Saturday, July 23, 2011

Dupioni Silk Part 3

In this post, I'm sharing some of the helpful dupioni comments I've received. I know it can be difficult to keep up with blog posts, not to mention the comments! So, in case you missed them:

Pam~Off The Cuff ~ is a fabulous sewist, blogger, and merchant. She shared this comment and link:
I wash the living "heck" out of all the dupionni I use both for my custom shirts, and garments for me too...I love what water does to silk! Here's the method I've used for over 10 years...
"Distressing" Silk Dupionni ...surely not the only way, just another way :)
Lindsay T prowls and blogs about the Garment District in addition to her own personal blog. Her recommendation:
Try Mood Fabrics. Their online site is run separately from the store, and they specialize in stocking loads of colors in their silk fabrics. That's where I would go if I was doing a color-specific search. 
The Mood site looks promising. The listing is Shantung/dupioni, and there are 5 pages to choose from.

My Canadian friend 
Duchesse provided a recommendation:
I've spilled wine on my silk, too. there is a marvelous product sold here (Canada) called Wine-Away; works on silk. 
I'll need to check that out. Good stain removal products are always worth adding to the laundry room!
A couple of differing opinions about Silk Baron. I'm not trying to create controversy by passing along either experience, I just felt like people needed to know both the good and the bad. The jury's out IMO, but I may try a test order or two and see what happens.

Pretty Kitty had a positive experience:
I first heard about Silk Baron from Cynthia Guffey. She had samples of clothes made up using her patterns and I commented on the dupionni fabric. She highly recommended Silk Baron. They have a sale or maybe two sales a year on all the roll ends. You have to sign your email up in advance with them to receive a special invite to their sales, but they don't spam you with lots of info. The sale yardage is small, but good for small projects. You may only get a 1/2 yard or a 1 yard piece of 45" fabric, but the quality is superb. The colors are to die for.... or is that to dye for! 
However, Karen didn't:
Not sure if I should post this publicly but my experience with Silk Baron was not good. I bought several yards for an evening suit and it was badly flawed. I was in a time crunch so had no choice but to make the outfit. I made the owner aware of the problem and got no satisfactory response. Actually, the silence was deafening. Leads me to believe they sell an inferior product, hence the low price(s). 
Karen, I think you should share if that was your experience. You presented your situation in a "just the facts" manner which I appreciate.

I hope these comments are useful. Silk dupioni is fun to sew and wear, and relatively easy to care for. I hope you'll try it.

2 comments:

Duchesse said...

The link for Distressing Silk Dupioni seems to be dead; I get an error message.

NancyDaQ said...

Thanks, Duchesse! It's working now even though the link is not in color anymore.