Silk fabrics - Sartor

Yes. Genuine, natural silk is what we specialize in. All of the fabrics that we call “silk” in our shop are actually made of real, natural silk. And unless we say otherwise, it is mulberry silk by default. We also carry other types of 100% natural silk – wild silk and spun silk for example. See our post on types of silk to learn more about the different kinds.

Probably the best way to tell is the burn test. Silk burns reluctantly, leaving a black crumb that you can easily crush between your fingers and smells like burnt hair. Be sure to test threads pulled from both the weft and the warp. In addition to the burn test, there are a plenty of other tricks – check out our post on how to tell real silk.

Washing is generally not recommended for silk – generally we prefer sending it to the dry cleaners. However, as our great silk washing test has shown, some types of silk fabrics can stand up to a gentle wash program or hand washing without harm if you follow the procedure described. That said, wash silk at your own risk. We definitely recommend testing in advance on a small sample of the fabric – because silk is a natural material, sot it’s not 100% predictable. Never, ever, use an ordinary laundry detergent – use a special detergent for wool and silk or, if there's no other option, a gentle, silicone-free shampoo. 

If you are not going to dye the finished garment, we recommend a high-quality polyester thread for sewing silk. However, if you will dye your project after sewing, be sure to choose a silk thread (polyester does not take dye). The choice of sewing needle and thread depends on the type and weight of the fabric – for sewing particularly fine fabrics (chiffons, georgettes, light satins and crepes) a thinner polyester or silk thread and a thin needle are what you want. Do not use cotton thread to sew silk.

Confused by the “Weight (mm)” parameter in our fabric detail? The abbreviation mm does not stand for millimeter, but for momme! The momme is the traditional unit of weight for silk. It indicates how heavy and densely woven a silk fabric is – the higher the momme value, the denser, stronger, more luxurious the fabric is. One momme is the equivalent of roughly 4.34 gsm. Read more about weighing silk by the momme.

Yes. Just click “order a sample” on the product detail page for the fabric. We send sample swatches for a small fee plus shipping. The only exception is if we have less than five meters of a fabric in stock – in that case we won’t send a sample because we’re very likely to sell out before the swatch even gets to you.