Let me say from the outset, I am a cotton girl at heart! I've dabbled with silks for my Little Bouquet quilts, but never anything serious, or big like a quilt.
So, for those of you that may be interested in a working with dupioni silks, or you would like to create your own version of Silk Tempest, but are just a little leary - let me share what I've learned.
- Silk frays something awful (it couldn't be as gorgeous as it is, and there not be a price to pay, right?)
- To control fraying consider using a lightweight fusible interfacing - my #1 recommendation
- Use pinking shears, or a rotary cutter with a pinking blade
- Use 1/2" seam allowance, versus a 1/4" seam allowance normally used in quilting (for use without the interfacing or pinking)
- Lengthen the stitch length slightly
- Adjust your iron's temp to the silk setting
- There are special machine needles for working with silk, but I used a sharp #60 needle
- Cutting the silk into strips for the quilt seemed more like cutting thin bark, or paper than cutting fabric - it is a different animal than 100% cotton
- Be mindful of the orientation of the warp & weft when piecing your blocks
- Create each block individually as vs. usual strip piecing methods. I found the more I handled the fabric, the more it wanted to shred. Working with silk does require a little more delicate handling.
On a personal note: To create the Silk Tempest I used a 1/2" seam allowance, which worked fine, but was a little disconcerting for me - since a 1/4" is so ingrained in my mind. After I created the quilt, I experimented with multiple methods for controlling the fraying, and the best solution in my opinion is the interfacing.
- I was a little anxious about quilting on silk, but as you can see from the photo, it worked wonderfully. I used YLI 100# silk thread on the top for the quilting, and Gutermann 50# weight in the bobbin.
- Use quilting cotton for the binding, and the quilt back.
- For the batting I used Hobb's fusible batting, it worked great!
Anyone have any other silk tips to share? If so, please leave a comment so we can all learn!
xoxo,
Cherri
Thank you for the tips!
Posted by: Jewel | December 13, 2010 at 01:45 PM
Oh my Cherri, this is gorgeous!
Posted by: Jocelyn | December 13, 2010 at 05:37 PM
Cherri, your number one tip is also mine!! A lightweight fusible interfacing is a must. My second tip is patience and love. If you have them, you will have one gorgeous quilt top just like your silk Tempest! And after seeing yours in person, you did a fabulous job, I love it!
Posted by: Jackie | December 13, 2010 at 07:19 PM
What a wonderful quilt. I have been in love with silk since I was a spinner/weaver in an earlier life. Now after seeing this lovely quilt, I'm dying to try one myself.
Posted by: Carol G | December 14, 2010 at 07:32 AM
Foundation piecing silk dupion over muslin works very nicely.
I used the recipe given by Silk Road Fabrics for washing and pre-shrinking silk, and found that it worked very nicely and made me confident about pressing the fabric as I sewed.
Posted by: Camilla | December 14, 2010 at 11:55 AM
:) I work with silk constantly - at least 50% of the time, and I like working with Dupioni silks the best - they have such a lovely hand when they're quilted up.
My number one recommendation is a little further down your list - a rotary cutter with a pinking blade can save a lot of heartache, and doesn't neccessitate the 1/2 inch seam. An example:
http://www.divaquilts.com/2010/10/welcome-to-diva-quilts.html
When I use finer weight silk (especially silk chiffon) I bond it to pellon first - fusible interfacing works very well, but I can buy Pellon by the yard here (perhaps you can't in the US) which makes bonding yards of silk to it much more feasible.
I've also done foundation piecing when mixing silks with other fiddly fabrics (lame and silk for instance) and that works well too in some applications.
I did make a quilt a few months ago that was a total mix of satin and silks of different weights. At first I started by fusing the silks to a foundaton fabric, but as I continued working with it (it was a big quilt with a lot of SMALL pieces), I began to fuse only the finest of the silks to a foundation fabric and then foundation pieces the rest. That turned out really well!
But really - if you're going to work with silks, I say for the most part - buy dupioni or upholstery weight silk, NEVER buy inexpensive silks to quilt with, use a rotary cutter, and proceed at a moderate-to-slow-end-of-moderate and you'll be fine!
Posted by: Kit Lang | December 14, 2010 at 02:11 PM
Thank you for posting about your experience working with silk to make a quilt. I've been saving silk fabrics for quite sometime, in fact ever since I saw some beautiful pieced silk hangings at an exhibition of work from Korea, at the Immigration Museum in Melbourne.
Posted by: Jenny at Always Quilting | December 15, 2010 at 12:54 AM
What a beautiful glowing quilt. The silks are lovely.
Posted by: Kathy | December 15, 2010 at 02:09 AM
Thanks so much for your info. I am experimenting with dupioni silk for a quilt right now. Just this morning I worked up a little mock-up to see how the different fabrics handled and if they would "play well with others." I'm very encouraged and look forward to starting on a larger project!
Posted by: Megan | December 29, 2010 at 12:57 AM
Tip: Sit back and enjoy a gorgeous quilt with a lovely sheen, drape and feel! We are simply spoiled with the ease of working with cotton fabrics :-)
Thanks for the tips!
ps. why the bigger stitch length, it feels unnatural with the fraying?
Posted by: Merel | January 07, 2011 at 08:57 AM
Whoa!! What an incredibly beautiful quilt. I'm just blown away - kudos to you for going big with silk. I'm in love with your Tempest quilt pattern and now I HAVE TO make it in silk. Thank you so much for sharing your creativity.
Posted by: Donna | March 14, 2012 at 12:15 PM
Any suggestions about whole-cloth quilts. My daughter brought back a large piece of embroideried silk from China. It's probably abt 4x5 feet. There will be no cutting. I just need advice as to how to quilt it. I have a sheet that LOOKS like silk that I will use as back and will hand-quilt it. I've never worked with silk so don't know where to start. I've done LOTS of other quilts so am not a new quilter. thanks
Posted by: Jean Peterson | January 28, 2013 at 01:41 PM
Thank you for this article. I am planning a silk quilt and I will be using your suggestions.
Posted by: Tracey L Pate | July 11, 2018 at 01:20 PM