SILK & VELVET

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 June 1938, Page 4

SILK & VELVET

PURCHASING HINTS. When buying silk or velvet, the following will be found useful: To test velvet, take a piece of material, roll it around your hand, and examine the pile. If the pile is open, and “shows its teeth,” the velvet is badly woven, and will soon grow shabby. The shorter and closer the pile, the better is the quality of the velvet. Crepe-de-chine and marocain are both liable to “tenderness” and “loading.” Loaded silks —that is, silks made heavy by the addition of metal compounds —are hard-wearing, provided they are not put in water, which dissolves the loading, leaving the silk thin and lifeless. ' Test silk by rubbing it between finger and thumb, and if heavily loaded it will show -a bare patch against the light. ■ A “tender” silk—one burnt in the dyeing process —will snap under tension. A few sharp pulls between the hands will soon: disclose any inclination to tenderness. Foi’ satin, see that the thread that runs the length of the material does not “jump” too many cross-threads. In. cheap satin the lengthways thread will jump many cross-threads and will wear badly.