Today I finished quilting a silk quilt owned by Marge Portilla of Colorado. This was my first silk quilt to work on and I've gotta say...I love it. I used Superior Threads So-Fine thread on the top and bottom in a deep gold. I knew that I needed to use a thread that would slide through the silk easily and not catch and shred. It is a low profile thread that is very subtle and my personal favorite for my show quilts. This thread does need to be buried and not just snipped because it is slick.
Marge's quilt looked to be made from silk neck ties and was perfectly paper pieced. The picture doesn't capture the richness of her colors.
I'm hoping she will embellish it a bit and enter it in shows. It is very worthy. I should also mention she had me use a black dupioni silk for the backing. It also has a black batting to lesson the possibilities of batting pokies.
Now after all this talk of silk quilts and how beautiful it quilted...I kicking myself for not having started one myself. I've been picking up Dupioni silks when they are on sale at the Millends in Eau Claire now for a couple of years. I've been lucky to get them for about $6-$8 a yard when it goes on sale. I also have a coveted stash of hand dyed silks I bought on etsy, and a wonderful box of silks from the neck tie factory in Cumberland Wi that went out of business about 5 years ago. I got the box for free and the fabrics are stunners. I envision a paper pieced mariner's compass amid planets and stars. Silk when quilted shows the quilting beautifully. The silk refracts the light and shows great definition even when using a low loft cotton batt.
I challenge you to try quilting a small piece of silk to see this effect.
This silk quilt is gorgeous. Did you forget you quilted 3 quilts made out of silk ties for me 2 years ago that turned out great?
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