Valerie Ann

I just bought the most beautiful hand dyed silk fabrics (at quilt show) and was told that I should line them before sewing because they will fray so much. If this is the case, what should I use? I'm making a throw for the living room.

Tartan

This might be a spot where a serger would come in handy. Silk does fray a lot and you can loose some of the material if you don't French seam or serge.

Prism99

I would probably use a fusible to stabilize the silk. Those who have made quilts out of old silk ties will be able to tell you exactly which fusible to use. You want something that is very light in weight. Fusible nylon tricot works well, but adds quite a bit of stiffness and weight. There is a Pellon fusible that would probably be better. Sorry, but I don't have the exact number of the Pellon handy; hopefully someone else will post.

cashs_mom

There are some low temp fusibles made especially for silks that I have used in the past. I've used Touch O Gold with good results and I've heard that SofKnit is good. I'm sure that both of these are available online or possibly at better fabric stores (if you still have any in your area). Read the instructions. Both of these are nylon and low temp fusibles. You don't want to melt them to your fabric!

Nammie to 7

I learned something new today -- didn't know there was a low temp fusible especially for silks. I will certainly remember that little tidbit!

Buckeye Rose

Silk has wonderful softness and you dont want to lose that, but I would think any fusible backing will change the texture. I would try using pinking shears to cut down on ravelling or serging the edges before using a fusible.

cashs_mom

Fusibles do change the hand of fabrics somewhat. The low temp and bias fusibles less so. If you need added body, you can always use silk organza sewn to the silk. If you just want to keep it from raveling, serging should work. If you want to make them a bit easier to work with especially if you are going to use them for piecing or combining it with other fabrics, like cottons, adding a fusible will help a lot. Silk is beautiful, but depending on the type of silk it can be really hard to work with.

And, of course, the more it's handled the more its apt to ravel so keeping that to a minimum can help a great deal.

Doggramma

I made a small wallhanging with Duponi silk and used a lightweight interfacing. I don't like it! It's fine for a wallhanging but it's stiff. The vendor at the quilt show where I purchased my silk had gorgeous quilts, all made without interfacing. She said she just cut and sewed them like regular fabric. She said the important thing was to sew them up almost as fast as you cut them.

I haven't had the nerve to do it yet, because the cut fabric sure is "stringy" to work with. But I love your idea and I'd like to make one too.