OMG, the Garment District in Los Angeles

Hmm, I'm wondering why he said this? I much prefer the touch of silk, personally.

Lisa, this sounds absolutely divine. I hope it all goes well, both with the gowns and with the wedding.

Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati

I wonder if it has to do with body moisture staining the silk, or because the "wrong" side of silk is scratchy or is prone to fray? (have to find my silk and check)

Me too - after all, they make underwear out of silk!

Doesn't it just! Fairy princess... If you need wings, there are some on my web site - hit the URL below...

He said it was because sweat and body oils don't mix well with silk.

I wash most of my silks... it's true that sweat and body oil doesn't do nice things for silks, but it's also true they wash out quite easily. Since you've got some extra yardage, you think, try washing a small piece of your silks in some shampoo and several rinses, then press and see if you like the results. Knowing you can wash a garment after construction takes a lot of pressure out of sewing The Big White Dress.

Also, personally, I don't mix protein (silk or wool) and cellulosic (cotton, linen, rayon) fabrics in the same garment if I want the garment to last. Silks and wools need a slightly acidic, slightly moist environment for maximum longevity. Cotton, rayon and linen need a slightly basic (alkaline), dry environment for longest life. I just don't like to see the fibers "fight" each other. (Most synthetics aren't picky about storage conditions or pH, fwiw.)

Kay Lancaster snipped-for-privacy@fern.com

Washing and dry-cleaning take care of that! It sounds like an old fashioned view, made in the days when dress silks were treated in such a way that these things were bad for them. It wasn't the silk that was the problem, it was more the way the fabric was produced later, and the chemicals used for it.

I lined my wedding dress bodice with fine cotton lawn, and had it dry cleaned before I got back from the honeymoon. It got a bit sweaty, as pour wedding turned out to be the hottest day of the year! I recently had it done again, 21 years on, to take the accumulated dust of years out of it. The silk is in better nick than the cotton, which has yellowed a bit.

Thanks, Kay and Kate! I'll have to try washing my silk. I wasn't going to put the cotton as part of the wedding dress anyway...I was going to use it as part of the petticoat and I was going to make a corset to go under the bodice of the dress. I must admit to being disappointed when he told me that I shouldn't have all that lovely silk against my body because I was going to take the leftovers and make some lingerie. :)

All my good lingerie is silk, along with nighties and pjs - it's wonderful next to the skin. And it does wash easily.

But silk's a poor conductor of heat, so it insulates the body very well - a thin silk dress is warmer than a thin cotton dress. Maybe that's what he's thinking of, that if you have a silk dress with a silk lining, you could overheat?

No problem with using the leftovers for lingerie - one of life's little pleasures.

:) Trish

All my good lingerie is silk, along with nighties and pjs - it's wonderful next to the skin. And it does wash easily.

But silk's a poor conductor of heat, so it insulates the body very well - a thin silk dress is warmer than a thin cotton dress. Maybe that's what he's thinking of, that if you have a silk dress with a silk lining, you could overheat?

No problem with using the leftovers for lingerie - one of life's little pleasures.

:) Trish

A friend who lives in Paris says she "went there for the food, and stayed for the lingerie". Silk, of course!

Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati

I'd have guessed that he was referring to the way that sweat tends to eat through silk ;> Certainly if it was my wedding dress, I'd want to line it in something like cotton that was a bit more tolerant of the body ;>

cheers!

LOL...I go to the Garment District at least once a month, even if I don't

*need* anything ;o) 200+ fabric stores in a 5 block stretch is just too hard to resist! What stores did you go into? Do you remember? I got 19 yards of dark red silk chiffon for $4yd at one place (8th and Maple, I believe), but I am a serious haggler, and I was buying up the rest of the bolt--curtains for my church it turned into-- so I KNOW he gave me an incredible deal. I'm happy to see someone else making such AWESOME use of Downtown! :o)