The Princess and the Worm

I would like to take a moment to honor the lowly silkworm who toils endlessly throughout its short life to produce the beautiful silk fabrics we love to drape around ourselves… and our homes.

According to an ancient Chinese legend, around 2640 B.C. a princess named Xi Ling Shi was sitting under a mulberry tree when a cocoon of silk dropped into her cup of tea. Fascinated, she watched as the cocoon unraveled into one shiny long thin strand. She then pulled the strands from several cocoons through her ring to form a thicker thread. If that wasn’t enough, Princess Xi Ling Shi is also credited with inventing the silk loom and introducing silkworm rearing to the Chinese aristocracy. Although my brother, Harold, accuses me of being a princess, I have yet to invent anything really cool - like silk production or the silk loom.

For over 2000 years, the Chinese authorities were able to keep silk production a secret by imposing the death penalty for revealing the techniques surrounding silk production, or smuggling silkworm eggs or cocoons out of China. Eventually silk worms and their only food source, mulberry leaves, were smuggled out of China and silk production was introduced to the rest of the world.

Other fabrics are nice, but nothing beats the look, feel, texture, and luminosity of a beautiful silk dupioni or silk taffeta. Whether used in draperies, bed fashions, or upholstery, silk has a timeless appeal that

never goes out of style.

Everything you wanted to know about Jacquards, but were afraid to Damask

I am often asked this question; “What is the difference between Jacquards and Damasks?”

First, it helps to understand the fabric terms “warp” and “weft.” Simply speaking, the warp yarns are placed first on the fabric loom running the length of the fabric bolt. The weft yarns are woven through running selvage to selvage across the fabric bolt to create fabric patterns. Together, they make up the two types of yarns used to create woven fabrics.

Now we can move on to Damasks. The patterns in damasks are formed by the weaving of different yarns used to create designs in the fabric. An example of this would be a ground in a twill weave and a contrasting design in a satin weave. Damask fabrics are flat and reversible with the patterns loomed into the cloth.

Jacquards are named after the Jacquard Loom, the mechanical - and now computerized - looms used to create the complex patterns woven into the fabric. The Jacquard Loom has automated the production of an unlimited variety of patterns in the weaving process and has made it possible to produce many different weaves from one warp.

This is why Damask fabrics can be Jacquards – since they are woven on a Jacquard Loom and why Jacquard fabrics are not limited to Damasks. I’ll bet now you will look at your draperies and table linens in a whole new way.