1. Wool. Treat it like it has the delicate constitution of a Victorian lady and the conviction that baths are evil of a 17th century noble. (If I get in WATER my PORES will OPEN and I will CATCH ILL AND DIE.)

2. Cotton; easygoing. Will shrink a bit if washed and dried hot.

3. Silk; people think it’s like wool and has the constitution of a fashionably dying of consumption Victorian lady, but actually it’s quite tough. Can be washed in an ordinary washer, and either tumbled dry without heat or hung to dry.

but… i really feel like wool gets an unfairly bad rep, especially since it is also very easy to sew with, and wool naturally inhibits the growth of mold, mildew and bacteria, i.e. the reasons fabrics tend to get (and stay) stinky. 

I dyed 2 pair of hand-knit 100% wool socks this week and the process consists of putting the socks in almost-but-not-quite boiling water, adding acid in addition to the harsh aniline dye and then keeping it in there for the better part of an hour. 

… which… sort of belies the ‘delicate Victorian lady constitution’ as outlined above. 

If you don’t understand wool it can absolutely be frustrating to work with, but like other natural fibers wool is quite forgiving if you know its nuances and preferences.

SO! behold this super cool image of different fibers under a microscope! 

See all those ‘scales’ on the animal hair fibers (image left)? when you expose that fiber structure to wet + heat the fiber swells and those scales extend out, then when you introduce agitation (see: ‘beat the hell out of it’ above) the scales on neighboring fibers catch and lock together - the fabric then shrinks and you get felt (if you’re doing it with non-woven fiber) or felted fabric (if you’re doing it with woven or knitted fabric).

Sometimes you want felting - felted fabric tends to be denser, warmer, and more waterproof.

but if you’ve just spent 40 hours hand knitting a pair of socks with intricate lace and cable detailing you really don’t want felting. So the key is just to remove one of the two main elements that lead to felting - hot water or agitation (and really agitation is the main culprit). 

Many expensive clothing items, such as the ones that you tend to be able to buy made of linen or silk, have stuff Done To Them as part of the design; this can be a bunch of things, but a decent general term is ‘sizing’.  If you wash the item in water, the sizing will come out.  It won’t damage the fiber, but the way the garment behaves may change - generally, it will be less stiff and not hold its shape as well.  So if you’ve got a store-bought garment made of silk or linen, you can totally wash it in water, but be prepared for it to change a bit.

there are so many really great REALLY INFORMATIVE guides like this on Instagram.

NOVELS

THE GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO VICE AND VIRTUE AND THE LADY’S GUIDE TO PETTICOATS AND PIRACY BY MACKENZI LEE 

REPRESENTATION: Felicity Montague, a supporting character in the first book and the main character of the second, is openly aroace. There’s a lot of queer rep in these books apart from Felicity – her brother, the main character of the first book, is bi, and there are also gay and lesbian characters.

PLOT: Felicity is a white, British teen girl who is dead set on becoming a doctor in the 1700s, despite opposition on all sides, both from her family and the misogynist men who control the medical establishment, and she is also busy navigating a world where her value as a person is equated with her ability to marry and have children, despite the fact that she has no desire to do either.

SAWKILL GIRLS BY CLAIRE LEGRAND  

REPRESENTATION: Zoey, one of the three main characters, is ace, black, and a teen girl. The other two protagonists, Marion and Val, are also openly queer. 

PLOT: Teen girls keep mysteriously vanishing without a trace from Sawkill Island and no one seems to be doing anything about it. Zoey, the daughter of the local sheriff, starts her own investigation after her best friend disappears. Not to spoil too much, but the plot involves monsters, a terrible curse, and magic.