bleached
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Flax Top – Bleached
100% Flax (linen) fibre.
Very clean combed top in a fairly narrow sliver, bleached to a bright ivory white. Staple length is 5 to 6 inches.
This may be a good choice for those curious to try spinning flax for the first time. Our supplier suggests it can be either dry or wet-spun and no distaff is needed since it's already in a well-prepared form. It feels pretty soft for flax. Anybody up for the challenge?
The various dyed colourways we carry begin with bleached flax, since it provides a good white base that won't lend the brown or tan tones that natural flax would give. Since this is a plant or cellulose fibre dyers must use fibre reactive dyes. Natural dyers must resort to techniques used on cotton, such as alum-tannin premordanting, or Aluminum acetate. Flax strikes just fine in an indigo vat.
That being said, when blended with protein fibres, acid dyes will leave the flax alone during dyeing, which makes for some wonderful streaky or heathered effects, depending on how well the fibres are blended.
PRODUCT of ITALY
Silk Top, Tussah (Bleached)
100% silk.
Combed top, bleached but still an ivory-cream colour. Staple length is about 6 to 7 inches. If you plan on using your silk for blending, Tussah silk is nearly always a better value fibre than Cultivated silk.
Silk top is easy to dye, using either acid dyes, fibre reactive dyes, or natural dyes.
For spinning, silk top may be spun all by itself or used for blending with a myriad of other fibres.
