Smooth As Silk...Sort Of.

Fabric 101: Silk

As luxury fabrics go, silk usually tops the list of favorites for its lustrous appearance and soft hand. Most people thinking about silk picture a crepe de chine or charmeuse, something thin and shiny. But silk fabric is much more.

Start With Fiber

When it comes to fabric, there is a difference between fiber and fabrication. Fiber is the content of the fabric, that is, what it is made from, like linen, polyester, wool, cotton, rayon, or, yes, silk. Some fibers are natural, or occurring in nature, such as cotton, wool and silk. Others are synthetic, such as polyester, acrylic or nylon. Rayon is borderline: it's a synthetic fabric made from processed plant fibers (cellulose). Synthetic fibers often imitate the look and feel of natural fibers.

Next Comes Fabrication

All that said, if you walk into a fabric store and ask to see their silk, you may be looking for a fabric with shine and drape, but what you're technically asking for is fiber, or what the fabric is made from. Silk fiber, for example, can be made into a variety of fabrications, such as chiffon, crepe, satin, jersey knit, etc. There is even very light-weight China Silk which makes a great lining in natural fiber tailored garments. If you're looking for a shiny silk with a soft drape, that's crepe de chine or charmeuse. Every fiber can be manufactured into any fabrication (although it may not be suitable; you may not like a wool chiffon, for example).

Back To Silk

According to Wikipedia, "Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm reared in captivity. Silk is mainly produced by the larvae of insects undergoing complete metamorphosis." Smooth and shiny silk fabrics are are made from the silk filament within the cocoon.

But there are surface-textured silk fabrics, too. These are most often include parts of the cocoon itself, accounting for the texture. These fabrics include dupioni, silk noil (more on that later) and suitings like tussah (above, my favorite) or matka.

Silk Duppioni (above) is often used in wedding attire, combining a lustrous sheen with that slightly nubby texture. Wikipedia defines matka as "a rough handloom silk fabric made from the waste Mulberry Silk without removing its gum part."

Pet Peeve Alert: Please humor me and don't walk into a fabric store asking for "raw silk." Technically speaking, raw silk is unprocessed fiber. What you're likely looking for is a silk suiting, so please ask for that. And yes, if you google "raw silk" you'll see some fabric references. These people are misinformed.

Why Use Silk?

Silk fiber is a great choice because its low density makes for light and comfortable clothing. Silk is a good insulator and is warm in winter, cool in summer. Silk is the strongest natural fiber available and has a good affinity to dyes. Silk is one of the most comfortable fabrics in the world.

Fabric Care

Officially, silk is usually labeled "dry clean only." This is most often used to protect the maker

• from people who would boil the fabric on the stove or go down to the river and beat it on a rock

• because there is an embellishment that would not survive a hand wash or machine wash

• because perhaps the dye is not stable or there could be excessive shrinkage

• due to potential waterspotting

Here's how I handle silk fabric care. Technically any natural fiber fabric is washable in cold water with pure soap, but you must test your fabric before you do that, and be prepared for shrinkage, color change and/or texture change. Cut a precisely-measured 4" square of your silk fabric, then launder it exactly as you would the finished garment. When finished, check the measurement (did it shrink?), and compare the color and texture to the original fabric. If you can live with the changes, pre-wash the entire piece. If not, understand that you will need to dry clean your finished garment.

I make it a practice to test-wash all my silk fabrics and have not found one yet that changed so extremely that I didn't like it, even my favorite tussah suiting. Since the entire piece of fabric has been pre-washed, that eliminates the water-spotting problem, as the entire piece is one big water spot. Pre-washing also allows me to immediately address a stain or spill without fear.

Why Are We Talking About Silk?

Thought you'd never ask. The shirt I made this week is made from a silk noil tropical print that has been on my stash pile since the early 2000s. Wikipedia defines silk noil as "the short fiber left over from combing wool or spinning silk and used as a decorative additive for many spinning projects, like rovings and yarns. Silk noil is also called 'raw silk', although that is a misnomer." (See, Wikipedia backs me up!) "As noil is a relatively short fiber, fabric made from noil is weaker and considered less valuable."

The piece of noil I used for my shirt is a pigment print (the ink or dye is just applied to the surface of the fabric) on black. I have several other patterns and solids on the stash (above) that I had forgotten about.

Noil was popular in the 80s and 90s, when fashion silhouettes were baggy and loose, and Irka was a major brand. I haven't seen noil in ready-to-wear or in fabric stores in some time, but as all trends do, I think it will eventually come back.

Silk Noil has soft hand. For that reason I used a fusible tricot interfacing (like Easy-knit) in the collar and shirt front to maintain the soft look. It's a good idea to use a seam finish of some kind, as noil is full of chunks and bits from the cocoon and sheds them somewhat. I generally make a French seam on my shirt side seams (google it...there are lots of references) and I use an overedge zigzag stitch on the sleeve seam.

Sewing It

It's OK to use polyester or cotton-covered polyester thread when sewing silk fabric, and use a needle that's appropriate for the fabric (not the fiber): sharp for wovens and ball point for knits, and small size for delicate fabrics and larger size for heavier fabrics.

Where To Buy Silk Fabric

Sometimes silk fabric is not easy to find; most chains don't offer it. However, in a search for "silk" on fabric.com, There are more than 700 100% silk choices and over 400 silk/silk blend choices. (There are also quite a few synthetic choices that come up, so be sure to check the fiber content you want.) Silk is considered a luxury fabric, and many of these are priced accordingly.

Don't be afraid to give silk a try. It's manageable when you know the background, and it's especially nice to wear. Remember this: it doesn't take any longer to sew a really great piece of fabric, but it's a lot more fun.

Until next time, keep those sewing machines humming, and consider sewing some silk fabric for yourself!

danthefabricman@yahoo.com

@danthefabricman