It’s been a while since I last posted an entry in the silk series — it had to be put on hold for Spring Quilt Market coverage, but now it’s back! Today, here’s a guide to some of the more common lightweight, sheer silks, just in time for summer. I still have a few more [...]
Now that Della has introduced us to silk taffeta, I wanted to write a little bit more about it, and my experience prepping the fabric and sewing with it — this is the only silk I’ve had a chance to work with, in fact! Silk taffeta is a light-to-medium weight plain weave that uses heavier [...]
So far in the silk series we’ve covered silkworms and silk production, jersey knit, charmeuse, dupioni, and peace silk. Today, we focus on silk taffeta. Nobody is a bigger fan of silk taffeta than Della of della Q, one of True Up’s sponsors. She has a popular collection of silk knitting bags and needle cases, [...]
“Piccadilly” silk from Ahimsa Peace Silk It takes around 3,000 silkworm cocoons to produce one pound of silk fabric, which translates to death for millions upon millions of silkworms each year. Or does it? There is a mini-industry of “peace silk,” also known as “vegetarian silk,” which claims to allow the silkworm to live its [...]
There are a large handful of variations of the word “dupioni”: douppioni, doppione, duponi, dupion … and probably others. I’m going to run with “dupioni” just because that’s what seems to be the most common. Whatever your preferred spelling, they all refer to a type of silk made from double cocoons. Many sources say that [...]
In the course of my research, I came across this lovely guide to silk through the Google Book Search. Silk by Eliza B. Thompson, copyright 1918 and 1922 by the Ronald Press Company, is a manual primarily intended for department store salespeople. This is back when they sold fabric in department stores — anyone remember [...]
Emerald silk charmeuse from silkfabrics on Etsy Silk charmeuse is a light-to-medium weight woven fabric with a satin weave. Its front is lustrous, the back is dull. Silk charmeuse, which (I’m fairly sure) is interchangable with “silk satin,” is the ultimate in drapey fabrics, delicate and luxurious, and suitable for flowy gowns, lingerie, scarves, and [...]
Yesterday I covered silkworms and silk production, now let’s learn about different types of silk. Silk jersey is a stretchy knit fabric, and maybe it’s not the most common type, but it’s been on my mind since seeing the Saturday Night Silk Jersey Set (pictured above) in Heather Ross‘ book Weekend Sewing. It is very [...]
For the cotton-centered sewist, silk tends to be the most mysterious and daunting of fibers. I’ll try to demystify silk for you in a series of posts this week. Like previous series on rayon and linen, I’ll talk about how the fabric is made, different weaves and knits, and sources for buying yardage. Today: all [...]
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