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How Silk Thread Is Made

Posted: 13 September 2010 at 5:35 a.m.

For over 4,000 years, silk has been a highly treasured product. It is often called the queen of fibers. Anciently and still today, silk cultivation is extremely labor intensive. Silk is a natural fiber obtained from the cocoons of the mulberry silkworm (which is really a silk moth).

The female silk moths lay as many as 700 eggs, each egg about the size of a pin head. The eggs hatch and the silkworms are fed a diet of fresh mulberry leaves. After about a month, the silkworms begin spinning a cocoon. It takes four to eight days for the silkworm to spin its cocoon, which is made up of a single continuous silk filament thread that when unwound, is approximately 3,000 feet long. Once the cocoons have been harvested, they are placed in an oven and then soaked in water to loosen the silk fibers to prepare for unwinding.
One end of the silk filament is located by hand and the silk is wound onto a reel. Because a single silk filament is very fine and too delicate for commercial use, up to 10 cocoons are unwound simultaneously and those multiple strands are combined to form a single silk strand. These strands are then twisted with other silk strands to make the final product.
Sheen: Because silk filaments are microscopically triangular in shape, light reflects off the surface, resulting in a high-sheen fiber.
Strength: Silk is one of the strongest natural fibers.
Texture: Silk has a smooth, soft texture that is not slippery, unlike many synthetic fibers.
Ironing: low to medium heat.
Our new silk thread can now be ordered in 80 colors on our web site.
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Comments

  • 2. Marlena Burger (03 October 2011 at 9:07 a.m.)

    I think the price of silk is a real bargain considering the labor that goes into making the thread. I didn't know that about 10 cocoons were use to make a strand. Thanks for the informative post. Marlena http://www.designerscarvesbymarlena.com/

  • 1. JillS. (31 January 2011 at 4:14 p.m.)

    This was a very interesting post...I didn't know that they needed multiple cocoons to make a single strand - really labor intensive and explains the cost. Silk does feel amazing when compared to synthetic. Jill <a href="http://www.bestsewingmachineinfo.net">Brother LS2125i</a>

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