silk is one of the most expensive materials you can buy, but when you put it through the proper care, it can last for years.
We asked silk artist and author, Heather Martin to walk us through the care and care instructions for an inexpensive silk shirt.
Heather made us a silk shirt, then she wrote all the instructions and directions on a little notebook so we could take it to a local silk dealer. Heather is a very sweet lady, and we were so surprised at how much we were able to learn for the price. We also learned how to make a silk quilt, and Heather taught us how to clean silk from both ends so we could use the fabric to make a necklace.
If you’re looking to make a silk shirt and you’re not sure what you should do, Heather’s article is a great place to start. Heather is a master seamstress, and this one was a perfect fit for her.
You can do a lot of things with silk. You can make a silk shirt, you can make a scarf, you can make little silk bags that you can hang on your wall, you can make silk necklaces, you can make silk sandals, you can make a silk scarf and scarf wrap (if you want to make one, Heathers blog is a good place to start), and much, much more.
It’s easy to forget that silk is one of the most incredibly versatile threads, so it’s not a bad idea to have a few of these at your disposal. Silk is an incredibly versatile fabric, and you can take it to the next level, making silk necklaces, silk wristlets, silk purses, silk bathtubs. Silk has a lot of different uses.
Silk is also an extremely versatile fabric. There are two types of silk, viscose and non-viscose. Viscose (the name comes from the Latin verb for “to weave”) is the most common. Its been around for centuries, and is used in everything from the most expensive chiffon dresses to the most basic bathrobes.
Viscose is actually the material used to make the best silk fabrics. As I mentioned already, most silk fabrics are made with threads spun from silk. The two types of silk (viscose and non-viscose) are used differently. Non-viscose silk is spun from fibers that are not spun from silk. It is the silk that is made from viscose. Viscose is the material used in most silk garments, especially for silk necklaces.
The problem is, you can’t tell what it is until you open the package. Most people don’t realize that this particular silk is a type of expensively-dyed fabric that comes with a black dye. Only the price tags on the silk and the package tell you what the material is.
Silk is a fantastic material to use for making a silk neckpiece, especially for those times you don’t want the risk of getting caught in a silk suit with a bad dye job. But if you plan to use this material for anything in your home, you will need to look very close at what you are buying. Many silk materials are made with a type of white or ivory dye that is very expensive to buy.