Looking For Silk Thread

Hi everybody,

I've been off this computer for a very long time, but was pulled back to this group because my will to return to cross stitch / petit point is way too strong. I'm sending this from Google Groups, which is new to me so please be patient. What I'd like to know from this group is which is the best silk thread to use? I've heard to use flat, twisted, Au Ver A Soie, Kreinik, Eterna, etc. Any help appreciated here.

Maureen In Vancouver, B.C.

On Sat, 19 Jan 2013 15:56:58 -0800 (PST), "Maureen In Vancouver, B.C."
wrote:

Hi everybody,

I've been off this computer for a very long time, but was pulled back to this group because my will to return to cross stitch / petit point is way too strong. I'm sending this from Google Groups, which is new to me so please be patient. What I'd like to know from this group is which is the best silk thread to use? I've heard to use flat, twisted, Au Ver A Soie, Kreinik, Eterna, etc. Any help appreciated here.

Maureen In Vancouver, B.C.


I'd say that's highly a matter of personal opinion. If you can, I'd
buy a skein of several different types and stitch a swatch to see
which one(s) you like or dislike. Some are shinier than others, or
squeakier than others, etc., etc. Could be a fun experiment!

Sara

Vicki Clayton's Hand Dyed Fibres are great, although I don't find her
website particularly easy to navigate to find a colour. It has a great
feel, and so far for me it has good colourfastness. She has gorgeous
threads, and they're wonderful to stitch with, but her (current) packaging
does not show it to its best advantage.
With any luck you'll have a LNS near you that stocks it so you can see it
close up. (I have Thread & Eye here in London http://www.threadneye.com
that carries a good selection and has absolutely fabulous customer
service...)

Good luck!
vcardx


"Maureen In Vancouver, B.C." wrote in
message ...
Hi everybody,

I've been off this computer for a very long time, but was pulled back to
this group because my will to return to cross stitch / petit point is way
too strong. I'm sending this from Google Groups, which is new to me so
please be patient. What I'd like to know from this group is which is the
best silk thread to use? I've heard to use flat, twisted, Au Ver A Soie,
Kreinik, Eterna, etc. Any help appreciated here.

Maureen In Vancouver, B.C.

On Saturday, January 19, 2013 6:56:58 PM UTC-5, Maureen In Vancouver, B.C. wrote:
Hi everybody,



I've been off this computer for a very long time, but was pulled back to this group because my will to return to cross stitch / petit point is way too strong. I'm sending this from Google Groups, which is new to me so please be patient. What I'd like to know from this group is which is the best silk thread to use? I've heard to use flat, twisted, Au Ver A Soie, Kreinik, Eterna, etc. Any help appreciated here.



Maureen In Vancouver, B.C.

For 40ct silk gauze, I've always preferred Au Ver A Soie. I'm not certain if that's because the first few pieces I did used this thread, but it's what I like.

Donna in Virginia

Welcome back! It's been a while since I've seen you post here.

Warning - Long post!

I agree the others that it is largely a matter of personal preference
which silk to use. If you want easiest to use, then Caron silks and
Au ver A soie (Access Commodities) are good. They have a medium sheen.
If you want high sheen, Kreinik and Eterna are both good. If you want
maximum sheen, then a flat or slightly-twisted silk is best. The
highest sheen comes from flat or slightly twisted silks. The best
source for flat silks is the Japanese Embroidery Center in Atlanta,
GA, while Eterna and Empress Silks both carry the slightly-twisted
silk.

Personally, I like Eterna's mini-twist. It is a filament silk with a
twist similar to standard cotton floss. The sheen is very nice, and
the colors are matched to DMC's colors, so a conversion is easy to
make. I've done Dimple Design's Rex in Eterna silk.

My experience is that the more sheen (which comes from the use of
filament silk), the less twisted the silk is, and more difficult is is
to work with. Flat and slightly twisted silks are always filament
silk and are the most difficult, but give great sheen.

Hints on handling silk thread -
Hands: make sure your hands are clean. Also, if you garden or do
other stuff that will roughen up your hands, moisturise them
thoroughly each day for a few days before you work with the silk, and
keep them moisturized. Wait about 1 hour before stitching after using
moisturizer to make sure it is completely absorbed into the skin and
there is nothing left to stain the silk.

The silk will find the slightest roughness on your hands to catch on.
If the silk is catching on something, I will actually take an emory
board to the area to smooth the rough spot. I may have to do it every
20 minutes or so, but a few seconds doing this makes stitching much
easier.

Humidity: The drier the air in your house/apt., the more static you
will be faced with. I find it works best with at least 35% humidiy in
the house.

Licking floss: This is up to you, but if you do this with silk, make
sure you've brushed your teeth and rinsed well with water before
stitching, as per my Japanese Embroidery teacher. Silk stains very
easily, and keeping the mouth clean helps prevent problems. Some of
the techniques in Jap Embr actually involve using the mouth as a 3rd
hand, so they gave us some instructions on this.

Pets: Keep pets away from the silk, especially kittens. I have
experience personal and current in this. Miss Molly (4 months old)
looooves to play with it. Sigh.

Hope this helps!

On Sat, 19 Jan 2013 15:56:58 -0800 (PST), "Maureen In Vancouver, B.C."
wrote:

Hi everybody,

I've been off this computer for a very long time, but was pulled back to this group because my will to return to cross stitch / petit point is way too strong. I'm sending this from Google Groups, which is new to me so please be patient. What I'd like to know from this group is which is the best silk thread to use? I've heard to use flat, twisted, Au Ver A Soie, Kreinik, Eterna, etc. Any help appreciated here.

Maureen In Vancouver, B.C.

