Silk Fabric

The Look and Feel of Silk Fabric

Silk fabric is often called the queen of textiles for its unmatched beauty and elegance, which has resulted in its being sought after for thousands of years. Silk is the most luxurious type of fabric and is used for everything from special occasion garments, where we wish to feel pampered, to home decor such as fabulous curtains and accessories.

To better understand why silk fabric has its special look, we need to examine the individual silk threads used in its construction. These threads are made from many individual silk strands, or cocoon threads, called bave. The bave are twisted together, or “thrown,” to create the silk threads.

Each bave has a unique triangular shape and consists of two filaments called brins, which are cemented together by a substance called sericin produced by the silkworm. The solidified filaments are known as fibroin, or silk. When many triangular-shaped bave are twisted together to form a thread, light passing through is reflected and refracted much like light shining through the facets of a diamond, since each bave acts like a prism.

By combining many triangular bave into silk threads and weaving thousands of these threads together, the resulting fabric has an unmatched elegance due to the way light shines off its surface. The triangular shape of the bave is the secret to silk’s beauty. Silk is the only natural fiber that exists in filament form, with each filament ranging from 300 to 1600 yards in length.

The look and feel of silk fabric can vary dramatically based on the source of the bave, the thickness of the spun threads, the weave used in construction, and the finishing process. Silk is a natural protein fiber produced by insect larvae but is classified as an animal fiber by the textile industry. Apparel made from silk is very comfortable to wear because the natural fiber allows the skin to breathe, unlike many synthetic fibers, which are typically petroleum-based plastics.

When using fabric made from 100% pure silk threads, you can be assured of unsurpassed quality and luxury. At JB Silks, we believe superior results come only from superior fabric such as silk. If you are working on a project worth doing right the first time, consider silk fabric - because no amount of effort can change the fact that polyester is essentially plastic, hardly a symbol of quality or luxury. Throughout history and today, silk fabric remains in a league of its own, worn by royalty, nobility, and discerning individuals with impeccable taste.