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Silk Quilt -- need input

Hi Guys, I have been collecting shades of white and T-on-T white silks for a "end of the bed for decorative purposes only" all silk quilt for my DNiece Lisa. She is a very fussy person with a degree in Architectural Interior Design (OY -- ain't that a mouth full -- LOL). The reason for this being an all silk quilt is that I will be using some of the leftover dupioni silk uchikake (sort of a formal Japanese wedding coat) fabric I used for the SMDGD's Baptismal Gown. This silk is heavily embroidered with silver threads and various shades of white silk fibers and I will use a length of it (it's about 14" wide) as the center of the quilt. So -- I have some 54" wide eggshell dupioni for the backing and about six spools of sort of off white silk thread. For those of you have have worked with silk in a quilt, do I need to piece and assemble the blocks with the silk thread? I will likely do some if not most or all of the quilting with silver metallic thread so I can use most of the the silk thread for piecing if that's recommended. What about batting? Do I need to use silk batting or can some other natural fiber batting be OK? I do have a silk bat, and it's large enough for this quilt (it will be in the 48" x 70" range) but it was pretty expensive and I already have a ton of money invested in this "just because" quilt! If consensus is that a natural fiber batting would be acceptable, I think I will save the silk batt for a silk hanging that I have in the back of my mind. I envision the quilt made of 7" &/or 14" blocks because the width of the embroidery on the Japanese fabric is just a bit over 14". The piece is 48.5" long so I will need to add a 4" border to the top and the bottom to get it 56" long. {{{HMMM -- I might machine embroider some of my dupioni scraps with oriental flowers in silver thread for those borders and then I can do the same to some of the blocks!}}}. I also have two yards of 54" wide T on T fabric (white satin-y circles on matte white) and 1 yard each of a twill weave and a chevron weave that are both 45" wide. I also have several yards (combined) of plain white, off white and eggshell white silks and about 1 yard of 54" wide dupioni left from the Baptismal Gown -- this is in addition to the dupioni for the backing. I'll have to talk more with Lisa to find out if she wants a very simple block (most likely -- maybe a 14" block that is a 4 patch made of 7" pieces) or something with a bit more "movement" to it like a Stack & Slash. Anyway, please post any thoughts on what to use for batting, what thread for piecing (silk or cotton thread), other options for extending the length of the embroidered piece, etc. Looking forward to a discussion of making a silk quilt :-). 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

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Reply to
Tia Mary
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I have no idea about any of your questions, but I want to become part of your family! Good grief, this quilt will be a work of fine art. What a fortunate niece.

Sunny

Reply to
Sunny

One of the things to consider in choosing your batting is going to be cleaning. Sooner or later, that beautiful creation is going to have to be cleaned. Trusting it to a dry cleaner doesn't sound good; not even one of those who claims to restore bridal gowns. So where are you? Does 'hand wash, cool water, dry flat on towels and block as it dries' sound impossible or a likely choice? You will probably want to pre-shrink the batting. That's messy and tricky - but you can do it. What a beautiful quilt this is going to be. We'll want to see. Polly

Reply to
Polly Esther

Sounds wonderful! IMO you could use cotton thread and batting. I've mixed a fair amount of silk and cotton in quilts without any problem. I also wash the silk on a delicate setting, but of course your embroidered bits might not tolerate this. There's a book you really need to look at: "Quilt Artistry" by Yoshiko Jinzenji. Roberta in D

"Tia Mary" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net...

Reply to
Roberta Zollner

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Reply to
nzlstar*

My very first thought was cleaning. But shrinkage is not what I was thinking. What I was thinking was that mixing protien and cellulose sometimes doesn't work out so well when you go to clean them, and what will be good for the silk will not be good for the cotton and vice versa. I would go with silk or wool for the batting. I asked about wool for batting silk myself not so long ago. The general feeling seemed to be go with the wool if you can't do silk.

I would piece with silk. But then I buy high gloss white by the 5000 yard cone.

NightMist

Reply to
NightMist

HMMM -- I hadn't thought about the difference in cotton & silk. I keep forgetting that silk is a by product of the silk worm so from an animal (sort of) and cotton is a plant fiber. I'll check into wool but will also check the site I have for silk batting. I really don't want to cut my big piece of silk batting up (it's 60" c 80") and I got it for a steal! I agree about using the silk thread for the piecing, assembly and most of the quilting. I should have enough -- I have four medium spools. If that's not enough, I'll just buy more. I've already spent a bundle of $$ on this project but, since it's been in drib and drabs over the last year, it hasn't hurt at all :-). Thanks for the heads up on the cellulose based batting vs. protein based batting. I'll definitely compare the price of wool and silk. Maybe I'll get lucky and find a deal on the silk!! 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

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Reply to
Tia Mary

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