Some points in choosing textiles

Description

About this book

"Some points in choosing textiles by Charlotte M. Gibbs" is a practical household-science guide written in the early 20th century. It explains how to select and evaluate common fabrics, focusing on cotton, linen, wool, and silk, and offers clear, shopper-friendly methods for recognizing quality, spotting adulteration, and choosing appropriate materials. The book opens by noting the shift from home-made to factory-made cloth and the resulting need for informed buying. It then details the traits of each fiber and the tricks used to cheapen them: cottons loaded with sizing or calendered to mimic mercerization; linens confused with cotton and identified by fiber feel, luster, and an olive-oil translucency test; wools blended with cotton, disguised in felted “woolens,” or made from shoddy, with guidance on thread feel and burning tests; and silks weakened by heavy “weighting” or woven with cotton backs, contrasted with stronger reeled or coarser pongee types.