4. If you have time before purchasing, test a sample of silk by burning. Place in a porcelain dish and heat gently for thirty minutes. The silk will vanish and the weighting remain.
Burn the threads to see if there is cotton in warp or woof. Burn end of sample. If it is the same shape after burned, it is probably weighted.
5. Close weaves wear better than more loosely woven ones and soft silks better than stiff. Guard against buying soft silks, however, that are so woven as to pull in the seams when worn.
6. Are you buying material made of reeled or spun silk? Bargains are seldom found at silk sales. Should you expect to find pure silk at 50 or 60 cents a yard or as many yards of silk thread B as A on a spool? Remember that the demand for a cheap product means the production of cheap products. Wear something else rather than cheap silks.
7. Is the silk adulterated with mercerized cotton or artificial silk? Try the tests. (See “Shelter and Clothing,” page 196.)
Some things to remember in purchasing wool.
1. Wool mixed with cotton makes a cheaper fabric and should not be sold for all wool. It wears well, but is not as warm as all wool. Garments made of it do not keep their shape as well. Woolens are often adulterated in felting. Pull the closely woven fabric apart and untwist the fibers to see if cotton is present.
2. The burning test will help in deciding on the composition. (See “Shelter and Clothing,” page 198.)
3. A good woolen or worsted fabric can always be remade. The inexpensive is not cheap unless you wish something which costs little but does not look well or wear well. One should not expect to get blankets of all wool for two dollars a pair. They cost five or six.
4. Shoddy is one kind of recovered wool and is used to cheapen