Huntsville gazette., 1894-10-27
ABOUT BLACK SILK.
How to Distinguish Good Article from


How to Distinguish q Good Article from
Inferior Grades.
There are really very few women
who can distinguish between good
| black silk and an inferior one, and
few hints given by an expert and re-
ported in the Delineator will doubtless
be acceptable to many shoppers:
In the first place never be beguiled
into buying cheap silk. Very often
pretext of its cheapness suggests
genuine bargain, but the wise woman,
unless she knows of good reason for the
reduction, will choose some other ma
terial If she cannot afford to purchase
silk at an adequate price. CostlinesS
is of course no guarantee Of real value,
so the shopper is advised to purchase
| an eighth of a yard of an admired
| fabric and test it at leisure when she
reaches home. This may seem like
waste to the over-economical mind, but
it will prove a good Investment II 1t
prevents bad bargain in the end.
In testing piece of silk first try to
tear it both lengthwise and crosswise.
If it gives way readily in either direc-
| tion you may be sure either that the
| dye has destroyed the 6bers or that the
thread is made up Of what is known as
waste silk" Pure silk properly dyed
| is the strongest textile known, but
nearly all the cheaper dyes, and par
ticularly the dark colors and black, are
made with such basis that they eat
into and weaken the fabric.
The frmness Of the weave may be
| proved by scraping diagonally across
| the silk with the thumb nail. If the
| material is strong and pure, any
amount of manipulation will not make
| the threads slip, and if the nail makes
| space as wide as its own thickness be-
tween the threads the silk is certainly
Of inferior quality. The next test is APP
| piled by raveling bit of the silk and
! carefully examining both warp and
| woof. Often pure silk warp has a
heavily loaded woof, and in other
cases, especially in satin weaves, the
woof has an inferior backing, the sur
face being Of good silk. Pure silk has
good luster and is very soft, but if
| the gloss is artificial the fabric will be
hard and brittle When pure silk has
been dyed improperly 1t looks very
much like cotton, but 1t is somewhat
| softer.
| Another excellent test consists in
| pulling out the threads both ways and
| trying their strength. Catch them with
both hands an inch apart, give quick
| jerk and note the force needed to break
them. If they part easily the silk is
not good. Tear the silk along the
| lines from which the threads have been
taken, and If there are Fuckers along
| eating a strong texture. A method OF
testing that is considered conclusive is
to burn fragment of the silk and also
some Of the ravelings. If the silk is
| pure and well dyed it will take fire
| slowly, even when held directly in the
fame, and the fire will go out almost
as soon as the silk is withdrawn, leav-
| ing ashes that are nearly jet black.
! Weighted and improperly dyed silk is
highly inf1ammable. It quickly takes
fire, and the fire is difficult to extin.
| guish, smoldering after the silk is re-
moved from the flame and leaving
ashes that keep the shape of the cloth
and are of light yellowish red tint,
Cotton in the fabric can be readily de-
| tected by the odor Of the smoke. Ev-
cry woman should remember that the
| requisite qualities of good silk are
| strength. sInoothness, luster, richness
and lightness, no matter how thick the
material.