Velvet weight/thickness of pile?

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Keyla
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Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2015 1:45 pm

Velvet weight/thickness of pile?

Post by Keyla »

Hi,

There are many discussions regarding the type of velvet and correctmess of colour to use for outer robes, but very little about the quality.
I've received 14 velvet samples so far - about 6 of them are good colours, but the quality seems thin - not very plush at all. They range between 200g - 400g per meter in weight, but the pile is very thin and I worry that they will suffer from terrible detrimental creasing if I dare to sit!

What quality of velvet have you chosen, and have you gotten permanent creases from trooping? What lessons have you learned?

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stripes
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Re: Velvet weight/thickness of pile?

Post by stripes »

This is one of the issues with going the full velvet route. You definitely want a heavier weight fabric so that the robes last. Velvet is known for having crease issues among other problems.

One other thing to consider is Velvet cannot get wet. Water and Velvet do not mix well at all and I have seen costumes outright destroyed due to an unexpected weather change.

An alternative to possibly look at is velveteen. Not only is it washable, it tends to be a heavier fabric overall than velvet. This is the route I personally went with as I liked the idea of being able to regularly wash my robes rather than having to have them dry cleaned only.
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