got silk?
- fabman556
- Jul 14, 2017
- 3 min read
Seersucker Suit Project, Part Two
The Project consists of a tan seersucker suit, a pair of linen pants, a Liberty of London sport shirt and a tan silk broadcloth shirt...all fabrics from my stash. The seersucker is the oldest piece of fabric on my stash, circa 1976 (that's 41 years!).
The Liberty shirt has been completed, and next up is the silk broadcloth shirt. Sewing with silk fabric intimidates many people, so let's take some of the fear out of working with it! (Portions of the following information are taken from the Butterick Fabric Handbook and the Vogue/Butterick Fabric Dictionary.)
Silk is a Natural Fiber
Silk is taken from the cocoons spun by silkworms. This fiber is fairly strong, naturally lustrous & dyes well. Cultivated silkworms feed strictly on mulberry leaves, while uncultivated silkworms eat any leaves (junk food silkworms!). Their diet impacts the look of the silk fabric...see "raw silk" below.
Fabrics made from silk are comfortable in the summer and warm in the winter.
Silk fabrics retain their shape and have moderate resistance to wrinkling.
It is usually recommended for silk garments to be dry-cleaned, but silk fabric can be test-washed before sewing up the garment. Silk fabrics should always be washed with a mild soap in cold water on the gentle cycle. Silk waterspots easily, but further washing or dry cleaning will restore the appearance of the fabric.
Tip: If you want to be able to wash the garment, pre-wash the fabric in the same manner before sewing. As discussed in an earlier blog, test wash a sample of the fabric and be prepared for potential size (shrinkage), color and/or texture change. If you can live with the results, pre-wash the fabric.
Silk is a Fabric
Because of its natural beauty, silk has long been used for luxurious fabrics, ranging from sheer organzas to heavy satins and everything in between. Silk fibers can be made into many different types of fabric, including these:
China Silk: lightweight and inexpensive, this fabric is often used as a lining, especially for natural-fiber garments; sometimes called habutae.
Crepe de Chine: Traditionally a very sheer silk fabric, today it's a term applied to any lightweight crepe, most often made from man-made fibers.
Pongee: A plain-weave, fairly lightweight fabric, this is very like my silk broadcloth. Pongee is another fabric more common in man-made fibers today.
Raw Silk: This is a term used incorrectly for wild silk fabric...a personal pet peeve of mine. Technically, raw silk is unprocessed fiber, not a fabric. Wild silk comes from uncultivated silkworms which eat leaves other than the mulberry leaves eaten exclusively by cultivated silkworms. Wild silk is more textured and uneven than cultivated silk. The resulting fabric is usually duller in finish and rougher in texture than other silk fabrics.
Shantung: This fabric is made with slubbed yarns (uneven texture). A heavier-weight with a similar texture is called duppioni. These are some of the fabrics that originated in silk but have been extensively imitated in man-made fibers.
Surah: A fabric recognizable by its sheen and fine twill weave, often made into men's neckties.
Shopping for Silk Fabric
Silk fabrics are widely available online. Since silk is considered a luxury fabric, pricing can range widely based on the type of fabric and embellishment. Below are some reliable silk fabric sources:
Don't be intimidated by the cost of a luxury fabric like silk. It takes no more effort to work with a really great piece of fabric, but it's much more fun!
Tips: Silk thread isn't necessary when sewing silk fabric; spun poly or cotton-covered poly will work just fine. Use a needle size appropriate for the weight of the fabric; the lighter the fabric, the smaller the needle.
For additional silk sewing tips, check out this link from Craftsy:
As for the silk broadcloth shirt, it is now finished and ready to wear (although I promise to wait until the suit has been completed). I used fusible tricot interfacing on both the upper and under collar and cuffs, to give them body without excessive stiffness. The size 9 sharp (red band) machine needle and spun poly thread worked nicely and kept the fabric from puckering when sewn. And, because the fabric was prewashed, this shirt can go in the washing machine!
Now, we move on to the main event: the seersucker suit. Stay tuned!
Until next time, keep those sewing machines humming!
DTFM
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