Pearsalls Rayon thread

[Johnno]

One of the family I’d not seen or heard of till a recent acquisition...

[letumgo]

Hmmm. Very interesting. I had not seen this before. Any idea of the time frame?

[Johnno]

No idea....

anyone?

[letumgo]

Some information about the history of Rayon.

http://www.museumtextiles.com/blog/category/rayon

So it looks like this is after 1924. I’m going to guess between 1940 to 1970.

[daringduffer]

Rich Medcraft, a full service commercial embroiderer, contract digitizer and owner of StitchWise Embroidery Design in Vancouver, weighs in: “I use both polyester and rayon, depending upon the design and garment. However, my thread of choice is rayon. While polyester thread has its merits, in my opinion there is no comparison in the natural luster and beauty of rayon. It has a natural shine that I have yet to see any polyester match. Designs where I have used polyester have an unrealistic shine, almost like theyare covered in cellophane. Rayon, by, contrast has a subtle sheen which I think creates amazing depth in embroidery.

and:
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/source ... n/patterns

Seems as if rayon was used both for embroidery and knitting. I suppose that silk had more 'bite' when used as fly tying thread. They both had 'sheen'.

Interesting, I had never heard of Pearsall's Rayon Thread. The company wasn't as 'pure' as I thought. It was more modern than that.

dd

[letumgo]

I have several old wooden spools of thread, which did not include the original paper labels. This makes me wonder if some old spools floating around out there are actually Rayon, instead of silk.

[wsbailey]

Skues number VIII nymph calls for artificial silk which was the term used for rayon during his era.

[Theroe]

thats a 1970's green !!

[Theroe]

I have several old wooden spools of thread, which did not include the original paper labels. This makes me wonder if some old spools floating around out there are actually Rayon, instead of silk.

Ray - I know you are aware of this, but do the "burn" test. Many are not aware that silk turns to ash, while nylon, rayon etc only melt into a small bead...

Dana

[letumgo]

Dana - Thanks for the reminder.