Blocking 100% Rayon Yarn?

[the Caity Cat]

I searched and didn't find a thread on this, so I'm hoping that someone can still help me out.

 

I made a lacy jacket out of sport weight 100% rayon boucle yarn (the one in my signature, actually). It's silky, drapey, and wonderful to work with. My problem is I'm not sure how to go about blocking it. Would spray starch be a bad idea?

 

Sorry if these are dumb questions. I did a web search and all I got was blocking products.

[faedragon]

" It's silky, drapey, and wonderful to work with.." Spray starch would make it stiff and take away all the qualities you are using the yarn for. Are you sure this needs to be blocked? If you just feel blocking is really needed, layer some nice thick towels and pin the damp garment to shape on these and let dry

[Mermaiden]

Hmm... natural fibers block best (like cotton), Acrylic doesn't really change much if you block it so I don't know about rayon, never tried it, but it shouldn't hurt to try.

[the Caity Cat]

" It's silky, drapey, and wonderful to work with.." Spray starch would make it stiff and take away all the qualities you are using the yarn for. Are you sure this needs to be blocked? If you just feel blocking is really needed, layer some nice thick towels and pin the damp garment to shape on these and let dry

Yes, it does need to be blocked, unfortunately. Thanks for the warning about the spray starch. You can tell I haven't done much blocking.

[thecrochetdude]

Rayon is one of those commonly misunderstood fibers. It's a plant derived fiber that has been regenerated. So it's not really natural, but it's not really synthetic. There are several ways to achieve this such as "viscose" and "acetate". Some of them block well (like bamboo derived rayon). Definitely do a test but my first thought is that if it seems to need blocking, then it will probably respond to blocking.

 

Here is a wikipedia article about rayon:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayon

 

[Granny Square]

I agree with Mermaiden, I don't think blocking will help sythetics much.

 

I would treat it like you would 'block' a hand washable garment after washing it. Just dampen it and lay it out like it's 'supposed' to go, and let it dry. Even better if you have one of those sweater drier racks that lets the air circulate underneath.

 

edited to add - Wow, Crochet Dude, that was a very interesting article. I guess I was typing my response and didn't see yours before I hit send. The article said rayon had 'the lowest elastic recovery of any fiber'. That sounds like you should be able to block it, but gently maybe?.