Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Restoring the finish on polished cotton...part 2

I tried one of Heloise's tips for restoring the smooth finish to some polished stretch poplin shirting fabric I bought and washed. This tip seemed to be the easiest so I tried that one first...add plain gelatin to the final rinse.

Gelatin in final rinse--wet fabric


Hmm, that didn't work so well. Maybe if I dry it and iron it.

Ironed, gelatin-covered fabric on left and regular wash & dry on the right


See the difference?!! Yeah, neither do I.

Heloise had some other suggestions (add borax to rinse, add liquid starch to rinse, etc.). Honestly, I'm so discouraged that I don't care to try any of these other suggestions. I think a hot iron and starch will have to do.

I bought several of these shirtings (all from Denver Fabrics).

Poplin shirting pre-wash--you can kinda see the polished finish


Poplin shirting post-wash and dry (no iron)



Lesson learned: test samples before laundering the entire yardage.

Linda Podietz is the owner of EmmaOneSock.com, where she sells designer fabrics. Under the "fabric care" link on her website, you can find a great pdf of fabric testing how-to.

She also has a link for guides to sewing all the different types of fabric. This is very handy if you don't own one of the great fabric guides that are available, like "More Fabric Savvy" by Sandra Betzina.

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