The feel of many fabrics very closely resembles that of the raw fiber.

Cotton material: Unresponsive, soft, and inelastic. Cotton because of its inelasticity crushes easily. It may be made to look and feel somewhat like wool, but it always retains its inelastic characteristic.

Wool material: Springy, harsh, and elastic. The elasticity of wool is one of its most desirable qualities. If a woolen garment becomes wrinkled, many of the creases fall out if the garment is merely hung away. This responsiveness is caused by its elasticity. If woolen material is combined with much cotton or shoddy in either spinning or weaving, it loses much of its elasticity.

Silk material: Smooth, cool, and very elastic. If silk is of good quality, it is the most elastic material. For this reason, silk garments hung away will look very smooth and fresh in a short time. Silk loses this quality when adulterated with mercerized cotton or heavily weighted.

Linen material: Firm, stiff, smooth, cold, very inelastic, and leathery if woven with a firm weave. The very inelastic quality of linen causes it to crush readily and thus to require continual pressing. If adulterated with cotton, it loses somewhat its firmness and smoothness.

Artificial silk material: Very smooth, wiry, and cold. Artificial silk material is very unyielding. If combined with another fiber, it is much more satisfactory.

Ramie: Firm and stiff. It resembles both linen and cotton. It does not crush quite so easily as linen.