What is Silk Yarn?
The 3 main types of silk yarn we have in Thailand are reeled, spun, and noil or raw silk.
1. REELED SILK YARN
Reeled, or filament silk yarn is often regarded as the highest quality yarn. Only certain cocoons with a perfect shape can be used for the reeling procedure. These cocoons are soaked in warm water to soften the gummy sericin.
A strand of silk from a single cocoon is too fine to use alone, so individual filaments of up to 20 cocoons are unraveled at the same time. As the sericin dries it binds the strands together to become one thread about the same thickness as human hair. Most of the reeled silks are used by large industrial looms.
Heavy reeled silk yarns are also used by hand weavers but they are quite difficult to work with by hand.
The thickness and twist of silk yarn are the most important factors when selecting your yarn. Reeled silk that has any kind of twist added is called thrown silk.
2. SPUN SILK YARN
The cocoon filament remaining from the reeling process and the damaged discolored, or imperfectly shaped cocoons become the raw material for lustrous, creamy colored spun silk yarn.
These cocoons must also have the sericin removed (de-gummed). Then the fiber is cut into uniform lengths and carded to remove short tangled bits as well as the brown pupa inside the cocoons.
Combing makes all the fibers parallel in a sliver which is then spun into a silk yarn. Spun silk yarn is the most familiar yarn made available to hand loom workers and high quality spun silk yarn is easy to work with.
3. NOIL OR RAW SILK YARN
Higher quality noil or raw silk yarn is easy to use.
For the 3 types of silk yarn produced in the Thai sericulture industry, there are variations of twist and ply which give them different characteristics. The Thai silk fabric sheen is affected by twisting and plying. A silk yarn fabric surface with the least interruptions will reflect the light for optimum sheen. The more twists and plies in the yarn fabric, the more the surface is broken so there is less sheen.
The processes involved in making silk yarn fabrics are quite complex.
The 3 main types of Thai silk yarn each have their own unique qualities and all 3 are important parts of the Thai silk yarn market.
We would be delighted if you have a few minutes to spare to check out just what our little village can create. You may be pleasantly surprised and you may just find that elusive gift for that special person or special occasion. So please check us out!
