Silk Fabric Guide

Real silk, and when it is worth it

We print one genuine silk: 100% real silk satin at 90 gsm. It is the lightest, most fluid cloth in our range, with the particular cool handle and deep, shifting lustre that only the protein fibre produces. Nothing synthetic reproduces the way silk warms to the skin or the way light travels across it as it moves.

It is also the most expensive metre we sell, it has a 5 m minimum, and it takes the longest to produce. So the honest question is whether the project needs silk or needs the look of silk.

Needs silk

Anything that will be handled and judged as a material in its own right: a scarf sold as a silk scarf, a lining in a tailored jacket, a piece of clothing where the buyer will read the composition label. Also anything worn next to sensitive skin — silk is a smooth, protein-based fibre and is genuinely gentler than a synthetic filament.

Needs the look of silk

If what you want is drape, sheen and vivid colour, our matte polyester satins at 70 and 128 gsm and the silky polyester crepe at 80 gsm will get you most of the way for a fraction of the cost — with a 1 m minimum, a week's production instead of three, and more saturated colour, because sublimation on polyester carries more pigment than acid dye on silk.

How silk is printed

Silk needs acid dye, not the reactive dye we use on cotton or the sublimation we use on polyester. The protein fibre bonds to a different dye chemistry. Printed, steamed and washed, the colour becomes part of the fibre — the cloth stays as soft afterwards as it was before, which is the whole point of dyeing silk properly rather than coating it.

Acid printing is the slowest process we run. Allow two to three weeks in production, plus your proof approval.

Working with it

• Minimum 5 m per design.
• It is slippery. Cut it in a single layer on a large surface, weight it rather than pinning through it, and use a fine needle — a 60/8 or 70/10 — with fine thread.
• Finish every edge. At 90 gsm it frays readily. French seams or a rolled hem.
• Care. Hand wash cool or dry clean, dry out of direct sun, press on the reverse with a cool iron.
• Order a swatch first. At this price point, feeling the cloth before committing 5 m is the cheapest decision you will make.