[lace] silk threads

[Jane Partridge]

Whilst the "ethical grounds" mentioned for not using silk are probably 
due to the method of boiling the cocoons (thus killing the silkworm) in 
order to wind silk from them, there is silk - I think it is called noil 
- which is taken from cocoons after the moths have hatched. The staple 
is therefore shorter than the long continuous fibres of reeled silk, but 
you may find that spun silk is made from these shorter fibres. Silk 
farms need to allow a certain proportion of the moths to hatch in order 
to produce the next generation of silkworms, but don't want to waste the 
discarded (as far as the moth is concerned) cocoons, so not all silk 
production requires the worms to be killed.
--
Jane Partridge
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