Regarded as a classic luxury fabric, silk which was highly coveted in ancient days, was considered and rated as the ‘gold standard’ in the ancient trade by barter business.
According to history, silk fabrics were discovered in ancient China by a young Chinese empress, but its weaving process was kept a guarded secret until generations later.
During the period of the Middle Ages, travelling caravans in Asia traded extensively in silk, and it was a popular fabric only amongst the wealthy and influential.
The process of converting silk threads into a luxury fabric follows a gradual process that involves the growing of the tree for the rearing of the silkworms, the process whereby the silkworms ‘weave’ their cocoon, the manual harvesting of the cocoons, the unravelling of its filaments (silk fibre), and the manufacture of the silk yarn.
Qualities of Silk Fabrics
As a luxury fabric, silk is known to be one of the strongest natural and eco friendly fibres, but it does lose up to 20% of its strength when damp or wet. It however has a good ‘moisture regain’ of 11%. Because silk fabrics possess poor elasticity properties, if stretched, even slightly, will remain stretched. And if exposed to too much harsh sunlight, its tensile strength becomes reduced.
Silk is best washed or dry cleaned prior to its fabric construction, and even though the possibilities of its shrinkage is up to 4%, even after its production into dressmaking fabrics or home décor materials, shrinkage can be reversed by gentle steaming with a fabric steamer, or press cloth.
Silk’s absorbency makes it quite comfortable to wear in warm weather, and its low conductivity keeps warm air close to the skin when worn during the cold weather. And in terms of its construction and strength, natural silk is only surpassed by nylon, a man made fabric.
Luxury Silk Fabrics
As we all know, silk is a natural fibre therefore its construction may contain minor variations and irregularities. These however are the characteristics of fine silk yarns and should not be seen as defects. Colours of silk fabrics may also vary due to different dye lots.
Examples of luxury silk fabrics include the following types of textiles that are natural, man made or a combination of both fibres.
Dupioni Silk Fabrics
Buy Luxury Dupioni Silks On-line
Dupioni silk is a beautifully textured luxury fabric that’s great for making evening wear, bridal gowns and special occasion apparel. It is also popularly used for light home décor works. The weft and warp threads are woven in different colours, to give a wonderful gleaming and iridescent effect.
Silk Duchess Satin Fabrics
Duchess Satin Silks, Single/Double Faced
These fabrics represent luxury at it’s best! Single or double faced silks that will make a simple dress design an elegant classic, and an elaborate bridal dress breathtaking and timeless. Its wonderful for that once in a life time occasion treat. A soft “satiny” fabric, it has enough body to hold any shape or form desired whilst being soft enough to drape and flow.
Silk Novelty Fabrics
Luxury novelty fabrics in silk come beaded, embellished and patterned with features of abstract blooms, leaves, stems, etc.., and are constructed on 100% silk backgrounds. Printed colours include yellow, rose, white, ivory, carnation pink and olive.
Luxury Silk Print Fabrics
Vogue fabrics have the largest selection of silk print fabrics starting from $5.99 per yard. They include silk floral prints, abstracts, ditzy prints and much more. Patterns are printed on silk charmeuse, silk chiffon china silk and other fabric blends.
Silk Charmeuse Fabrics
Elegant & Lightweight Silk Charmeuse
Silk Charmeuse fabrics are elegant and lightweight with astonishing fluidity. Idea for blouses, lined bias cut dresses, lining bridal gowns, lingerie.
It’s the perfect lightweight, slinky, high lustre fabric for any drapery, special occasion or evening wear. This wide satiny silk has the fluidity of silk charmeuse fabrics as seen in bridal dresses and prom gowns, without the high silk price tag. Silk Charmeuse is very popularly used for lingerie production as well.
Others silk fabrics include:
- ‘Reeded’ Dupioni Silk
- Silk Velvet Fabric
- Silk Taffeta
- Embroidered Faux Silk Fabric
- Embroidered Silk Fabric
- Painted Silk Fabric
- Plaid Silk Fabric
- Striped Silk Fabric
- Upholstery Weight Silk Fabric
Silk charmeuse, silk chiffons, china silk linings, silk suiting, silk satins, silk organza, and silk dupioni materials.
Uses of Silk Fabrics
Apparel: Silk is often used to produce fashion clothing apparel and accessories such as women’s blouses, men’s shirts, ties, formal and informal wear, high fashion couture clothes, lingerie, night wear such as negligees, pyjamas, and robes, purses, ladies clutch bags, informal sun dresses and the famous Japanese kimonos. It is also used for specialist silk underclothing for children and adults who have eczema, where it significantly reduces itching.
Home décor and furnishings: the attractive lustre of silk fabrics makes highly suitable for many interior furnishing and décor applications such as upholstery, silk cushions, ethnic furniture, wall coverings, window treatments rugs, bedding, fold-able screens, and framed wall hangings. For the home, there are decorator fabrics for draperies and interior décor, turning decorating projects into beautiful masterpieces.
Industrial and Commercial: Silk has been, and is still used for many industrial and commercial products such as in bicycle tyre production, for parachutes, comforter filling and artillery gunpowder bags. A special process during manufacturing removes the outer sericin coating of the silk to use as non-absorbent surgical sutures.
New uses and manufacturing techniques have been found for silk fibres making it useful for everything from disposable cups to holograms and drug delivery systems.
See Also: Luxury Fabric Stores On-line
Looking for Silk Fabrics? Try Luxury Fabric Stores On-line
For dressmakers, interior decorators and fashion designers who have been hunting and searching for luxury and high quality silk fabrics, fabric stores on-line offer a wide variety of choices of all type of silk textiles.Here, at one of the best on-line fabric stores, you’ll find hard-to-find silk fabrics from all over the world’s silk manufacturers.