Lace From Seaweed Is New British Textile Fabric

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 59, 2 March 1949, Page 7

Lace From Seaweed Is New British Textile Fabric

“Alginate lace’”—the second major development since the discovery of alginate fabric more than a year ago—appeared in public for the first time recently at the International Wool Secretariat mannequin parade'of “Wool'Lingerie” in London. The lace appeared in an exquisite white wool negligee, made by Rita Roberts from fabric made by Silkella Ltd., Bradford. In addition to the lace, more than a dozen garments made from the original Silkella alginate fabric appeared in the parade, together with a wide range of exquisite lightweight wool garments made by London’s leading lingerie designers. These included nightdresses, pyjamas, cami-knick-ers, brassieres and housecoats. It is difficult, so fine and gossa-mar-like are some of these garments, to believe that wool is the only material used in their manufacture, with the exception of a few in which a 5 per cent nylon base is used. Here, briefly, is the story of alginate fabrics: For more than a year now British scientists have been able'to spin a super lightweight wool yarn, using as a base or “carrier thread” a substance called calcium alginate (derived, from seaweed). The virtue of this alginate yarn is that it dissolves in a soapy solution. Experiments have recently been carried out at Leeds University aimed at using the “carrier thread” as a foundation cloth for embroideries. The embroidery is done on a standard embroidering machine, using particularly fine wool. Afterwards it is scoured in soapy solution, leaving behind the fine wool lace. Some quantities of the alginate fabrics—other than the lace—are already on sale in Britain, though most of it is used in the export markets. But as soon as the alginate yarn is produced in bulk—this necessitates the use of hundreds of thousands of tons of seaweed year-ly-—thus enabling the lace fabrics to be sold at competitive prices, an almost inexhaustible range of patterns will, it is hoped, be available on the market.