• Silk Sueded Charmeuse
• Silk Doupioni
• Raw Silk
• Crepe de Chine
• Silk Chiffon 8mm

The queen of the textiles, silk the most beautiful of all fibers. Silk comes from the cocoon of the silk worm. It requires a great deal of handling and processing which is why it is one of the world's most expensive fibers. China is the leading silk producer of the world followed by India.

Silk can take on many different appearances. Raw silk may fool you into thinking it is a cotton or a synthetic. Silk can withstand a lot of pulling pressure without breaking. This should not, however, be confused with wear-ability. Silk will not stand up to heavy wear that other fibers will.

Silk requires a great deal of handling and processing which makes it one of the most expensive of fibers. Silk worms are raised on a diet of mulberry leaves under controlled environmental and nutritional conditions. This induces them to form a covering around themselves (cocoon) by secreting a protein-like substance through their heads. The cocoons are delivered to the filature (factory), where the silk is unwound from the cocoons. The strands are collected into skeins and sorted by color, size, shape and texture, factors which affect the quality of the silk. Softening is done by hot and cold immersions in order to permit unwinding. The filament of the cocoon is too fine for commercial use, so three to ten strands are reeled together to produce the desired result.

Because silk is a protein, it has many characteristics: silk noil, doupioni, charmeuse, chiffon, satin organza, charka, crepe etc. The best way to identify silk is the burn test. Burning silk will leave a powdery ash and will extinguish itself when the flame is removed.