sewing with Repurposed Silk

Earlier this year I had the honor of helping a woman finish her very last quilt. With her failing health, she knew she would no longer be able to sew. I quilt and bound her last project and adopted some fabric, for which she was desperately searching out a new home.

This basket is brimming with silk! At some point my client had received a large amount of cream, pale brown and burgundy bridal silk, as scraps from a wedding gown maker. The pieces are irregularly cut, but of very high quality. What you see here is only about a third of what I accepted!

I have by now washed about 2/3 of the silk scraps, a necessity because they had a musty smell. The burgundy silk bled quite a bit in the wash, but the color remains gorgeously rich. After washing, everything must be pressed, and - oh my goodness - is that pressing SUCH a chore! But, of course, I feel good about rescuing this fabric and grateful for the chance to reuse something of such lovely quality.

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And what shall I make with it, you ask? Well, it’s enough for several quilts! For starters, I am beginning a baby quilt in the patchwork style of my Hourglass Curves design above. I’ll use the cream silk for the background fabric and do the curved shapes in various neutrals, plus the pale brown silk. A chic, neutral quilt will delight this mama-to-be!

Yesterday I began cutting and sewing drunkard’s path blocks. Working with the silk is a tad tricky, but not terrible. It has more oomph than voile or rayon, for example. Maybe I’ll try spray starch next, if only to press out the stubborn wrinkles.