Hints

Some ABCs about Silk

Why Silk?

SKIN AND HAIR CARE

The smooth surface of silk means there is little friction between your skin and your bedding linen, which is said to be the biggest cause for sleep wrinkles. Sleeping on silk bedding lines enables you to say goodbye to your messy morning hair.

HYPOALLERGENIC

Silk is hypoallergenic and repels common household allergens including bacteria, mold, fungi, and dust mites alike to ensure a healthy and restful sleep throughout the night.

TEMPERATURE-REGULATING

The great insulation properties of silk help keep the temperature around your skin at an optimal level during sleep, allowing you to feel cool in summer and warm in winter.

What is silk made of?

Silk is mostly made up of two proteins, called sericin and fibroin. Fibroins are what makes up the “silk” as we know it, as they form the long strings of silk fiber that act as the structure of the cocoons. Sericin, on the other hand, is the “glue” with which the silkworms hold the fibers together in the shape of the cocoon. Large amounts of sericin is irritant to our skin, so after pupa have been removed, the cocoons must undergo a process in which they are placed in water and lose most of the sericin coating. The filaments made of fibroins are then drawn from the cocoon and weaved, eventually made into silk fabrics as we know it.

Mulberry vs Tussar/Wild silk:

Mulberry silk is produced by the silk worms of Bombyx mori moths, which eat Mulberry leaves. The process of Mulberry silk production is an ancient craft that had been in existence for over 2000 years in China. Generally speaking, Mulberry silk has better color, smoothness, luster, fiber length, fiber uniformness and elasticity that wild tussar silk, in all its coarseness and dimness, can only dream of having.

Satin & Silk Satin:

Satin is not even a type of fabric, it is just a particular way to weave any fabric so that the surface is glossy and shiny and the back is dull. Satin weave can be done with most textiles such as silk, polyester, cotton, nylon, etc., and with any quality of silk as well. So when you read “satin silk” in a product name, know it could very well be made with very low quality silk and break apart easily.

What is Momme in silk fabric?

Mommes (mm), is a unit traditionally used to measure the quality of silk fabrics. One momme = 4.340 grams per square meter. The usual range of momme weight for different weaves of silk are:

Gauze—3 to 5 mm
Organza—4 to 6 mm
Habotai—12 to 16 mm
Charmeuse—12 to 30 mm
Normally, the higher the momme weight, the more durable the weave, the more luxurious the fabric is, the more suitable it is for heavy-duty use, and the longer the shelf-life.

For bedding, the higher the weight in momme, the better the silk bedding is. Sheets between 19-25 momme are considered ideal. silk with momme weight lower than 19 are not suitable for the production of quality silk bedding linen. For sleepwear, 22mm are the most suitable fabric.

How to Identify Silk

The most effective and simple way to identify real silk is burning. You can tell the difference from 2 aspects.
1 Flames
Burning genuine silk produces a smell very similar to that of burning human hair. The flame is close to invisible when burning the edge of the real silk fabric. Very soon after the flame source is taken away from the fabric, the silk will self-extinguish. When burned, fake silk material tend to combust rapidly in intense flames, and give a smell of burning plastic.
2. Ashes
The ash from burning of real silk is black, crispy and turns to powder easily when grinded. The ash of fake silk tend to be sticky, twisted, and difficult to break apart.

Handmade vs Machine Comforters

Generally speaking, handmade silk floss filling is superior to machine-made fillings because:

– Material:

Due to the delicate nature of silk fibers, high-end silk floss is usually treated by experienced silk workers who know how to preserve the long stranded fibers, as machines are capable of breaking the fibers with ease should the process go wrong at any point. Thus, a handmade comforter usually implies the quality of the silk used is higher so the manufacturer is willing to spend more to hire experienced workers in order to minimize the risks of damaging the silk in the process of manufacturing.

– Human Touch:

Even if the manufacturing process is carried out exactly as instructed, machines simply lack the subtlety of human hands. There is nothing that knows better about human comfort than humans themselves, and for something you sleep with every night, comfort is most certainly the first and foremost point of concern.

Handmade Comforters

– Filled using long fiber Mulberry silk, layered in a grid pattern.

