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Have you ever..................?

I've decided that my next project will be an ornamental monogram from Rouge du Rhin.

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linen will give me a good size finished initial which will eventually turn into a cushion (pillow). I found some linen that a friend had given me, a nice ecru colour. So far so good.Then I need to find two toning threads..........Over an hour or so the mental conversation went like this......Silk or cotton? Perhaps blue, no green, definitely neutral tones, no wait, where is the au ver a soie I bought? mmmm I like these Mulberry silks, I'd forgotten about them. Oh and that thread, I'd forgotten how much she gave me. Oh wow these are the Gloriana threads I got on eBay last week perhaps this is my time to play with them....and so on and on and on. And all of this took place without opening any of the floss boxes with my cotton threads all neatly wound onto bobbins.

Now I sit here with a pile of miscellaneous threads about a foot deep in front of me, and I still didn't find the au ver a soie I know I have. Naturally I've still not decided on what threads to use, but I am on a bit of a mission to tidy up the thread collection into a more user friendly stash. I've no idea how to organise this small mountain of thread, but I'm sure I'll enjoy rediscovering all the lovely thread I have accumulated in the process.

One sensible question did arise in this quest.....How does one tell silk from rayon? I have an appreciable amount of 'silk thread' that was an eBay win many many years ago and I've never been entirely sure that it is silk and not rayon, but never known how to test it.

Cheers

Joanne in Perth, Western Australia

Reply to
The Lady Gardener
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Designing is such a fun thing to do! If I were unsure about the content of a thread, I would probably talk to a friendly dry cleaner, and perhaps even scoop up the threads and take them to the dry cleaner in case a hands-on lesson would help.

Reply to
Mary

A burn test is usually the best way, although it may not help very much if it's a blend.

Cut a small length of thread (an inch or two should be sufficient). Have a lighter, or a burning candle, and a pair of tweezers, and do this over the kitchen sink or the stove (you may have embers falling, and you don't want to put a burn spot in your nice furniture).

Hold one end of the thread in the tweezers, and light the other end. If it's silk, it'll smell like burning hair, the ash may be little hollow balls (if it's really fine thread, you may not get much ash). Rayon will smell like burning paper, possibly flame up, and leave a pile of ashes.

jenn

-- Jenn Ridley : snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com WIP: Poppies (Art-Stitch), two knitted tops, Oriental Butterfly Most recently Finished: Floral Sampler, Insect Sampler

Reply to
Jenn Ridley

I keep a cigarette lighter and a very large (bought at a yard sale) ceramic ashtray in the studio for just this purpose. Means I can test soemthing immediately rather than having to plan for it.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans

Reply to
Olwyn Mary

I imagine a lighted match would do it. Silk would burn - Rayon would melt. Come to think of it a very hot iron might be a safer option!

Pat

Reply to
Pat P

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