N
Nomad
Guest
After some 'fun', I'm tempted to agree, Santaman. Things went like this...
I had originally ordered two bits of waxed cotton. When they arrived, it looked like one had a plastic coating on one side. I contacted the seller, and he pretended to send out a replacement, followed a few days later by pretending to send out a second replacement, followed a few days after that by pretending to send out a third replacement. Needless to say, none of the replacements ever turned up. He then offered to just refund the cost of the incorrect material, and then pretended that PayPal wasn't letting him do this and that I would have to initiate the eBay return process. During this period, I kept asking him which fabric I had been sent - I was interested in keeping it because I reckoned I could use it for a project I had in mind. He never clarified this, and said that he wasn't sure what had been sent.
After about a month of this, I had a closer look at the rogue bit of fabric. A few strands from the edge burned like cotton and had a faintly waxy smell, so it seemed to me that it was cotton with a PVC coating on one side, which had then been waxed. I decided that this would suit my project, and decided to forget the eBay grief, and keep the fabric. I had a play around with it and planned to make a little stuff sack. This bit of fabric was noticeably less oily than the other bit (that I talked about earlier in the thread), but I decided to try ironing it to get it dryer. I cut a bit off and ironed it between layers of plain cotton, which resulted in something with a relatively stiff handle. When I cut out the parts for the stuff sack , I noticed that the apparent plastic coating was pulling away when a thread or two came away from the weave - it just pulled apart and bits of it stuck to the removed thread. I made the stuff sack and thought no more about it.
Fast forward to today, and I have another go at ironing the other bit (the more oily fabric), this time with the iron on its coolest setting that still produces heat (Rayon). It still immediately melted the oil/wax, so I decided that it was no good for sewing unless I ironed the whole lot between bits of plain cotton, the cotton would saturate with the wax, I'd have to wash it (or waste lots of it), and do the waxed material in stages. It then occurred to me that I could just stick the waxed cotton in the washing machine, so I did. On seeing how much room was left, I had the brilliant idea of sticking the other bit (with the odd coating) into the machine at the same time. A good scoop of washing powder, and on to wash at 60°.
When I went to remove them after the spin cycle (no tumble dry), the fun started. The coating, whatever it was had turned into some sort of slimy green wax/grease stuff. The rogue bit of material was cottony on one side, and slimy on the other, and there was a load of this muck on the rubber seal around the door of the machine. Bits of of it had also been deposited on the other bit of fabric (which otherwise looked nice and cottony). I pulled the normal bit out and hung it up to dry, and then put the coated bit into a bucket, with a view to filling it with hot water and detergent.
The green slime got everywhere - all over my hands, all over the bucket, in the bath (because tipping the bucket out in the bath was the obvious thing to do, of course), and bits of it on the kitchen and bathroom floors (some of it was just slime, some of it was little lumps). The bucket treatment made no difference whatsoever. Since I was enjoying myself so much, I decided to put the sheet of slime back into the washing machine (in the hope that I'd get to clean the crud out again), this time on a 90° wash, with an extra helping of detergent for good measure. Lo and behold, it came out slime free, albeit still with the coating on one side. The coating doesn't seem to be as thick, but still evenly covers the whole bit of cloth. The other side is a fetching shade of olive green, as was the more oliy bit of fabric, which is now going through a 90° wash to try and get the random deposits of slime out.
I don't know what is going on with the coated bit of fabric. The seller's description simply describes it as 'marine grade' (whatever that is) waxed cotton, and is the same description as that for the other bit with no coating. I can only assume it's either the result of duff manufacture, or is maybe some specialised wax coating that's different from anything I've seen before. It is definitely some sort of coating - at the selvedge, there is plain (waxed, oily) cotton on both sides for about an inch, then the coating on one side. Either way, I'm pretty sure the seller knew exactly what he was selling and was deliberately keeping quiet about it (and pretending to ship replacements in the hope that I'd go away). I'll see how it takes the iron once it's dried. If I can press the edges for hemming without getting melted wax, and if the remaining coating helps its waterproofing, then I'll use it for the original project, otherwise, it'll be stuff sacks for things like cooking pots.
The project I had in mind was a small ground cloth with a bit of wool blanket sewn to one side - something for a warmer backside when sitting about, and folded to provide some padding for under the knees when needed. If it had been PVC coated waxed cotton, it would have had an ideal combination of waterproofness and spark resistance. It may well still do with a new coating of wax after its made.
