I ask this question to myself A LOT. What sort of fabric is this? How do I take care of it? What can I do with it?

Part  of working with vintage fabrics is knowing what a fabric is and what it  is made of. This is a learning process. It never ends. The first thing I  do after bringing a fabric home is to determine the fabric content, or  at least narrow it down. These posts just explain abbreviated versions  of the tests I use. There are numerous online posts, videos and flow  charts describing these tests.

Please  keep in mind that other observations are important when determining  fabric content. Cost, feel, smell, damage (mold, insect damage), age and  "sound" can all help you determine what your fabric is. If you  purchased some yardage of a "silk" like fabric for a dirt cheap price  you could have gotten an awesome deal but you probably just purchased  polyester or rayon. Some Japanese sythetics are VERY difficult to  differentiate from silk. Yes, I have been fooled!

I primarily use the "burn test" and the "bleach test".  This post will  discuss the "burn test". I am not going to discuss every fabric out  there but will talk about the ones that I deal with the most: silk,  wool, linen, cotton, rayon and polyester. This test is perfect for  determining if the fabric has silk or wool in it. Even if the fabric is  only a percentage of silk or wool you WILL smell it. Burning silk and  wool has the same smell as burning hair and if you have ever burnt hair  you will know that burning hair smells bad...really bad.

If you have never burnt your hair (by mistake that is) then consider  yourself lucky and start thinking of some explanation on why you stunk  up the house because your children and significant other will want to  know why you subjected them to such an aweful scent.

The Burn Test:

Basis: All fabrics burn differently, smell differently when burning and create different ashes.

Perform  the test by snipping off a small triangular piece of fabric. Hold the  fabric with tweezers over a dish. Light the pointy end of the triangular  fabric snippet on fire using a lighter. Do not use a match as this will  cover up the smell of the fabric burning. After the fabric starts on  fire, place it in the dish.

Did the fabric :

a) burn: Most likely cotton or rayon

b) sputter out and not burn: most likely silk, wool or fire retardent synthetic

c) melt: most likely synthetic fabric such as acetate, nylon

Does the fabric smell like :

a) burning paper of wood: Most likely cotton or rayon

b) burning hair or egg: Wool and/or silk

c) chemicals: synthetic

Is the ash:

a) dark and flaky: cotton, linen, rayon

b) hard, black and crumbly: wool and silk

c) hard like a plastic bead (either dark or light colored): synthetic

Synthetic fabrics also tend to curl away from the flame, rather than igniting right away.

This  test can be used in conjuntion with other tests to help determine the  approximate makeup of a fabric. I say approximate because it can be very  difficult to determine blends or what sort of synthetic a fabric is. It  is also very difficult to determine the difference between cotton,  rayon and linen blends.

I  have also been fooled by fabrics that really do not burn like I expect  them to. I have had a silk kimono fabric that would not burn like silk. I  was told it was silk and could smell the silk when I burnt it but  because of the way the silk was woven it burned much like a synthetic  would and did not self-extinguish. I moved onto a bleach test which did  confirm the kimono was silk.

Experience  is really the key to determining the fabric you have. When you visit  any fabric store touch the fabrics and try to determine the makeup of  them. Feel silk and other fine fabrics and compare them to synthetics.  These "practice" sessions come in use when you are digging around in a  good will store or garage sale and find yardage of beautiful fabric for a  cheap price. In most cases it is not silk or wool but you will be sure  to find silk or other fine fabrics that are marked dirt cheap at some  point and you want to be able to recognize and snatch up that deal when  you do!