The most common material used for making bed linen is cotton. Different fabrics are created by weaving it differently. One of them is the widely known satin. What are its types and how to distinguish real satin from fake?
In a broad sense, satin is a long-staple combed cotton fabric that is soft and dense. Satin bedding wrinkles less, irons more easily, wears slowly, and retains color well.
Traditional satin is 100% cotton fabric, but you can also find fabrics mixed with polyester fiber in the market. Such bedding is significantly cheaper, and it is often written on the packaging that it is also 100% cotton, but do not be fooled - such a fabric absorbs moisture worse, and balls may form on the surface of the material when washed.
So when buying a new bedding set, don't be tempted by a very low price, because you could be fooled.
Damask is the highest grade of satin. It is a luxurious fabric made of very fine yarns, similar to satin, with a shiny sheen. It is woven using jacquard technology (by alternating dimensional weaving in the weft, massive relief patterns are created). Most often, the patterns are the same color as the background, but can also be woven from threads of different colors. Such sets are considered extremely luxurious.
How to distinguish 100% cotton fabric from a fake?
Have you bought a satin bedding set, but you don't know if it's original? The first indicator of originality is the price. Even if the packaging claims that you've bought a 100% cotton product, an extremely low price may suggest that you've been scammed. But there are more ways to check.
First of all, pay attention to how you feel when sleeping in new bedding. Synthetic satin is shiny, slippery, not so pleasant to the body and can be electrifying. Also, such a fabric is poorly permeable to air, so you may start to sweat while sleeping.
For the next verification method you will need:
- A lighter, matches or a burning candle;
- A thread plucked from a bedding set.
To distinguish cotton from synthetics, simply try to set fire to a piece of fabric. If the thread is cotton, it will ignite like paper. If it is synthetic, it will begin to melt like plastic. The smell of the thread when burning can also give you a clue about its composition.
