A few years ago we had a very upscale men's clothing store in my town. They carried the best silk pajamas. Alas, that store has closed and I can't find silk pajamas anywhere. So I want to have a pair of made from silk. Biggest problem is they must be paisley. In looking for fabric I'm having a hard time identifying the catagory of fabric that would be suitable. I am finding silk brocade, silk charmeuse, silk taffeta, and so forth. I want a fabric that is light weight, smooth and silky. Can someone lead me in the right direction?
Who sells silk fabric?
Thanks
Larry
(This is my second post. I hope it ends up as a new thread)
Ok. Paisley! Didn't know you needed paisley before. ;) Look at some of these:
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charmeuse would work. The bottom of the first page, and most of thesecond page has paisley prints on charmeuse. Also, they have mens paisley pajamas listed on there. No picture. But you might call and ask them about that.
You have given me some great information in both your responses !! I know this has taken you some time to prepare and post for me and I want you to know how much I appreciate your helping me. I can't sew so when I find the fabric I'll follow your acid wash instructions before turning the fabric over to the person who will make the pajamas for me. Once again, THANKS for all the info.
Larry
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> Again, charmeuse would work. The bottom of the first page, and most of the> second page has paisley prints on charmeuse.>
You are very welcome! :) Remember if you get the charmeuse, you may not want to acid wash it. Just wash it so the pajamas can be laundered when they are done. You will know if it feels right when you get your hands on the fabric. Too, you can always launder first then acid wash later, before the fabric gets sewn up, if it isn't as soft as you would like.
Always happy to help. Hope you find what you are looking for!
Paisley printed onto the fabric or paisley texture (jacquard) woven in?
I have bought paisley silk jacquard from this company in Hong Kong, in fact they supplied all my wedding fabric. Very good to deal with, even though the website is rather basic. I do recommend getting their swatch (sample) packet. They even dyed a whole bolt of silk the shade I wanted even though I was only buying a couple of yards.
Brocade will be anything but soft and smooth... it's the raised, woven-in design fabric. Taffeta is a little noisy and crisp, and sometimes has a problem with "seam slippage" -- the seam pulls apart under stress and there's not a whole lot to do with it. Duppioni (also spelled dupioni, and just about anything that looks like that) is a woven silk with irregular "raised lines" through it, edge to edge -- those are slubs from two cocoons that fused during development. Not what you want for slippery pjs
Charmeuse is a slippery silk, satiny on side, a little less satiny on the other. Very luxo, and somewhat of a pain to sew at times because it's so liquid. Probably not the first thing I'd like to see you tackle.
There are three silks fairly commonly available that I'd suggest might be suitable for pjs and for your needs. Habotai (aka habutai), is a nice smooth fabric with good drape and pretty easy to sew. You may find "sandwashed", "peached" or "acid washed" silk... they're usually made by slightly damaging habotai's surface, leaving it a more pearly than shiny, and very nice feeling. Silk broadcloth is another -- again, more pearly than shiny, very similar to habotai.
The third is considered a "utility silk" -- it's not shiny like charmeuse, but has a lower luster, a little more matte than habotai or broadcloth, and is called silk twill. Good weight and drape, but the twill structure tends to give it a little more wear resistance than most. Feels wonderful on... it's my favorite shirt fabric when I want something that isn't shiny-shiny but still want to wear silk. Easy to work with.
If we use the paint scale of gloss-satin-eggshell-matte to describe things, silk satin and charmeuse are in the gloss end of things, habutai and broadcloth are satin gloss, and twill is eggshell
Another silk that may be useful is silk jersey, a knit silk. Usually more in the eggshell category, but wonderful drape, and a bit of "stretchiness" since it's a "t-shirt knit".
Thai silks is a good choice; I've also gotten some pretty good silks from Fashion Fabrics Club on the net.
If you'd like to see what some of the fabrics look like made up, you might look at
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-- they're pretty accurate in theirfabric descriptions, but only deal in RTW.
I've just remembered that silk twill is really nice for lingerie. But the only place I've seen it regularly on sale is Dharma, and they sell only white ready-to-dye fabrics.
(They've added a few black fabrics to their stock, but that didn't include silk twill the last time I looked. And the O.P. doesn't want black anyway. And the swatch of white twill is just a tad thin for pajamas, though I've been trying to persuade myself that I need a silk slip ever since I first saw it.)
I have a piece of silk twill that came in a cheap assortment from Phoenix Textiles (now fabric.com). Lovely, but not *quite* enough to make a short-sleeved blouse, and I don't need any more silk scarves, which is why it's still around after all these years. (Perhaps I should trim a black silk dress with the printed twill?)
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