Burn it.

If you have ever checked the care labels on your clothes, you can for example see that one of your sweaters contains 100% cotton or a mix of other fibers. During my sessions in the laboratory we also did burning tests on our products. Simple observations such as smell and how the products burn were able to help us figure out what fibers our products may contain. From the start, the clothes we were given were totally ribbet for labels, so we had to figure out everything ourselves. 

This is Maria's bra. While it is burning, it is also melting and dripping, and when it is done burning it sets hard. This is typical for polyester. 

Here you are able to see the residue of a pair of burned, red panties. The fabric has melted and become hard, as well as the sample above.

The pants behave differently. When I sat a sample on fire, it was rapid and bright, and you can see the afterglow. This is the behavior of cotton.

Other tests.

Together with the shrinking test we also did a lot of other tests, especially in conjunction to colour fastness. We tested the colour fastness of our products in relation to perspiration, water, washing and rubbing. While testing our products in relation to perspiration and water, we soaked our products together with a multifibre material in an acid and an alkaline perspiration solution in 30 minutes before we put every sample for a drying cupboard at 37 degrees in four hours.

While we were waiting for the perspiration test to be finished, we started the washing test. Each sample together with a multifibre material had its own small container because they were not supposed to colour each other during the wash. Together with our products and the multifibre materials we put some very small and heavy metal spheres and soap.

The last test we did on colour fastness of our products before taking out the perspiration test from the drying cupboard was the rubbing test. Would our products/Maria's clothes lose colour due to rubbing (both wet and dry)? This was to be done by a rubbing machine. 

Of course after one day with different kinds of testing, you also need results. We used the grey scales to compared the tested materials to materials that had not been tested. The grey scales are able to tell us if the colour staining and colour change are good or bad, where five on the scale is very good.

Answer.

Did Maria lie in the conversation she had with the boutique about her stockings? In our first lecture in the lab, we did a lot of tests, and one of them was shrinkage. I had to see if Maria was telling the truth or not. Before we did the test, we measured a piece of the stockings before we put it in the washing machine. We chose to wash it in the machine because that is probably the way Maria would have done it. In the washing machine we also had to put other textiles as well, because the washing process was supposed to be as realistic as possible. Because we are doing tests on to of our products, stockings and the pair of jeans, we put our sample for the jeans in the machine as well. 

Washing - 2kg

When the washing machine was finished, we put our samples in the tumble dryer to see if they could bear the hole process. The last thing to do in the process was measuring both of the samples. This is our results:

The chart shows us that the stockings shrunk 9,5% in the length which is not enough to call the boutique. She is still able to use it, because the elastane will expand. If she do not tumble dry it, she save the fibers for abrasion. In the end, the shrinkage of Maria's stockings are not a good enough reason to complain and the spot of bolognese is her own fault. She probably has to buy a new pair of stockings if she wants a clean pair.

Maria got a problem.

Maria has those new brown stockings that she is going to wear under her new tunic. With an eight year old son running around it is always hard to keep all the food on the table while Vladimir is eating dinner. Maria was ready and dressed to go out for dinner with the girls but got bolognese all over her brown stockings when Vlad had to try the same as "Lady and the Tramp". She tossed her dirty bolognese-stockings in the washing machine while taking on an old pair she found in her closet. 

The next day, right after the baby-sitter had left, she took her clean and new brown stockings out of the washing machine, looked at them and ran to the phone so she could call the store. This is what she said:

"Hi, this is Maria. I am calling because of a pair of stockings i bought from you some days ago. I just washed them because of an accident and they shrunk."

Do Maria tell the truth, are the stockings able to shrink? Or is she trying to get a new pair because she can still see the spot with bolognese? Tomorrow we are going to find out if the stockings are even able to shrink and what kind of fabric they are made of.

First lecture.

Persona is a way of making your own target person. We were supposed to make a person from scratch, the same way you do if you have ever played "The Sims". We had to figure out a new name, some hobbies for this person, where she/he should live, what she/he should eat etc. My group of six students made a hole new life yesterday, based on one plastic bag filled with a pair of jeans, stockings, a blouse, a black bra and last but not least a pair of red panties. Please welcome; Maria!

She is obviously a woman, 37 years old with Russian roots. She lives in Randers in Denmark and has an eight years old son named Vladimir. Maria is a happy and sweet florist, has never been married, but is now searching for longed love with net-dating. 

In her three-room apartment she likes to read books, make good food and she also does scrap booking to keep herself busy. Maria bikes to work every day and she loves to kill time with her few but very close friends. 

These are some of the clothes she has in her closet (that my group got in the plastic bag):

Next on the schedule is testing. What kind of fabrics is this? We have chosen to do test on the pair of jeans and the stockings.