What Is Cloth? (1948)

[Music] mrs. Addams is a quiz on a sewing machine and it's partly because she knows her materials and how to get the most out of them her daughter Nancy is hurried home from school today for she had just started her first semester of home economics and she has asked her mother to help her learn more about clothes and cloth what are the advantages of the different kinds of cause how do you distinguish between different materials Nancy wants to make a new skirt so her mother agreed to show a little bit about basic fibers yarns and textiles mother has three samples ready to show Nancy she wants Nancy to look at each material to feel it to see what differences she observes there's wool gabardine you've heard of that and cotton gabardines they are both popular fabrics for many purposes and there's a relatively new material rayon gabardine how can we distinguish between these materials if they are not labeled there are simple tips that will help us identify them they are easy to do at home with only a candle and a simple magnifier take two threads from the wool for example and see what happens when they are burned No smells like burned hair or feathers just remember whoa which is something like animal hair smells like hair when burned when the ends are magnified we can see brownish balls on the ends of the fibers the wool ball crushes easily and just powders off to these two characteristics identify wool the burned hair odors and the brown easily crushed ball and because both threads tested the same we know the sample is all wool we did test two warp and filling how do we tell warp from filling the warp threads are those which run the length of the fabric the filling threads are the ones woven in across the warp or the width of the cloth from selvage to selvage it is difficult to tell the warp from filling threads on a small sample but if you look closely you'll see that the warp thread you're running vertically are more tightly twisted and heavier than the filling threads now we'll test the warp and filling threads of this acetate rayon when burned it's odor is sourish remember this is acetate rayon different from regenerated round burning acetate round formed this blacker very shiny ball on the fibers but the ball on the rayon fibers is hard very hard so it's easy to tell the difference between the acetate rayon ball and the powdery wool ball if you eat a whole piece of acetate rayon it melts almost like sealing wax that's why you must never use a hot iron on acetate rayon now let's test the company on cotton smells like burning waste paper no black or brownish ball though nothing much but scorched looking ends you yourself can make the simple test to distinguish wool and acetate rayon but the results from burning cotton are the same as from two other fibers linen and regenerated rayon mrs. Addams book on textile says that technical tests are needed to tell the difference between fibres of cotton linens and regenerated ran so labels on cloth are important now that Nancy had learned a little of how to identify material she is wondering which material to select for her new skirt her choice should depend on the use she expect make of the skirt and sometimes on the design one of the options about wool is it's warm this is due to the resiliency of natural fibers this springiness of world makes little pockets in the finished material and the pockets hold a layer of still air which is a good insulator the resiliency of wool is a result of a natural crimp in the world fibers this crimp also makes wool easy to twist or spin into a firm yarn cotton fibers have no air trapping crimp but the twist helps make cotton spin easily in tightly rayon and linen fibers however are so smooth that it is hard to spin them into a tight firm yarn or thread tight spinning makes stronger yarn and more durable cloth where did John is more tightly spun than woolen so what did fabrics like Aberdeen are more durable than fabrics made of the softer woolen yarn besides the spinning of the fibers the weave has a lot to do with your ability to that white broad cloth is called plain weave this is coffee broadcloth this is a typical twill weave a familiar blue jean the diagonal rib is a mark of the twill weave a durable fabric in many materials we have looked at plain weave and twill a third basic weaving cloth construction is the second week the warp threads always pass over more than three filling threads at a time and each new filling advances more than one warp the long yarns or floats reflect light readily that's what gives our satin slips their smooth feel and luster in addition to weave the color of textiles is an important factor and to be able to buy materials intelligently we should know how color gets into materials this plaid pattern is a result of weaving yarns that were dyed the various colors before they were woven the color of each yarn is the same from selvage to selvage that's easy to understand a curtain are called print that means the original solid color of plain material was printed from little presses like magazines pull out a single thread and look at it closely you'll see several different shades or colors on each thread that's how you can always tell a printed material from a yarn dyed material yarn dyed materials are less likely to run or bleed and Ronn during its widest to use prints for things that won't be laundered very often have you ever noticed how some fabrics soil easily and others do not here's one reason the soft fuzzy finish of the flannel catches and holds dirt hard twill does not the fuzziness of panels is due to a process called napping this will give you an idea of how it is done the extra ends pulled up on the surface give it that fluff a warm appearance it looks and is warmer than the same fabric would be unmatched because that fuzz forms an insulating layer of still air but cotton napping will pack down with youths or laundering because cotton fibers are not as resilient as wool fibers remember great care should be taken in laundering heavily in that material to avoid packing or felting the nap and it should never be ironed Nancy's wondering exactly why you can't launder all materials why would some things go to the dry cleaner heated wool is very sensitive to hot water and the alkali of strong soaps they destroy its elasticity springiness and shrinking and felting occur one world saw got washed with cotton socks by mistake the other was washed correctly in lukewarm water with mild soap on the next wash day Nancy learns it round wash well but lose about half their strength when wet wet ran should be handled very carefully and should be turned inside-out and ironed on the wrong side to prevent iron shine iron temperature is very important too we saw how excess heat melts rayon cotton and linen launder well they can be washed in very hot water and so are called the most hygienic fabric it can be ironed with a much hotter iron than is used on rayon but what about the material from Nancy skirt can you remember what she learned about fibers and how to tell them apart about yarns and how they are woven into different cloth materials besides color design and price Nancy will think of warmth wearability and washability then she'll walk with a well dressed air [Music]