mercerized cotton

Mercerizing is a treatment that give a cotton thread a silky, brilliant sheen.

Jean

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It's been treated with a very strong solution of caustic soda or similar, which makes the cotton shrink and become stronger and lustrous. It also makes it absorb dyes better.

Sally

Mercerization is an alkaline soak process for cotton -- it makes the fibers stronger, softer, plumper and more lustrous, and better able to take dye.

Tension or continuous mercerization seems to be more commonly used. There's also a "slack mercerization" process for cotton fabrics that results in a sort of crimping of the fibers, and the result is a stretchy 100% cotton fabric. Quite nice.

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