Silk is a popular with weavers looking for lustre and drape.

At Gather, we stock silk noil yarns for their ease of use and ability to accept natural dye. If you’re planning a project using silk, here’s what you need to know!

Silk is light, soft, cool and drapey.

Perfect for lighter scarves and shawls, silk is the easiest way to create luxurious drape in weaving. We love to use a silk weft on a cotton warp. Want to make a tea towel and a shawl on the same warp? Just switch up your weft from cotton to silk. A cotton warp and silk weft will create a luxurious drape.

We do a lot of garment making in our studio and silk is one of our go-to yarns to make sure the cloth we are making will sit nicely on the body.

Caring for silk

Though you might be used to seeing silk garments labeled "dry-clean only" you can indeed wash your silk projects, and you should!

Wash silk projects in warm water (not hot) on their own. Use a light detergent like dish soap. Rinse in warm water. When they are almost dry, give them a couple of whacks on a hard surface. This will soften the silk and bring back the lustre that appears to be gone after washing.

Silk Noil

We particularly love silk noil in our studio. The little nubs in the silk make it a great yarn for new weavers as it weaves similarly to cotton. Silk noil has a matte finish which we really love for garment making. Silk can be slippery and difficult to sew with but silk noil is an exception. It retains the beautiful drape of silk while holding together well enough to be easy to sew.