In the past century a great change has come about in the position of
the woman in the home, which has very vitally affected her relation to
the textile industries. In the early days in this country nearly every
woman produced the clothing for herself and family, also the household
linens from the raising of the sheep or flax to the finished product.
Now all is changed; with the introduction of ready-made suits and other
garments, even the sewing is rapidly going from the home, while the
manufacture of cloth is a forgotten art.
In olden times the quality of home-spun and woven material was the best
possible to be obtained from the materials and methods known. Woolen
cloth was all wool, and linen cloth was not adulterated with starch, or
half cotton. Honest and durable materials were the rule of the day.
With the introduction of machinery and the factory system came keen
competition. Modern discoveries, chemical and otherwise, have increased
the possibilities of cotton, linen, silk and wool so that now it is
difficult to recognize the original fiber in some of the materials sold.
Thus on the one hand the field of textile knowledge has grown very
much, while on the other hand the knowledge of women concerning textile
fabrics has decreased, since they are no longer the makers of cloth,
nor do they always gain a knowledge of its characteristics through the
making of garments. The result has been that women depend more and more
on the word of clerks, who are often as ignorant as themselves, until
by painful experience the buyers learn some of the things to be avoided.
As cost of living increases, and demands upon the family purse
increase, it is more and more important that the woman of the household
should know how to spend the family income most economically. Since
from ten to twenty percent of this income is spent for clothing and
house furnishing, it is imperative that more thought and careful study
should be put upon this branch of household economy. The object of this
bulletin is to give some bits of information about textile fibers,
their manufacture and adulteration, which may help in gaining that
judgment in buying essential to every woman.
Certain adulterations and devices of the modern manufacturer are so
skillfully concealed as to be detected only by the use of chemical
tests, or the high power microscope. With these this bulletin will not
deal, but only with those qualities and adulterations which may be
detected without the aid of laboratory equipment. Much of course may be
learned by experience, but it seems better to save time and money by
knowing beforehand what is to be demanded, what guarded against.
Each one of the common materials used for textile fabrics, cotton,
linen, wool and silk, has its characteristics, each its definite uses.
Certain peculiarities in physical or chemical nature make each fiber
peculiarly adapted to certain uses, but so long as these general
qualities are maintained the variety of materials produced from these
fibers may be enormous. Combinations of fibers in one material,
adulteration with cheaper fibers, or with starches or metallic salts,
may serve to reduce the cost, and yet the purpose of the material
may be fulfilled. For certain purposes the materials may be used
interchangeably.