Silk chiffon is often used in the creation of haute couture outfits, especially for ceremonies or special occasions, such as weddings, with bridal, bridesmaid or mother of the bride dresses.

This fabric, remarkably soft, fluid and extremely light, is ideal for designing long, elegant dresses, worthy of fairy tales. Its lightness also gives a certain transparency, allowing to sublimate the prints on both sides of the fabric and to explore the games of superpositions.

Besides dresses, chiffon is popular for making scarves, shawls and even lingerie. Men are not left out, as chiffon boxers and pajamas are also made. Another advantage of this fabric is its wide range of available colors, which can offer more shiny or matte finishes depending on the preference. In addition, in hot weather, chiffon helps keep the body cool thanks to its absorbent properties, making it a perfect choice for summer clothing.

Muslin is basically an extremely light cotton fabric that originated in Bangladesh. It arrived in Europe in the 18th century, in Italy to be precise, and quickly became popular in France.

Silk organza is also a lightweight fabric, rather transparent and therefore regularly used for details such as ruffles or to add pleats in special occasion outfits such as wedding, cocktail or ceremony dresses.

However, unlike silk chiffon, it is a fairly rigid fabric with a matte appearance and a stiff fall which greatly simplifies its wear. Silk organza is also found a lot in specialized dance outfits such as classical dance with the tutu or in everyday household products such as lampshades, curtains and certain decorations.

Finally we find silk organza in accessories, especially bags. Of course not just any bag, but rather special bags, such as wedding handbags or bags that protect plants.

Also known as organzine, organza is a material traditionally produced from silk, today there is synthetic organza but we will come back to that later. Organza comes from Turkestan, located in Central Asia, since the material has been globalized and, in addition, the largest exporter of silk is China, although some other Asian countries produce it but their quantity is much lower. So organza is more commonly produced in China or Europe, after having exported silk from Asia to this one.

Back to synthetic, there is synthetic organza made with polyester or nylon threads, productions that we find particularly in China, hence the lower quality and the more accessible price of certain organza clothes. You can recognize synthetic quite easily thanks to its shine and of course its appearance that we find visually and to the touch.

All of this has a particular way of weaving, whether it is synthetic or silk. For the creation of organza, the finest threads also called fibers are needed. The fibers are twisted in order to obtain high-twist threads, to obtain a fiber with such a high twist, the threads must be twisted in opposite directions, which will tighten them as much as possible and make them even more resistant. Then the fibers become threads and can be treated and combed to give a plain weave fabric.

Subsequently, the threads are coated with an acid which will allow them to become harder and more rigid, which gives this fabric its particular interest.

Finally, the threads are woven with other elements necessary for the holding of the future fabric and all this will provide the organza.

Pongee silk is the ideal fabric for making scarves, handkerchiefs or for lining clothes but also for furnishing. It is smooth, shiny and naturally white, and depending on the thickness of the threads used, the fabric can be more or less transparent.

The primary advantage of this fabric is that it can be dyed to any color with almost any technique. In addition, since it is light and thin, pongee silk is ideal for printed designs because the inks pass through the fabric without problems and the colors will be visible and clear on both the front and back.

The production of pongee silk comes from the combination of wool and silk floss, the silk floss is the coarsest part of the cotton, the one that does not unwind.

Its weave is simple and it is designed in several mommes, the weight of pongee silk can vary between 5 and 16 mommes. However, it is more common to find 8 mommes because it is the ideal weight and thickness for the crossing of inks when a pattern is desired on the front and back.

Twill silk has a touch close to silk satin, what differentiates them is the semi-matte appearance of twill silk. It obtains this appearance thanks to its weaving.

Twill silk is the opposite of pongee silk, as said before, pongee silk is ideal for the crossing of inks, as for twill silk, it is produced with thick threads which gives it a superior thickness and therefore prevents the crossing of inks. Twill silk has a thickness such that the ink hardly crosses the fabric and will give it this ability to have one side with bright colors and on the other side darker colors and this famous matte appearance.