The eBay seller? eufabrics9_8. Caveat emptor.
I had originally ordered two bits of waxed cotton. When they arrived, it looked like one had a plastic coating on one side. I contacted the seller, and he pretended to send out a replacement, followed a few days later by pretending to send out a second replacement, followed a few days after that by pretending to send out a third replacement. Needless to say, none of the replacements ever turned up. He then offered to just refund the cost of the incorrect material, and then pretended that PayPal wasn't letting him do this and that I would have to initiate the eBay return process. During this period, I kept asking him which fabric I had been sent - I was interested in keeping it because I reckoned I could use it for a project I had in mind. He never clarified this, and said that he wasn't sure what had been sent.
After about a month of this, I had a closer look at the rogue bit of fabric. A few strands from the edge burned like cotton and had a faintly waxy smell, so it seemed to me that it was cotton with a PVC coating on one side, which had then been waxed. I decided that this would suit my project, and decided to forget the eBay grief, and keep the fabric. I had a play around with it and planned to make a little stuff sack. This bit of fabric was noticeably less oily than the other bit (that I talked about earlier in the thread), but I decided to try ironing it to get it dryer. I cut a bit off and ironed it between layers of plain cotton, which resulted in something with a relatively stiff handle. When I cut out the parts for the stuff sack , I noticed that the apparent plastic coating was pulling away when a thread or two came away from the weave - it just pulled apart and bits of it stuck to the removed thread. I made the stuff sack and thought no more about it.
Fast forward to today, and I have another go at ironing the other bit (the more oily fabric), this time with the iron on its coolest setting that still produces heat (Rayon). It still immediately melted the oil/wax, so I decided that it was no good for sewing unless I ironed the whole lot between bits of plain cotton, the cotton would saturate with the wax, I'd have to wash it (or waste lots of it), and do the waxed material in stages. It then occurred to me that I could just stick the waxed cotton in the washing machine, so I did. On seeing how much room was left, I had the brilliant idea of sticking the other bit (with the odd coating) into the machine at the same time. A good scoop of washing powder, and on to wash at 60°.
When I went to remove them after the spin cycle (no tumble dry), the fun started. The coating, whatever it was had turned into some sort of slimy green wax/grease stuff. The rogue bit of material was cottony on one side, and slimy on the other, and there was a load of this muck on the rubber seal around the door of the machine. Bits of of it had also been deposited on the other bit of fabric (which otherwise looked nice and cottony). I pulled the normal bit out and hung it up to dry, and then put the coated bit into a bucket, with a view to filling it with hot water and detergent.
The green slime got everywhere - all over my hands, all over the bucket, in the bath (because tipping the bucket out in the bath was the obvious thing to do, of course), and bits of it on the kitchen and bathroom floors (some of it was just slime, some of it was little lumps). The bucket treatment made no difference whatsoever. Since I was enjoying myself so much, I decided to put the sheet of slime back into the washing machine (in the hope that I'd get to clean the crud out again), this time on a 90° wash, with an extra helping of detergent for good measure. Lo and behold, it came out slime free, albeit still with the coating on one side. The coating doesn't seem to be as thick, but still evenly covers the whole bit of cloth. The other side is a fetching shade of olive green, as was the more oliy bit of fabric, which is now going through a 90° wash to try and get the random deposits of slime out.
I don't know what is going on with the coated bit of fabric. The seller's description simply describes it as 'marine grade' (whatever that is) waxed cotton, and is the same description as that for the other bit with no coating. I can only assume it's either the result of duff manufacture, or is maybe some specialised wax coating that's different from anything I've seen before. It is definitely some sort of coating - at the selvedge, there is plain (waxed, oily) cotton on both sides for about an inch, then the coating on one side. Either way, I'm pretty sure the seller knew exactly what he was selling and was deliberately keeping quiet about it (and pretending to ship replacements in the hope that I'd go away). I'll see how it takes the iron once it's dried. If I can press the edges for hemming without getting melted wax, and if the remaining coating helps its waterproofing, then I'll use it for the original project, otherwise, it'll be stuff sacks for things like cooking pots.
The project I had in mind was a small ground cloth with a bit of wool blanket sewn to one side - something for a warmer backside when sitting about, and folded to provide some padding for under the knees when needed. If it had been PVC coated waxed cotton, it would have had an ideal combination of waterproofness and spark resistance. It may well still do with a new coating of wax after its made.
The eBay seller? eufabrics9_8. Caveat emptor.
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