On Sunday, January 20, 2013 4:19:15 AM UTC-8, Sara wrote:
On Sat, 19 Jan 2013 15:56:58 -0800 (PST), "Maureen In Vancouver, B.C."

wrote:



Hi everybody,



I've been off this computer for a very long time, but was pulled back to this group because my will to return to cross stitch / petit point is way too strong. I'm sending this from Google Groups, which is new to me so please be patient. What I'd like to know from this group is which is the best silk thread to use? I've heard to use flat, twisted, Au Ver A Soie, Kreinik, Eterna, etc. Any help appreciated here.



Maureen In Vancouver, B.C.





I'd say that's highly a matter of personal opinion. If you can, I'd

buy a skein of several different types and stitch a swatch to see

which one(s) you like or dislike. Some are shinier than others, or

squeakier than others, etc., etc. Could be a fun experiment!



Sara

Thank you Sara,

I've used Eterna before but they seem to have gone out of business. At least, I can't find them on line anymore. I did like their silk though.

Maureen

On Tuesday, January 22, 2013 1:31:42 PM UTC-8, Donna wrote:
On Saturday, January 19, 2013 6:56:58 PM UTC-5, Maureen In Vancouver, B.C.. wrote:

Hi everybody,







I've been off this computer for a very long time, but was pulled back to this group because my will to return to cross stitch / petit point is way too strong. I'm sending this from Google Groups, which is new to me so please be patient. What I'd like to know from this group is which is the best silk thread to use? I've heard to use flat, twisted, Au Ver A Soie, Kreinik, Eterna, etc. Any help appreciated here.







Maureen In Vancouver, B.C.



For 40ct silk gauze, I've always preferred Au Ver A Soie. I'm not certain if that's because the first few pieces I did used this thread, but it's what I like.



Donna in Virginia

Thank you Donna,

I think I'm going to go with the Au Ver A Soie silk threads myself. I'll give them a try at any rate and see how it goes. I think they'll do just fine.

Maureen

On Sunday, January 20, 2013 12:39:25 PM UTC-8, vcardx wrote:
Vicki Clayton's Hand Dyed Fibres are great, although I don't find her

website particularly easy to navigate to find a colour. It has a great

feel, and so far for me it has good colourfastness. She has gorgeous

threads, and they're wonderful to stitch with, but her (current) packaging

does not show it to its best advantage.

With any luck you'll have a LNS near you that stocks it so you can see it

close up. (I have Thread & Eye here in London http://www.threadneye.com

that carries a good selection and has absolutely fabulous customer

service...)



Good luck!

vcardx

Thanks Vicki,

I'm going to go with Au Ver A Soie threads for now but will have to order all my needlepoint supplies off line from now on because our only LNS closed down a couple of years back. Sure do miss them.

Maureen



"Maureen In Vancouver, B.C." wrote in

message ...

Hi everybody,



I've been off this computer for a very long time, but was pulled back to

this group because my will to return to cross stitch / petit point is way

too strong. I'm sending this from Google Groups, which is new to me so

please be patient. What I'd like to know from this group is which is the

best silk thread to use? I've heard to use flat, twisted, Au Ver A Soie,

Kreinik, Eterna, etc. Any help appreciated here.



Maureen In Vancouver, B.C.

On 1/22/2013 9:20 PM, Fran wrote:

Great post, Fran!!!

Hints on handling silk thread -
Hands: make sure your hands are clean. Also, if you garden or do
other stuff that will roughen up your hands, moisturise them
thoroughly each day for a few days before you work with the silk, and
keep them moisturized.

I've found that Gloves in a Bottle lotion works *really* well for
smoothing rough hands. It's kind of expensive but you really don't need
to use much. I had one of those little sample packets like ketchup
comes in and it lasted me for an entire project.

From Nordic Needle's site:
"Harsh weather, hand washing and everyday activities can dry out your
skin. Hand and skin lotions only attempt to replace natural moisture
with artificial moisture. Gloves In A Bottle bonds with the outer layer
of skin, allowing your skin to heal itself. Over 9,000 dermatologists
recommend Gloves In A Bottle to their patients who suffer from dry and
cracked skin. And it is perfect for needleworkers...no odor, no
stickiness and no residue to harm delicate fabrics. It leaves your hands
so smooth that no thread or fabric snags."

http://www.nordicneedle.com/prod/311-334-0002.html

I really need to get a bottle of this stuff when I next work with silk.

HTH
--
Joan


If worries can cure your sickness, prolong your life, or replace
happiness, then go ahead and worry! If they can't, why worry?

Enjoy every moment of your life...there is no second chance.

Unknown

Followup - Eterna Silk is no longer in business, from what I've been
able to determine. Which is a pity, as they had very good quality
silk for a reasonable price. I think the fact that people generally
don't know how to handle filament silk is what did them in, as I've
heard complaints about the fact that it was not as "easy to use as Au
verA soie". Well, that is directly a result of the use of filament
silk vs rough silk.

Rough silk is the tag ends of the cocoon, meaning the strands are
much shorter and spin up more like cotton. Filament silk strands are
very long, so the shine really comes through, but that also means they
catch and pull very easily as well.

On Sat, 19 Jan 2013 15:56:58 -0800 (PST), "Maureen In Vancouver, B.C."
wrote:

Hi everybody,

I've been off this computer for a very long time, but was pulled back to this group because my will to return to cross stitch / petit point is way too strong. I'm sending this from Google Groups, which is new to me so please be patient. What I'd like to know from this group is which is the best silk thread to use? I've heard to use flat, twisted, Au Ver A Soie, Kreinik, Eterna, etc. Any help appreciated here.

Maureen In Vancouver, B.C.