Identification of Fibers
Brigitte Herrbach-Schmidt
ICOM Costume Committee board member
Identifying fibres needs a lot of technical and chemical knowledge or at least a very high resolution picture of the fibre.
An approximate result may be obtained by a burning test, which however should not be used on Museum material, see for the reaction of fibres: Ditzi Prints Fiber Burn Chart and photos of what that looks like at http://newvintagelady.blogspot.de/2010/12/burn-testing-101.html
Luckily labels often tell what the object is made of:
Wool
( Lambs wool / Camel Hair/ Mohair / Alpaca / Angora / Cashmere)
The charcteristic of wool is its flaky structure
Cotton
The cotton fibre looks more like a band with thick edges
Flax | Hemp |
Jute | Ramie |
Silk (Mulberry, Tussah, Bourette, Schappe, Dupion) |
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Viscose | Rayon | Nylon | Polyester |
Coolmax | Goretex |
etc.
Read more
Tracés Techniques : F – E. Publications du CIETA. Lyon 1979
Schenek, Anton: Lexikon Garne und Zwirne. Eigenschaften und Herstellung textiler Fäden. Frankfurt 2006
Vocabulary of Technical Terms Fabrics : E – F – I – S. Publications du CIETA. Lyon 2006