Fabric

[jenlemus]

Does anyone know a source for a wool/silk blend fabric like this but cheaper? I'll need about 8 yards (the joy of being tall) but I can't justify spending nearly $500 on one fabric for my replica extant, before the blue satin or interfacing.

Speaking of interfacing, does anyone have a source of cotton horse hair net? I intend to replica the

Comments

[mmcnealy]

The link you posted was to wool gab, and I love Fabric Mart's wool gab, http://www.fabricmartfabrics.com/xcart/Wool-Gabardine/

For the cotton horse hair net, perhaps a tailoring website?

[jenlemus]

But does it have a bit of a sheen and texture?

The original is a weird fabric. It's definitely some sort of blend as it has a bit of a sheen, some variation in color but some heft too. Having seen it under magnification the warp and weft are different colors, and a standard weave as well. Lacis couldn't identify it for me either, when I took it there to buy preservation materials.

This shot shows the variation in the original fabric well.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14016082@N00/4896589474/sizes/l/in/set-72157600045920252/

[sewaddicted]

Would the original fabric be bombazine (twill weave, weft & silk warp). it was popular even if unheard of today

[sewaddicted]

oops, that should be wool weft/silk warp.

[jenlemus]

Thanks. I've a feeling that's what this is. Would explain its weirdness and why no one has been able to place it.

[sewaddicted]

I've had a couple of conversations with people who don't sew, trying to explain that our fabric choices are poorer in the latter half of the 20th century. They don't understand that previous centuries had high quality fabrics, and more variety of fabric type. Even if the trade off is that most people had fewer clothes than most of us have these days.