BLEACHED AND "HALF-BLEACHED"

Belfast, Ireland, is the home of linen and damask. There are
manufactories in both Scotland and France, but it is in Belfast that the
fabric attains to the highest perfection, and "Irish linen" has come to
be synonymous with excellence of design and weaving and luster--a most
desirable trilogy. The prospective purchaser of table linen should go to
her task fortified with some information on the subject, that she may not
find herself totally at the mercy of the salesman, who often knows little
about his line of goods beyond their prices. First of all she will
probably he asked whether she prefers bleached or unbleached damask. The
latter--called "half-bleach" in trade vernacular--is made in Scotland and
comes in cheap and medium grades alone. Though it lacks the choiceness
of design and the beauty and fineness of the Belfast bleached linens, it
is good for everyday wear and quickly whitens when laid in the sun on
grass or snow; while the fact that its cost is somewhat less than that of
the corresponding quality in the bleached damask, and that it wears
better, recommends it to many. Occasionally the chemicals used in the
bleaching process are made overstrong to hasten whitening, with the
result that the fibers rot after a while and little cut-like cracks
appear in the fabric. This is not usual, but of course the unbleached
damask precludes all possibility of such an occurrence. One firm in
Belfast still conscientiously employs the old grass-and-sun system of
bleaching, and their damask is plainly marked "Old Bleach." The
half-bleach is sold both by the yard and in patterns.



DAMASK