SILK Batting - Somebody Smack ME Upside the Head, Please! ON TOPIC

When you did your kimono, did you actually use an iron-on stabiliser. Originally I was going to use this for my silk tie quilt but wondered if it would look patchy like shirt collars can. My current plan is to use some sort of leave-in stabiliser and do it sort of paper piecing/flipping over.

I have a book to collect from the library tomorrow: "Silk quilts : from the Silk Road to the quilter's studio Author De Koning-Stapel, Hanne Vibeke Hanne Vibeke de Koning-Stapel explores the use and history of silk in quilting and explains to conventional quilters how to work with silk. The book includes four easy projects to start readers on their first silk quilts."

and am hoping it will contain 'handy hints'.

I have some Hobbs Tuscany Silk Batting I got a couple of years ago in a sale. It feels gorgeous but I haven't used it yet so don't know how it performs. It is King size

Sally at the Seaside ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~uk

Tia Mary wrote:

When I did my jacket (the first one), I used a regular non-woven iron on inner facing as a stabilizer. I didn't really like it much but it worked OK what with quilting the different pieces to dupioni. When I did DD's jacket (the second one), I used a KNIT iron on stabilizer and it was wonderful!!! VERY easy to work with, adhered easily and evenly to the silks and just looked a lot better than the ordinary stuff. You can't tell the difference once the kimono silk pieces are quilted to the dupioni and then the jacket is assembled and lined. But I know there is a difference and will make sure to always use the knit iron on inner facing as a stabilizer. CiaoMeow >^;;^<

PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at

I bought a bunch of silk scraps once upon a time. Made a vest for my DDIL, never did make anything for me. I backed the silk pieces with Easy-Knit fusible interfacing. It doesn't change the hand of the silk at all and makes the silk really easy to work with. I've used scraps of that silk for applique too. It made wonderful butterflies!

Donna in SW Idaho

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I bought my silk batting from

It's beautiful to work with, though it bearded a bit through a batik I was using. It is thin, light, warm and very drapey.

This firm are very good and their fabrics are delicious. I particularly like their silk/cotton mixes. they make lovely quilts and they wash like rags. Oh, btw, my finished quilt with silk batting has been through the washing machine and tumble drier with no ill- effects, other than the shrinkage you would expect from any type of batting.

The last kimono I unpicked had the silk underlined with a woven cotton. It gave stability and weight to the fabric, but left the silk free to move.

On the embroidered section on the back, the cotton had been caught at intervals to the silk, beneath the stitches to give some more support. In a lot of kimonos though, there is a mid seam down the back, so that the support is unnecessary.

My next wholecloth will be with wool batting/wadding. I love the stuff.

Hope this helps.

Nel (Gadget Queen)

Thanks for the referral -- which side of the pond are you and how costly was shipping? I actually have this store bookmarked from when I made my last silk quilt. That one was as lap quilt so I put an under layer of plain habotai and then used regular cotton batting. The quilt I will make for myself will be larger than that and I would much prefer to use silk batting and no underlayer. All of my kimono fabrics are about 13" wide and come from kimono with the back seam. Several of the fabrics are heavily embroidered so I'm going to have to do a combination of echo quilting and simple tacking to keep everything in place. I'm playing with the idea of putting piping in between some of the pieces as all of them are at least

Thanks - don't think I've met a knit iron on - will have to investigate.

Sally at the Seaside ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~uk

Tia Mary wrote:

It's quite lovely stuff, very soft and drapable but still adding a bit of stability to whatever fabric it is ironed on. I ordered mine from Clotilda but that's likely not an option for you. You should be able to find it your side of the pond -- I'm sure that Kate would be able to tell you where it can be purchased. CiaoMeow >^;;^<

PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at

I found this site Sally. hope it helps. Shirley

Thank you Shirley. I presume Knitted 100% Polyester Fusible is the right thing?

I tried to check it against the Clotilde stuff, but couldn't find it on their site.

Sally at the Seaside ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~uk

Shirley Sh> I found this site Sally.

I found it :-). It's item #273063 French-Fuse Interfacing, 60" wide knit. Comes in beige or black. I always spell the company name wrong. Website is

I'm in the UK.

They are very approachable, so I suggest you email them and ask for P&P charges. The last time I used them, it was at cost, but to the States there may be 'issues'!

If all else fails, and you want stuff from them, you could get it shipped to me and I can post it on, but I expect it will be cheaper without a middleman. The batting is very light, and my middle-sized piece was the size of an average supermarket carrier bag.

Hope that helps, Nel (Gadget Queen)

I have some silk batting from Hobbs. It is part of their new Tuscany Battings line. Did hand quilt a mini wholecloth with it, but haven't yet washed it. (Put it somewhere safe until I decide how I want to bind it. ) Haven't used the queen sized batt yet, not sure what I want to use it for.

Pati, in Phx.

Clotilde only send to US and Canada, so I'll keep my fingers crossed and order from Shirley's site. Thank you Shirley!

Thanks Tia Mary for pointing me in the right direction. I have the library book now - the illustrations are stunning, but they hadn't heard of the knit interfacing, just the ordinary stuff!

Sally at the Seaside ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~uk

Tia Mary wrote: