r/weaving • u/msnide14 • Aug 09 '26
Work in Progress Shot Silk
I purchased some very inexpensive filament silk to try this out. Shot silk is made from two complimentary colors of silk woven as plain weave. Higher EPI helps the iridescence.
I’ve never worked with filament silk before, but it’s horrible stuff. Mine is full of slubs, which I’ve just about given up picking out. It wants to break, or felt, or split almost every pick. I should have made a smaller sample.
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u/electric_yeti Aug 09 '26
It may be horrible to work with, but it’s lovely to look at! The color scheme is gorgeous and I like the slubs, personally. I love the look of rustic fabrics.
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u/thisisAgador Aug 09 '26
Yeah this is the kind of thing Merchant & Mills would sell for a killing! Looks stunning
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u/glittergoats Aug 09 '26
I love sewing with crossweave dupioni, which is almost exactly how this looks. Noils and slubs add to the look, I think it's beautiful and adds to the handwoven/handmade quality. If I wanted a perfect looking silk, it can be bought. Imperfection is natural beauty! Love it.
Edit: also curious - how many EPI?
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u/Platypushat Aug 09 '26
My wedding dress was red dupioni silk and I loved the slubs and texture of the fabric
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u/blushcacti Aug 09 '26
hi! what is a noil? and how’s it different from a slub? and does anyone have a resource to help learn about the differences in silk?
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u/Confident_Fortune_32 Aug 09 '26
Silk yarn falls into two major categories: either made from silk cocoons boiled before the silkworm is fully matured, or made from cocoons that the mature silkworm has chewed its way out of and discarded.
The first allows the entire cocoon's worth to be wound off ("reeled") as a single long strand, smooth and even and with the characteristics shine.
The second comes out in broken and uneven lengths, and is used to make tussah silk, aka raw silk. It's highly textured and uneven and more matte, and needs a lot of sizing to be spun and woven.
The first type is bred for the purpose, under carefully controlled conditions, called sericulture.
But not all reeled silk is created alike, depending on weather, quality of feed, timing of the boiling, etc. Some filament silk/reeled silk like what OP found can still have breaks and lumps.
In the middle ages, sneaking silkworms or live cocoons or mulberry trees out of silk-producing area was punished by death if caught (similar to anyone caught "sheep-napping" merino sheep). But some were still willing to risk it for the outrageous profits, and so silk industries grew in Lyon, France and some areas of Italy as a result.
Medieval China was happy to sell its "sloppy seconds" to Europe for exorbitant prices, and there were guilds recorded in London at the time whose only purpose was to unweave Chinese low-quality silk fabric and weave it into tighter and less sleazy cloth...
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u/msnide14 Aug 09 '26
Thank you for this. Do you recommend any resources of early European silk weaving, or even the silk industry?
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u/Confident_Fortune_32 Aug 10 '26
Check out the Museé des Canuts (museum of the silk weavers) in Lyon.
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u/Proud_End3085 Aug 09 '26
The slubs and the difficulty make for a beautiful weaving. This giving it a beautiful texture. There is a beauty in imperfections. And a name I don't remember in Japanese for that concept. Patience and courage it is worth it.
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u/1mveryconfused Aug 09 '26
This is so so pretty. My mother has a silk saree in the same shade combo, the colours looks so beautiful when they shift
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u/kminola Aug 09 '26
Holy crap that’s gorgeous.
All that said I am very picky about what silk I use because it’s often so temperamental. Please accept my applause for sticking with it! 👏👏👏
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u/meowmeowbuttz Aug 09 '26
It looks so fabulous! Do you think a light sizing would help tame the weft?
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u/msnide14 Aug 10 '26
I need to try this! I’ve never used sizing for warp before, but I need to do something.
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u/SignificantAd3761 Aug 09 '26
In shot silk, an I right that the one colour is the weft and one is the warp?
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u/samizdat5 Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26
I think it looks gorgeous! I have seen it before and it's so beautiful!
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u/JunkenMetel Aug 09 '26
That is absolutely gorgeous weaving! The fabric looks alive, with huge personality. You might need to give it a name. 😉 Do you have a project in mind for using it?
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u/msnide14 Aug 10 '26
I don’t! I just wanted enough to “play with” it, haha.
It looked like it would be fun to swirl around and stage still life’s. I wanted a decent amount to enjoy.
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u/JunkenMetel Aug 10 '26
How wonderful - that is exactly what I was thinking! Sometimes the beautiful things we make are complete and perfect on their own; it's enough that they exist. ❤️
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u/rebelwithmouseyhair Aug 11 '26
Shot silk is the most beautiful fabric in existence. I'm still mourning a top that fell apart from intensive wear years ago. I'd love to see hoit shimmers once you've taken it off the loom
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u/Dry_Future_852 Aug 09 '26
When you wind on the next bobbin, keep your fingers against the bobbin to to cut back on it "grabbing" itself.
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u/ptooey_ptooey Aug 09 '26
Well, it may be horrible stuff. But if it’s any consolation, your weaving is mesmerizingly beautiful!