Patterns in dress fabrics, shirtings, and other articles made entirely of cotton are frequently mere combinations of fancy shades, while fabrics composed of silk and jute materials, including silk ties, handkerchiefs, etc.--in fact the cloths in which fancy shades are used--show that coloring and its combinations in all woven product embellished with design, are elements which give tone and character to the styles. Though the cloth may be soft to the touch, substantially made, of uniform structure, and skilfully finished, yet a lack of brightness and elegance in coloring so powerfully detracts from the appearance of the pattern that these qualities alone are not sufficient.
On subjecting cotton, silk, wool, and worsted goods to inspection, color is found to have a different tone or cast in each fabric. Fancy colors in cotton, while decidedly firm and clear in effect, are non-lustrous, raw, and dull in toning. Silk colorings, on the contrary, possess both compactness and brilliancy; woolen colorings have a unique depth and saturation of hue characteristic of the material employed in the manufacture of woolen goods; while worsted colorings are bright, definite, and smart in appearance.
These differences are due to the physical properties of the several fibers. Thus a filament of silk is transparent and shines like smooth glass when light falls upon it; that of wool is solid and opaque in the center, but its exterior consists of a multitude of semi-transparent scales which, when of large dimensions and uniformly arranged--as in the best qualities of wool--reflect light with a small amount of dispersion and impart to the woven material a lustrous aspect. Cotton has no such partially transparent sheath. What light is reflected is so broken up that the color is poor. Compare three plain woven crimson textures made of silk, wool, and cotton respectively. The first literally shines; luster, brilliance, and richness are the elements of its coloring. Though bright, it lacks that fulness and depth of color which belongs to the wool product, whose millions of filaments, closely compounded, all tinted alike, possess a peculiar bloom and weight of color not to be found either in the silk or cotton article. Lastly, take the crimson calico. How deficient in warmth and richness it seems to be, after examining the woolen and silk texture! It is dull and has a raw and deficient character.