Here are some Wool scarves I wove. I dyed the yarn in a sort of random ikat (on the warp and wefts for the one on the right, left, just weft.) The twill weave pattern shows up so you get diagonals in some places. Wool presses very well and likes steam with a medium heat. It will burn and become crispy under high heat unless you use lots of moisture. It keeps it's shape very well and is a good heat insulator. It is a very "forgiving" fabric to sew with as you can manipulate it with the iron. But...it absorbs smells very easily and can be coarse and scratchy.
This is Jonathan Rose, (my cousin's husband), modeling an 18th. century man's suit made of silk. It is turquoise "shot" silk. The warp and the weft are each bright blue and black. When woven together they made turquoise! Silk can be very shiny and is very thin. It is strong unless it gets wet, so rarely steam it with an iron. It stains easily and will take on watermarks. It does hold it's shape well, but easily burns making holes or becoming coarse, grey or ashy. Use a medium-high heat and be careful!
Cotton ticking chef's hat. One of 4 I made for a local restaurant. We bartered for a food tab :)
Cotton is easily pressed. It loves being spritzed with water and steamed. It keeps it's shape very well and likes a high heat. Here are some vintage Family Studies instructional tools! These cotton and linen kits were passed along to me from retired Family Studies teacher Brenda Cook, New Ross.
Linen takes shape very well with a very high heat. It absolutely needs water to shape it. It becomes stronger with water. It does not absorb dye as easily as cotton. Linen develops a sheen after many times of ironing. Linen wrinkles very easily!!!
Synthetics I usually iron by finding the melting point and then pressing right beneath that temperature.
The classroom activity that I suggest to teach about fibres is ironing with students. In my experience they are all very curious about this almost extinct activity. They are usually quite scared of it and jump when they hear it sizzle. The steam adds another element of danger. Most sewing students don't understand that sewing is 99% ironing and pinning. You only sew in place with the thread what already looks good.
As for clothing choices....Should I wear this linen tank top? Ironing? Who has time for ironing????
A marvellous resource on fibre types. I wish we could still get our hands on those vintage cotton/linen teaching aids. Gone thanks to synthetics.
ReplyDeleteThe child under the desk? Priceless.
What a good idea to have students try ironing. So simple, yet it will teach them a lot about fibres and how to care for them. If things get burnt, no problem. In fact, I think I would incorporate using a too hot iron for their sample making to let them really see what can happen to their favourite clothing item by not setting the iron at the appropriate temperature. How fascinating that ironing is a mystery to many people.
You used 'it's' in a number of places; I suggest you change that. 'It's' means 'it is', not the possessive. Thanks.
I too found several vintage fibre books in my schoool's book room. The booklets are intact, but the amount of information present in them to reference following today's requirements is difficult (I could only find the tile, publisher and year of print). The books offer so much, I will bring it in. With regards to the ironing activity, so true is it overlooked as being a skill for today. Why iron when I can through it in the dryer? The pressing process in the step of sewing is essential, but that can be said for the processes in pressing as well, such as ironing with the creases and seams, not over them. watching the setting for heat and reading labels about the care for ironing or not to iron. Burning, iron marks, water drip stains, transfer of fibres and creases where there should never be a crease teachers students (and adults) about the importance of appearance. The incorporation of Iron free fibres and or chemicals may one day replace the iron.
ReplyDeleteI think getting the iron out in the classroom is another superb idea. Taking different fabrics and seeing how each reacts to being pressed while tampering with temperatures and steam sounds like an engaging lesson that would capture the interest of students. Thanks for getting the ball rolling in my mind with this idea.
ReplyDeleteI also have to agree that ironing is a great activity for students to do, certainly lots of learning can happen during the ironing process. I am guilty of ironing less then I should and I know better, our clothing look so much better nice and crisp then wrinkly out of the pile, yet I often just do the drier toss;) Yet somehow those hockey boys of mine always have pressed dress pants and dress shirts for game time, hmm, maybe I need to teach them to iron for themselves and spend some more time fixing myself up!
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