceptable because they are not afraid of dampness, do not absorb odors and are quite durable. In actively visited rooms, they need to be draped in the form of Roman or rolled fabrics, with or without traditional curtains.
A living room or office requires luxury. There it is proposed to sew linen with a lapel - an elegant model for a business style. Below, for training, instructions are given for making a simple version - from two canvases. A classic that goes with everything.
What you need
If you have experience, then working with a tailor's tool will not be difficult. Needed:
- Chalk or dry soap.
- . It will allow you to create beautiful folds.
- Centimeter and scissors.
It is important to choose the mounting method - on a cornice or without it. For the second option, there is Velcro tape. One part is sewn to the canvas, the second is fixed on the window sash. Linen ones will look original and simple if you make loops for them from the same fabric, sewing Velcro inside - wide or narrow on a thin cornice - one of the attributes of the original style.
Uncover
Before cutting out the canvas blanks, the selected fabric is washed. It's all about shrinkage - after washing, the dimensions change greatly downward, so the fabric is taken with a margin of up to 50%. Next, the required dimensions are transferred to the smoothed canvas:
Sewing
First, the upper edge of the material is hemmed and a fixing tape twice as long as the width is attached to it.
Actually, that's the whole process.
It is important that linen curtains are not combined with lambrequins - one of the two is hung.
To give the canvases some interest, they are decorated according to the purpose of the room where they will hang:
It is important to smooth out even overdried curtains gradually, otherwise wet treatment will greatly shrink the fabric.
If you follow the rules, caring for natural curtains will not seem troublesome.
httpv://youtu.be/h4xa2ZXqqN8
The correct selection of curtains for each interior can transform the room, make the style distinct, and add newness. Natural fabrics are perfect for this. Len is in the lead. Its deliberate severity, ease of sewing and caring for fabrics make it popular at all times.
