At a Swedish sewing forum I visit I stumbled upon a discussion regarding carbon paper. The consensus was that older carbon paper was so much better as the colour of the newer kind didn’t really stick to the fabric. A haberdashery shop owner explained that in the old ones there was a substance which was good for sticking on fabrics, but it had been prohibited due to its being toxic. She ended her post with “I don’t know what to think of this”.
I know what I think. The reduction of toxins goes before my needs for easy work. I don’t want to use products that end up putting toxins on my body, which they do if they’re in carbon paper. Plus, when the garment gets washed those toxins will end up dissolved in water and who knows where they end up.
So, for my latest project I used my tracing paper to mark the pleats (there are red dots on the fabric above, I promise). But this particular tracing paper is at least from 2008, I have no idea if it’s old or new, regarding the terms listed above. Have I put toxins on my dress? I wonder, should I throw my tracing paper out, use it until it’s not useful anymore or find new means of transfering marks (including buying new non-toxin paper)? I like this tracing paper, but if it is toxic I don’t want it on my clothes. I don’t know what kind of toxins they have, if my paper has any, but if it’s banned, it’s probably not good.
Oh, that’s good to know. I actually have some very old carbon paper that I may not use now.