Fabric Identification Help

[Jennifer Kietzman]

Hi, everyone!

I have what I take to be a 1950s top and skirt set, which bears the Sears Kerrybrooke label. While I know that the fabric is a typical one (I've definitely seen it before and owned garments made of it), I've never known what exactly it is. Is it rayon? It's slub-textured, and the back side of it is very glossy. The front side also has a wonderful sheen to it. It definitely has a rayon drape and is of medium weight.

Your thoughts would be most appreciated!

Jennifer

 

[claireshaeffer]

It probably isn't silk. It looks like a shantung-type weave. Can you find a small piece to burn test?

 

[Rue_de_la_Paix]

Hello,

I have quite a number of original rolls of fabric from the late 1950s and early 1960s, in various colors including brown, and are very similar front and back to yours. I agree with Claire that it is a shantung weave or mock shantung weave, made to imitate real silk shantung. Like Claire, I also doubt it is silk. The fiber on mine are all rayon, likely a blend of 2 different rayon threads/fibers.

 

[poppysvintageclothing]

I have had similar pieces as well that look very much like this, more satiny rayon rather slippery to the touch than silk would be.