Similarly, twill silk has oblique stripes which highlight its colours, in addition to its 14 mommes which give it thickness and therefore a slightly heavy weight and a nice drape.

It is a fabric of choice generally used in haute couture, it is also famous for being used in the famous silk squares of the luxury brand Hermès.

It is time to talk about the most famous silk weave, silk satin. This is used in all product lines that require fabric, from the lightest and finest underwear to the most imposing sheets and linens. Whatever the product, it is not necessarily designed with synthetic fabric or cotton. Of course it will be more expensive because it is a more complex weave and a rarer material, however with many additional benefits that other fabrics and weaves do not have.

To begin with, satin is not a material but a weaving technique and silk is the material that will be handled. It is a rather complicated weaving technique to handle, weft threads must be woven on a warp thread with a minimum number of 4 weft threads. The crossings between the warps and wefts will allow them to hide and give a smooth and shiny result. This gives a pearly and opaque appearance to the fabric and an immeasurable softness, especially when it comes to silk.

However, nowadays it is possible to make satin from synthetic fabric such as polyester and these will be of lower quality and in particular compared to silk satin, but they still have some advantages that silk satin has, so it is practical for Vegan people or those with low financial capacity for the areas concerned.

Well, for the material, silk, it comes from China and was born more than 2500 years ago. Silk was not a luxury material in China and the countries surrounding China, wearing silk clothes was quite normal and did not designate a particular social class. As for the weaving, satin, it was born in Europe in the first country, outside of Asia, that discovered silk and this happened in the 12th century. Then, silk satin developed throughout Europe from the 14th century and was reserved for high society only because it was very expensive.

Like the previous weave types, this one has a light, smooth and shiny appearance, but this is just appearance when it comes to silk taffeta. To the touch, the fabric will be dry and grainy. In addition, it is not transparent at all and has a powerful reflective ability that makes it so unique. Its weave will allow silk taffeta to be a stiff and self-standing fabric, ideal for upholstery and some high-end clothing, especially dresses.

Also, it has the particularity of having a specific sound when rubbed against itself since it is a dry fabric, unlike other silk weaves which have no sound when rubbed because the fabric is extremely soft and smooth.

Silk taffeta was the favorite fabric of great couturiers after it entered Europe during the Renaissance. Silk taffeta, like many other fabrics, is of oriental origin. It is also to its origins that this fabric owes its name, because taffeta is the French of the Persian word “taftâ” which means “which is woven”. Finally, it is with this fabric that the Mongolfier brothers made the canvas of their hot air balloons, which is why today, many canvases are made from taffeta but not necessarily silk taffeta.

In the 21st century, most weaves originally woven with particular threads such as silk are now woven with synthetic fibers such as polyester or artificial ones such as viscose.

Like all the silk weaves mentioned so far, silk crepe is also ideal for special occasion outfits, but also for everyday clothes and mostly women's clothes. With its slightly matte and chrome effect, you can find silk crepe more generally in blouses, pants, skirts or everyday dresses.

However, nowadays, it is most likely that it is not silk crepe but crepe woven from synthetic or artificial fibers, because silk is an expensive and luxurious material since it is rarer and therefore obviously it will be less expensive for manufacturers to offer items in polyester, polyamide or viscose crepe. What will differentiate this fabric from others is its texture, both soft and rough, silk crepe is very opaque.

Silk crepe owes its name to its design, crepe is the successor of the word cresp from the old French, which itself comes from the Latin word crispus which means wavy, curled. During its design, the crepe will face different processes in order to give it an appearance, therefore, wavy, curled hence the word crepe. The processes which will be carried out will be a twist under high tension which will give a slightly elastic effect to the fabric, and a passage at high temperature which is optional but this allows a fairly effective deformation of the fibers and makes the feel of the fabric even more unique.

Of course, there is always that drooping side that we find in every silk weave but you always have to be careful with the weight of the fabric, especially with silk.

