Manalto

What's HST? HST, EPP - it's no wonder I have this craving for alphabet soup.

Thanks for all your suggestions and ideas; a rough plan is beginning to emerge because of them. I have plenty of velvet and satin too; the velvet may make it less slippery. Most of these fabrics are deep colors: browns, grays, maroon, black. I think they will make a rich, muted composition - probably not a traditional design; would they be called contemporary? This is breaking new ground. Any suggestions of places to look for inspiration?

MaggieLou

I used to have a comforter that an aunt made. It was silk and had poly or down batting. Very warm and cozy. It wasn't pieced but made more like a whole cloth.

AnnaF

I believe the "silk" show quilts you refer to are actually a cotton/silk blend called Radiance..gorgeous fabric!!!

Stitchit123

Silk is beautiful but a bear to work with. BIL was getting married and his WTB kept hinting to my MIL and me how beautiful a silk quilt would look on their bed. A California King yet to boot. Well what they got was a quilt with a 2ft x 2ft silk center set on point. And we both vowed to never touch silk again in life.

kellen46

I made a small table quilt out of samples of dupioni silk. Dupioni is not slick but slightly rough with slubs in it. I used a cotton backing, poly batting and cotton quilting thread, 17wt in an allover stipple. I had cut the samples down to 5"squares and pieced it with so fine thread, a poly thread. It turned out wonderful. The Poly batting, once quilted came out very flat so the quilt is not puffy but rather thin and has wonderful texture, especially when the light hits it at an oblique angle. On the whole I think it turned out rather wonderful. I have more of these samples and will be making more with them, perhaps a bag or two. Since these were free to me I felt no fear in using them, I might have if I had bought the fabric at a high price. All in all I have no fear in using silk again...just be aware that silk will "rot" or degrade quicker than cotton when exposed to a lot of direct sunlight, so don't put it in a room under a sunny window.

caspharm

I know some of my quilting teachers have made Dupioni Silk wall hangings and they were beautiful. I don't know if I would make a bed quilt out of silk.

Manalto

If you don't know, I suppose no one does.

ibex94

I do not trust bamboo batting, for two reasons. Bamboo has a high silica content which means that it will shred the fabrics that surround it faster than a wool or cotton batting would do. Reason two is I don't know how it is made. Bamboo floors outgas formaldehyde because of the glues used to make the boards. What if the bamboo batting has outgassing issues that we would be breathing if we were wrapped in the quilt? There may be chemical residues from however the batting is created.

But make your silk quilt! I've done crazy quilts with all natural fibered fabrics. It is great fun!

For inspiration try going to ebay to look at crazy quilts or silk quilts. You'll get lots of pictures at one time. The other websites that everyone else has recommended are great, too.

Manalto

Thank you for that information. Silk is a strong fiber but vulnerable to abrasion. It would be especially vulnerable to silica. I think wool batting would be suitable - and probably really warm.

Good suggestion to look on eBay, which I'm going to do right now.

nana77351

Husqvarna-Viking has a free pattern called Designer Diamond Quilt made with silk and velvet,BEAUTIFUL