Guess that Walmart fabric!

[M Walker]

Hello all, new guy here. Howdy!

First off, been reading for quite some time, finally decided to jump in. Great site… already making a big difference in my Utah desert trips.

After following many of the WallyWorld 'silnylon' threads, I stopped by a local store and found a bolt of '$1 mystery fabric', in MARPAT camo no less. So now I'm trying to figure out exactly what it is, and more importantly…

What should I make out of it?! lol

I got 15 yards total.
Properties: ripstop nylon. lightweight. One side appears slightly dull in comparison with the other. The dull side is less 'slippery' as well, so I don't think it's silnylon.

My totally scientific double blind controlled experiments…

Blow test: Couldn't force air through fabric. Nice old lady working the fabric counter asked me to stop licking the goods. Talked her into letting me have an piece to take to the bathroom. Couldn't get water from faucet to penetrate.

Water test: Put a square over a full mason jar and fastened with a band. Inverted and put in another jar and left overnight. No water through. (sorry for the pic quality)

Wind test: Attached a square to my car for this mornings commute. 60 miles at 50-80mph. Fabric snapped around for an hour, but didn't fray. At all.

The square I gave to the dog however, failed the 'Kirby Test'. (I gathered it up before he ingested any)

What is it? PolyU coated? U coated? Sil impreg, but only from one side?

None of the above?

[M Walker]

Oh, yeah, I forgot…

I also made a 'bag' with a square and filled it with water. Could not squeeze any water through.

Then I took a knife and agressively scraped a section to see if it took off any coating. What came off looked more like fabric scraping than a coating. Did the water bag test again and small amounts of moisture wept through under pressure.

[CW]

My guess is PU coated ripstop nylon.

[Konrad .]

hahah this is hilarious….nothing passes the "kirby" test.
I'm thinking what Chris is thinking. Also, that's ACU no? Marpat is usually woodland or desert…ACU is gray. Hilarious nonetheless !

[John Donewar]

Matt,

My guess is PVC coated ripstop nylon. ;-)

In the above picture you can see what I made out of mine as a first attempt at sewing my own tarp.

Walmart seemed to have two varieties of this same pattern of fabric. One had a very obvious opaque coating and the other seemed quite thin and hard to distinguish by eye. I bought some of the first type. It tended to leave a white powdery residue on my sewing machine. This is what leads me to believe it is PVC coated.

Party On ! 2010

Newton

[Sam Farrington]

Matt,
Did you weigh it?
sam

[M Walker]

Sam, I haven't had a chance yet.

John, That looks familiar. I'm going to sew a sample today and see if I get the same residue.

Konrad – I believe you're right about ACU. And Kirby is a gear eating machine. :)

Thanks all for the help!

[Scott Nelson]

So…you are the reason I get followed around, and closely monitored by the fabric store staff..

[Scott Breakall]

At least two of the Walmarts near where I live have phased out their fabric sections in the last couple of years. They now only have a tiny arts and crafts section of mostly beads scrapbooking stuff. Shame.

[Jackie Barker]

not sure about fabric but thought you might get a kick out of this

[Kevin Beeden]

Plastic Materials ID Chart might help.

One of the standard ways of identifying plastics is a burn test; flame colour and smell. Of course, in this case, things are complicated by the fact that we have two materials, but PVC should be identifiable (it's horrible stuff when it burns).

Needless to say, don't burn the stuff in your house, and don't stick your nose over the flame and take a huge lungful of fumes; lots of horrible chemicals in the smoke. Remember your chemistry lessons, and gently waft a little smoke towards you, and take the smallest of sniffs…

Take Bill Clinton's advice, and don't inhale…

ps. my guess is that it's PU coated nylon.

pps. I get funny looks for 'kissing' clothes when doing a blow test…

[Author]

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