Hi Mom

Heya, everyone meet my mother. No pictures here though I might update it later with them. *evilgrins* I have a few of these to update. I'm also hoping to get the first images of the map together sometime this weekend. :) I just need cardboard and colored string. On that note I am going to go take care of that; now.

I’m Lisa, I live in the United States.

Article #1: a black pair of sloppy oversized capris with a drawstring waist. 99% cotton 1% spandex…made in Bangladesh

Article #2: a lovely piece I picked up at a bag sale at a local used clothes store! J I wear it over a shirt and pants to dress the outfit up a bit. Sort of shear with lovely fall colors. 100% polyester…made in the USA

Article #3:another thrift store item, cotton button shirt I wear over something else. 100% cotton…made in India

Article #4: sweatshirt and it’s finally that time of year again. 90% cotton, 10% polyester…made in Honduras.

Article #5: gotta take it off to read the tag. My latest and most favorite, purchased at the local Good Will with the right color barb for half price. A brown corduroy jacket kind of shirt. 100% cotton…made in China.

The Cloths I Wear

So, I spammed out the FB community in the hopes of getting a few more people and it sort of worked. This came from an old friend of mine from my previous collage career. Thanks Kris!

Hey, I forgot to send you feedback last week. I have:

4 kinds of sleeveless (muscle)shirts, all 100% cotton, from Vietnam, Honduras and some made in Mexico with U.S. fibers;
2 pairs of 100% cotton PJs, one U.S., one from Cambodia;
quite a few pairs of pants 100% cotton from India and Bangladesh, one pair with insulated lining that's 19% rayon, 2% polyester from China;
100% cottton shirts made in the US, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras, and India

My Witchcraft shirts was apparently made of combed cotton in L.A.

My favorite dress shirts are 1)60% cotton, 40% polyester, made in the Northern Mariana Islands, 2)100% polyester made in the Dominican Republic.

Oh, and Levi's jeans are 16% polyester, made in Vietnam.

Hope that's helpful :)
peace

On the Topic of Fibers

So, a little while back I was unaware of just what Modal was and it was in one of my favorite pieces of clothing. Well, now I have some idea of just what that is thanks to the wonderful help of Wikipedia. Alright, I'm sure that everyone is just dying to know what Modal is (at least those who don't already know.)

Modal is a fiber that is designed to dye just like cotton; however, modal is a variety of rayon. Modal fibers are produced by spinning the reconstituted cellulose fiber from beech trees. Modal is much less likely then cottons to shrink or to fade it will also absorb more water then a cotton. Modal was created by an Austrian company (Lenzing AG), a company that specializes in textiles and fibers. The Lenzing AG company specifically looks at natural fibers made from cellulose.

Alright, this will lead us to the next question: What exactly is Rayon?

Most people have probably heard of Rayon but are not entirely aware of what Rayon is. Rayon is again like Modal a fiber that is manufactured out of reconstituted cellulose fibers. Thus making it not completely a natural fiber and not completely a synthetic fiber. The term for such materials is a semi-synthetic fiber. Rayon is popular because of it's highly shiny surface texture and softness that is akin to silk.

Rayon came into being and was first developed in 1855 though it was patented in 1894, where it was marketed as the first "artificial silk" or for a time the "mother-in-law" of silk. The first version of rayon was produced bu a company in the UK in 1905 (Courtauldas Textiles). It wasn't until 1910/1911 that Rayon was first sold and produced in the United States by Avtex Fibers. In 1924 the name 'Rayon' was adopted for the first "artificial silk".

So, what exactly is Rayon. Nathan Rosenstein invented a method by which a hard fiber (such as wood) could be turned into fabric. Rosenstein's method was found to be highly flammable and much more expensive to make. It wasn't until Paul Schutzenberger discovered the acetate method of doing the same thing that Ryon truly went into production.

In the early 1930's the production of Rayon was highly detrimental to the environment. The production, produced contaminated water waste by carbon disulfide. It wasn't until later developments in the production of Rayon in the 1940's. There are now two main types of Rayon in production, viscose rayon and polynoscis.

Links: Rayon - The Multi-Faceted Fiber, FiberSource, Rayon: How Products are Made, Rayon History Types & Manufacturing Process

Alright so a brief history on Rayon, we will come back later with more information on Rayon and current manufacturing process.

First Victim, Candace!

Hey, Everyone. Meet Candace, she is the co-founder of this project and will be working with me as we start to put all of this together. In the future she may also be helping me update the blog so don't be surprised to see her posting on here to. :)

Hopefully in the next few days we'll be getting up the first images of the maps (which I still need to find a way to mount. I'm thinking a big piece of cardboard will be the easiest/cheapest way to do it. Now just waiting for boxes to become available that are big enough.)

I'm Candace, I live in the United States.

Ok. So the yellow skirt is a goodwill find, that was a giant tube that I altered by cinching up the sides. its 100% acrylic, but made in the good ole USA!

The black pants with the green shirt: black pants are another goodwill find, altered from flares to straight legs, 97% cotton, 3% spandex!. They were made in Germany. The green shirt is an inside out t-shirt I bought to support a Little 500 bike race team. I used it to make a dinosaur custome that has held up for 2 years now! Its tag is not any longer, but I'm sure its at least half cotton, but not sure where it was made.

The black shirt and shorts: the black shirt is a thrift store find, its 50% cotton 50% polyester and made in the USA! The shorts were pants that were on sale at express in the mall for 10 dollars! since then, they've gotten patched knees, then eventually became shorts. They were made in Mexico and I think it says 98% cotton and 2% spandex.

Sometime farther down the road Candace and I are thinking about doing a clothing swap/alteration work shop somewhere in the Bloomington area. If you are interested in attending such an event, please let us know.