Can people please give me tips on how to tell the quality of wool fabric please?
I live in Bulgaria, the fabric here very rarely has labels and can range from simple astonishing quality to utterly terrible, and price is no guarantee. Sadly I tend to find out it's terrible AFTER I have made the garment [see photo].
I have a 6 yards of 14 oz grey felted “melton” that drapes nicely [see photo] but seems to have little ”spring” when crumpled and seems to hold the crumple creases a bit. I don't want to put 200+ hours of work into a suit that is a POS.
Terrible fabric - stretched beyond all recognition
Grey 14oz "melton"
I have only ever dealt with the finest quality of wools, silks and cashmere. Although there has been a few times when I have purchased cloth knowing it did not meet the usual high standards set by Huddersfield Mills. Most of my knowledge about cloth comes from the book "Textiles for Tailors" by E Ostick on the bookstore. I believe if the cloth is woven with a descriptive selvage it is regarded as a higher quality than one without. Something like "pure wool" or "super 120's with cashmere". Compared to a woven edge which doesn't state the content. Cloth such as this is typically sourced in China. Some would claim this is done to avoid higher taxation on quality cloth but it can also lead to cheaper cloth being passed off as a quality grade. The simple answer is to buy cloth from reputable merchants such as Dugdales Brothers, Holland and Sherry or Harrisons of Edinburgh etc. In NYC there is a fashion district where one could buy cloth in various store dotted around the area. I always found this cloth to be the lowest of the lowest possible quality at a ridiculous high price point. So yes price doesn't always equal quality.