WWAMM FASHIONS-MENS SUITS

WWAMM FASHIONS-MENS SUITS is your exclusive online mens fashion store. Today we are going to talk about silk.

Extracted from "The Story of Silk," Martha Stewart Living, June, 1999

Considered the ideal fabric, silk is strong, lightweight, resists soiling (because of the smoothness of its fibers) and is rarely suceptible to mildew. It can absorb a considerable amount of water without feeling wet to the touch and it has a unique ability to absorb dye while retaining an illuminating luster.

According to Confucius, five thousand years ago the Chinese Empress Xi Ling was having tea under a mulberry tree when a silkworm cocoon fell into her cup. As she fished it out, she noticed that it had begun to dissolve into a mesh of fine thread, marking the discovery of the fiber that would make China one of the greatest powers on earth.

Sericulture - the farming of silkworms and the production of silk - is a complex process, and its secrets once were jealously guarded by China's royal household. So coddled were silkworms that silk farmers were obliged by law to whisper within earshot of the worms and to refrain from any mention of death. China's emperors were fanatical in their control: Border guards checked departing travelers for silkworms or eggs, and smuggelers were executed on the spot. No wonder since a nine ounce length of purple silk in the Middle Eastern city of Constantinople could cost the equivalent of $23,000.00!

The farming of silk has changed little through the millennia. Silkworm larvae are reared on bamboo trays and fed continuously with mulberry leaves harvested by hand. After six weeks, the caterpillars form their silk cocoons. Each cocoon, smaller than your thumb, is made of ONE silk fiber roughly three thousand feet in length.
It takes about 12 pounds of cocoons to produce one pound of silk. The cocoons must be softened in hot water and the silk threads are then reeled out, ready to be processed, dyed, and woven into fabric.

Woven Silk Terminology

Brocade – A rich fabric with a raised, textured pattern - usually a twill weave over a satin background.
China Silk – Inexpensive silk used as apparel lining.
Damask – A rever-sible patterned weave descended from fabrics made in Damascus during the middle ages.
Linen Silk – A blend of linen and silk with a greater tendency to wrinkle but a more massive drape.
Peau de Soie – A soft silk of high quality; reversible, with a dull finish on one face.
Silk Satin – A dense floating weave with a lustrous face and dull back. Expensive because of the high quality of silk fiber needed.
Taffeta – A faintly ribbed plain weave with a stiffness that contributes shape and body.