I think this is the most important aspect of choosing a silk thread. Whilst reeled silk, filament silk, twisted silk, floss silk - call it what you will - is technically the superior product as it is unbroken lengths of silk filament, but is very shiny and so will slip about on your bobbins.
Floss silk, which is *very* lightly spun filament silk, is also very prone to getting just one or two of the fibres caught on whatever there is to catch on. It is intended for good surface coverage in satin stitch embroidery but the loose spin means that it spreads if it's used for lace. Spun silk is made from the broken bits of left-overs after the unbroken filaments have been reeled off. They are spun together in a similar way to cotton fibres and in use look and feel more like a mercerised cotton but usually a bit softer. For most lacemaking purposes spun silk is a better choice than reeled silk. On 26 May 2010, at 18:41, J-D.Hammett (Joepie) wrote: > ust take care to choose SPUN lace rather than floss or folded as the latter > two tend to come apart (not breaking, but the fibres slide as it is so > smooth) and the spun silk gives better definition to the stitches. Brenda in Allhallows www.brendapaternoster.me.uk - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]