Just like the others we mentioned earlier, today it is no longer a weave dedicated entirely to silk, but since it is not just any weave, not all materials are suitable. You will then only find silk, of course, wool, polyester and cotton, but it is not a fabric that you will find with just any material.

In terms of history, crepe comes from South Asia, more precisely from India, and was imported to Europe during Antiquity. Later, this fabric became popular and was widely used in the field of funerals. When a black crepe fabric was worn on the arm to accompany the outfit, it meant that the person was in mourning and this custom continued until the beginning of the 20th century and the expression “to put crepe on one's habit”, which meant to go into mourning, was born.

Silk ikat is a traditional fabric in several countries. In India, Indonesia and other Asian countries, this fabric is used only in ceremonial outfits and special events. It is a luxurious fabric that, in ceremonial outfits, represents wealth and prestige. It is usually the saroug, a long fabric worn on the shoulder by women and men, but it can also be a scarf. Silk ikat is also used for artistic purposes in other Asian countries, including Cambodia, where entire historical scenes are woven on it.

Silk ikat is said to have appeared around the 6th century in China and to have continued to evolve and travel across Asia and the Middle East to quickly become the specialty of Uzbekistan, a country in Central Asia, today renowned for its silk craftsmanship in addition to its mosques and mausoleums. Silk ikat even traveled to Latin America, and there, this fabric also became a traditional fabric to make their outfits that are now part of their culture.

Later, Cambodia also made silk ikat its specialty, although in a more artistic field.

It is with many techniques and several people that the design of silk ikat is done. Each piece designed with silk ikat is unique, because it is a weaving technique that needs several people in order to search for the ideal patterns and colors, and of course the dyeing and weaving. The patterns will generally be geometric and rather abstract shapes or more complex patterns such as plants, figures, bodies…

Ikat is often made with silk but since it is still a rare and expensive material, cotton is also used. There can be ikat made entirely with silk but also entirely in cotton and finally in cotton and silk, the two fabrics mixed.

As for its elaboration, the ikat has a very particular technique that makes the fabric even more unique, it is about the dyeing of the fabric. The warp threads or the weft threads are previously dyed before being assembled together and designing the final fabric. But there is an additional difficulty, for the dyeing, the threads are in skeins and ties will be tightened around the parts where we want to keep the dye introduced. The positioning is extremely important in the design because it is this which will create the unique patterns of the ikat.

It is for all these reasons that it is a long and complex fabric to design.

To finish this article, we will talk about a more particular silk fabric, it is wild silk. We will not talk about a weave but about a material that will give a different result from natural silk despite a similar weave. Wild silk has the particularity of not coming from butterflies raised by man but from wild butterflies, which is very rare and gives threads that are therefore less regular and smooth.

When weaving, depending on the quality of the threads and the quality of the weaving, the fabric has more or less “balls”, the balls are buttons, irregularities that we find on these fabrics. The more there are, the less quality the fabric is and the less expensive it will be. It is easy to recognize a wild silk fabric, thanks to its irregularities and its shine less brilliant than natural silk.

It is also not complicated to observe the superior or inferior quality of the fabric, this will be done according to the quantity of irregularities, if there are very few the fabric will be more luxurious and then more expensive while keeping the authentic appearance of wild silk.

As with all types of silk weaves, thickness is one of the main factors in the quality it represents. The fabric will be of better quality and especially more durable over time if the fabric is thicker, in addition to avoiding transparency and having to put several layers of fabric. Because they are wild cocoons found and collected in trees in nature, its threads are coarser and have a slightly more matte and stiff appearance than natural silk.

Weaving wild silk is rather complicated although it is classic in the arrangement of the threads. Its weaving is first of all only done manually, a machine cannot do it. Why? Because pressure is exerted by the fingers during weaving and due to its irregularity, the manual is necessary for its design. Finally, it is important to know that wild silk is therefore silk in the wild state and especially the first to be exploited by man so it is a material that has a history dating back 5000 years BC.