Nylon Fabric Discussion
Here is a photo to compare a few samples of nylon fabric to cotton twill. Since nylon is produced as an extruded synthetic filament as opposed to spun fibers, the characteristics of the fabric depends upon the shape of the filament as much as any other factor. It may be round, trilobal, flat, smooth finish, woolly, etc
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Starting from the upper left I have a sample of light-weight olive color “fashion” nylon. This uses a .07 mm round filament and is approximately 160D. It has a plain weave and produces a 2.5 oz. fabric. This was purchased at Joann Fabrics sometime in the past and my local store does not have anything similar in stock. The small filament and tight weave does not provide much of a surface texture. This is similar to what I see when trying to analyze the Jyn images for fibers or weave structure.
In the upper right, is Joann Fabric Brown Sport Nylon (as opposed to their Ripstop Nylon). This uses a “flat ribbon” instead of a round filament which is .07 x .5 mm. This thicker filament is approximately 360D but also produces a 2.5 oz. plain weave fabric; it just requires fewer threads”. It is stiff in the warp direction and a little more flexible is the weft or grain direction.
The lower left is a sample of Brown Taslan Nylon (currently available on eBay). This uses a fluffy filament which givens the nylon a softer appearance and hand. It uses an approximate .27 mm filament or 550D and produces a 4 oz. fabric. The larger filament exhibits visible surface texture more like a natural fiber. As such it is not as "shiny" as some nylon fabrics.
The final sample is 7.5 oz Brown Cotton Twill from Fabric.com.
The samples were photographed on a piece of black cardstock. When I tried to use a white background the Sport Nylon appeared markedly different. The large filaments allow a great deal of reflected light to come through. This is a much more “open weave” than I expected and may be the reason for the “sport nylon” name as it probably breathes much better than the others. The fashion nylon has the closest photographic characteristics to the Jyn images I have analyzed. The very small filament does not show much of a surface texture at all and does not allow much air or light to pass. The Taslan Nylon is closest in feel and texture to the cotton. It does not have the slick or synthetic plastic feel as the other materials.
My conclusion is if I was trying to match the screen images, I would go with a light-weight, small, round filament plain woven nylon such as the upper left. If I want a fabric which would be a closer match to the look and feel of the cotton portions of the vest I think Taslan is a good option.
That's barely enough time to do anything.
