I've read that lace made with silk is softer and drapes better than cotton lace. Since I want to make lace for dolls house dolls' costumes, a softer lace would be better. Can anyone tell me if silk is difficult to work with? I'm a beginner and was wondering if it's slippery or difficult to control. Which type of silk works best - spun, floss, filament?
Regards, Annette in London Dear Annette, I have used just about every kind of silk and I finally worked a miniature parasol from Ann Collier's book of miniature lace for dollhouses (can't remember the exact title.) From my experience with the miniature parasol which I first tried to work in 140 or 160 cotton and it just disintegrated. So I got serious and pulled out some unboiled 3 ply silk in pale blue with boiled silk, doubled, in white for the gimp. I was very happy with the results. My problem was that the pins I was using were large enough, relative to the pattern that sometimes the thread was just to the point of being pinched by the pins. The silk stood up to this better than the cotton. So the issues for miniatures are the scale of your working tools and the strength of the thread. Silk is stronger, hands down. Also, I have since discovered bug pins which would have made the whole process much, much easier. The bug pins are small enough that I would not have had the thread pinching problem. Since you say that you are a beginner, you may not have had a lot of experience with finer threads, but you get the hang of it. Try it. Some silks I have used: Gutterman article 303 spun silk Being a spun thread, I find that it works like any other thread in the same size. This is not particularly fine thread, but it comes in a lot of great colors. I have begun to have trouble finding it in general sources like Joann's and Michaels. The lace vendors still seem to have supplies. Guttermann also has finer spun silk, but I have never found it or used it. YLI filament silk I have used both size 50 and size 100. Being a filament silk, they are slicker than the Gutterman's but the only time I encounter any difficulty is when finishing, since the silk really doesn't want to take a knot. I got this trick from some kind soul, somewhere along the line: tie the knot and put a drop of water on it. Silk is weaker when wet and sets in the knot when it dries. Tire silk from Things Japanese Again, I have user their 50 and 100, but they are thinner than the YLI of the same numbers. This is also filament silk. They carry 5 different weights of silk thread Piper's silks Everything from practically invisible 2/20 (2 plies of 20 filaments), thick 6 ply 140, and everything in between. Lots and lots of colors. Boiled and unboiled silks Unboiled silks retain the protein gum that the silkworm coats the silk with as they spin it. (Silkworm spit). Unboiled silk has a crunchy texture as you work it, like a linen thread does. Boiled silk is fluffier and not twisted, so it is a floss. The two go together beautifully. well, that's enough to get you thinking! Patty Dowden - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
