03 April 2013

silk? really?


Here are some words I never thought I would utter: I bought three yards of silk.


It's raw silk and I spent some time staring at 4" swatches from Dharma before deciding which one to get.

In all honesty, I've no idea what to do with it.

I bought it so I could experiment with eco dyeing, figured why set myself up for failure straight out of the gate using cotton when everything I've read says silk takes the color much better.

But there's something about this one I like. It's rough like cotton, I like it's odd ruggedness. It's still much more drapey then I'm used to but I'm wondering if I should consider it for other things.

What about you? What do you do with silk?

3 comments:

Robbie said...

Funny, I've never dyed silk! Go figure...I have FMQ'd pieces of silk and put some in my quilts..did you get silk dupioni??

And you can dye cotton using the wood chips I mentioned...just fyi

Anonymous said...

You...are in for a treat! Silk dyes so incredibly. Subtle to bold. Accepts shape, damage (burned edges are wonderful), & this list goes on. Enjoy!

Sea Air Arts - Deb H said...

Silk Noil (raw silk) is my 'cotton', I use it for everything from clothing to fiber art to quilting. I love to dye, paint it, print on it... everything most people do with cotton. The ting to remember for good success with adding surface design to raw silk is hat it needs to be thoroughly scoured first; hot, hot water, soda ash and dawn or Synthrapol are my method - usually twice through the washer and dryer.
I have no doubt you will fall in love with this fabric too!