Quick Stitch - Mulberry Silk Bowl

As I am continuing to learn, silk has the most incredible qualities.  The strongest of all natural fibres, it is resistance to deformation, has insulation qualities suitable for winter and summer temperatures and of course it shimmers and shines and is beautiful!  While in the 21st century it is usually produced in far flung places, there was a period 200 hundred years ago when England excelled in silk production.  Particularly mulberry silk, where the silk moth is fed on Mulberry leaves, is the highest quality of silk.  It is immensely tactile to work with and was therefore an easy choice for this Mulberry Silk Bowl quick stitch project this summer

Like wool, silk is a natural protein fibre and both are very receptive to natural dyes compared to vegetable fibres like cotton and linen.  It will often take up colour without preparatory mordanting that is a must with vegetable fibres and more vibrant colours can be achieved.  Here are samples of silks and wools dyed from Buddleia flower heads from my garden this year and as you can see, silk and wool take up natural dye perfectly and is pretty stable.

Silk fabric takes many forms from it's original cocoon state. Dupion, Devore, Chiffon, Habutai and Velvet are all well known and loved types.  It is interesting though to go back before the weaving process and see what a cocoon looks like when stretched out in the first instance.  This is a silk mawata, sometimes called a silk hankie, which is a cocoon which has been wetted and spread out onto a frame and left to dry.

I felt very drawn to this basic silk commodity and when I experimented with colouring with natural dye, I was pleased with the results I achieved with a mix of 3 colours 'baked' in the oven in a concentrated dye bath for 45 minutes.

While extremely beautiful in this form, their fibrous nature is such that they are rather tricky to handle and stick to the slightest bit of roughness on hands.  So when contemplating how to stitch, I opted to trap between two pieces of Visilene Solufleece which had the added advantage of creating a very stable sandwich and avoids the need for the piece to be hooped.  I used 3 or 4 of my dyed silk mawatas and then had lots of fun free stitching a centralised design conducive to making a bowl.

When the stitching is complete, any excess water soluble fabric is trimmed away and the remainder is carefully washed off in tepid water.  The wet form is then shaped over the back of a bowl and placed on a plant pot to dry off - this can take several days when the weather is cooler.  Any excess water soluble fleece can be easily removed after drying with damp fingers.

This is a very tactile and pleasurable stitch project, which has since been enjoyed by a number of students at my workshops this summer.  It is brilliant for anyone new to free machine stitching and commercially dyed mawatas/hankies are readily available for anyone who would like to get completed in a day.  Please do email me photos of completed creations - I so love to see what others are inspired to make.