– Tacked, not boxed stitched. Tacking the silk down eliminates cold spots and the damage box stitching causes to the silk fiber.

– Less airborne fibers because only long fiber silk is used.

– No lumps caused by silk filling clumping up.

Machine-made Comforters

– Silk fiber stuffed, not layered into a casing.

– Box stitched. Box stitching damages the silk fiber and creates cold spots throughout the comforter, undermining a silk comforter’s heat regulating ability.

– Short fiber silk or a silk mix is used instead of long fibre silk. Short fibet silk shards can become airborne and cause irritations to allergy sufferers. Short fiber fillings are also less effective at heat insulation and regulation.

Silk Comforter Hints

What you should know….

With so many silk comforters on the market it can be a bit of a head-scratcher trying to decide which ones are worth purchasing and which ones are not. Listed below are a few criteria to look out for.

Long Strand Mulberry Silk

Always look for comforters filled with long strand Mulberry silk, and check the percentage of silk filling. Many suppliers tend to use a small amount of long strand Mulberry silk (often on the most visible part of the floss filling), and fill the remainder with cheaper short-fiber silk while advertising the whole thing as 100% Mulberry silk filled. This brings the cost of the comforter down, but also significantly weakens thermal regulation capabilities of the comforter, which renders the item ineffective since its job is to keep you warm before everything else.

No Pockets/Filling Fixation

Unlike down or polyester comforters, silk comforters are filled with sheets of long fiber Mulberry silk layered on top of each other in a special way, which means the comforter is rarely compartmentalized unlike its down/feather filled counterparts; because of this, make sure you check if the filling is properly tacked to the inside of the comforter shell, as untacked silk floss fillings will move around in the shell and bunch up.

Color of the Silk

Silk, being a natural product, should have an ivory hue to it and be slightly iridescent. Many manufacturers bleach their silk to enhance the appearance of their products as well as remove some of the odor of the residual serecin (natural silk glue). However, although bleaching makes the silk look nicer appearance-wise, the nice looks will be short-lived as bleach-induced fiber damage will soon take its toll on the fabric, rendering it brittle and easy to break. Good silk filled comforters such as ours should always have a small zip opening on the shell of the comforter, allowing easy inspection of the silk filling.

Silk Linen Hints

There is a vast amount of silk bed linen on the market today with a huge range in both quality and price. Knowing what to look for can be a daunting task. Here are a few of our FAQs that, if followed, will ensure the silk bedding product you buy will last.

Know what you want & need

Always aim for 100% long strand Mulberry silk. There are a variety of different types of silk on the market including Mulberry, Tussah, and synthetic silk, but only 100% Mulberry silk consists of fibers that are long and continuous strands, and are smooth and lustrous. Wild silk, commonly known as Tussah silk is often passed off as Mulberry silk but a simple touch on the material and you will immediately realize the difference in the quality if you have experienced Mulberry silk before, as Tussah silk is much rougher and doesn’t feel nearly as flowy due to having significantly shorter strands that vary in length..

Habotai Silk, the name of the weave with which Tussah silk is usually made is sometimes used as the name of the silk fabric. It does not have the same durability as 100% Mulberry silk due to having shorter strands. Only 100% mulberry silk can offer the consistency & durability required in quality silk bed linen.

What is the Momme?

You may have heard of Momme before if you have had previous experience purchasing silk items. Momme is the unit used to determine the physical weight of silk. The basic measurement for momme is weighing a piece of silk that is 100 yards long and 45 inches wide. If the total weight comes to sixteen pounds then the silk will be graded as 16 momme. Heavier silk is given higher momme weight numbers. A higher momme weight indicates the fabric is made of higher quality silk fibers that are usually thicker and more uniformly rounded, and that the weave used is dense, making the overall fabric more durable and structurally intact.

What are the Momme weights of Lilysilk?

Lilysilk offers 3 different momme weight classes. Starting from entry-level 19 momme, Lilysilk also offers intermediate 22 momme and luxury 25 momme weight classes for your choosing. Note that silk with momme weight lower than 19 are not suitable for the production of quality silk bedding linen.