Up Close with Woven Fabrics, Part III

Today is the last time we will visit with woven fabrics (for now. Because I think I've covered most everything I have in my stash, though I am open to suggestions). Today I have a few different types of wool, some pleather, and baby sequins, so sort of a random grab bag of textiles.

Let's start with pleather, because, quite frankly, it was very boring. Let's get better as we go along!
300x


2240x
Nothing to see here folks, except for the slightly pebbled surface.  It's obviously smooth so I don't know what I was expecting, but this was kind of a let down.  I did poke some pin holes in this pleather, to show the difference between a 'hole' in a woven fabric and holes in pleather/leather/other fabrics you shouldn't pin or rip out stitches:



This has been brought to you by Wonder Clips! There's no room for making mistakes with pleather/leather.  Compared to the 'hole' made by the machine needle in a cotton muslin:


Let's move on to sequins! These are some baby sequins from Mood Fabrics that are on a mesh background:
25x 
102x.  You can see where the sequins are sewn on to the mesh backing.



510x.
Switching gears to wool - one of my favorite wovens.  I've been sewing up a few coats this winter so had a few different types of swatches available: a wool coating, a boiled wool, and a wool boucle.
L-R:  wool coating, boiled wool, boucle
First the boucle:
25x. The loose weave of the boucle and the raised lime green fibers are evident. 
475x


Next, the wool coating:

81x. Disorder and mayhem!

150x

781x.  Up close with wool fibers.
 Is boiled wool any different in terms of micro-texture?

81x. Yes it is different from the coating! Much more coarse at the same magnification
Here's a side-by-side:
Coating (L) and boiled wool (R) both at 81x mag

462x

1510x.  I love this view of the individual fibers.
Wool fibers have a distinct texture from cotton fibers - almost scaly, which is very cool.   This is going to wrap up wovens for now! Next week I'll be back with Knits, Part I, which will feature more synthetic fibers and fabrics.


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