Thanks for so many wonderful responses.  To clarify, I was told it is "24 oz vinyl backed fabric."  I have not analyzed the fabric yet, but it appears to be made of cotton.

Jennifer Hadley
Museum of Church History and Art
Registrar/Textile Conservator
801-240-0297
801-240-5342 (fax)
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-----Original Message-----
From: Textile Conservators [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ballard, Mary
Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2008 12:37 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: life span of vinyl fabric

'Vinyl' might mean polyvinyl ethylene--'vinyl' could be a somewhat dated
term for a polyolefin....again the PE or PP are ok as long as they
degrade beautifully with UV. The webbing on outdoor lawn furniture used
to be polyvinyl propylene... and it degraded within a few summers of
exposure.

Mary W. Ballard
Senior Textiles Conservator,
Museum Conservation Institute, Smithsonian Institution
4210 Silver Hill Road, Suitland MD 20746 U.S.A.
tel: 301-238-1210 fax: 301-238-3709
email [log in to unmask]

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