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Bamboo (Top)
$3.75 – $28.94
100% Viscose of Bamboo.
Very clean combed top, pearly-white in colour. Staple length is 3.5 to 4 inches.
PRODUCT of CHINA
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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
Bamboo Top – Espresso
100% Viscose/Rayon of Bamboo.
Deep and rich coffee brown.
PRODUCT of CHINA
Soy Fibre – Bleached (Top)
100% Soy Fibre.
100% Soy Fibre.
Extremely clean combed top in "natural" ivory. Staple length of 4 to 5 inches. SoySilk® is a registered trademark, but our supply is a very similar product from another manufacturer. It turns out that what we have been selling for years is the bleached version of soy fibre.
Lustrous and soft, soy fibre is enjoying great popularity by itself or in blends with wool and other fibres. Very well-suited to summer wear since it's great at absorbing moisture. Soy fibre is manufactured from the waste pulp that remains after soybeans have been pressed for oil.
Surprisingly, though it comes from plants, soy fibre has more in common with protein fibres in the dyepot. It takes colour beautifully using acid dyes and will respond well to the usual natural dye premordants that are used on animal fibres.
Viscose – Bright (Top)
100% Viscose Rayon.
Extremely clean combed top. Lustrous white, with a staple length of 5 to 6 inches. Viscose is a type of rayon, and considered to be the very first successful manmade fibre after numerous attempts to create artificial silk. It is manufactured from wood pulp. Take advantage of the lovely sheen and soft handle to use this in blends for summer garments.
Since this is a plant or cellulose fibre dyers must use fibre reactive dyes. Natural dyers can resort to techniques used on cotton, such as alum-tannin premordanting, or Aluminum acetate. We don't know how viscose responds in an indigo vat.
That being said, when blended with protein fibres, acid dyes will leave the viscose alone during dyeing, which makes for some wonderful streaky or heathered effects, depending on how well the fibres are blended.