Thai Silk

If you’re planning your wedding in Thailand, it’s likely that Thai silk will the fabric of choice for your dresses, suits, and decorations.

Thai silk is an elegant fabric that is both lightweight and durable, an no matter whether you choose to marry in or outdoors, Thai silk can be tailored to suit all occasions.

What is Thai Silk?

Thai silk is soft but has a relatively coarse textured fabric with uneven, slightly bobbley threads. Thai Silk has triangular fibers which reflect light like prisms. It also has layers of protein that gives it a natural sheen and makes it lustrous and smooth.

These qualities give Thai silk a magnificently rich, exotic beauty and, with proper care, you garments can last a century or more.

Silk is the natural filament produced by the salivary glands of silkworms – the caterpillars of a type of moth (not worm) that lives and feeds on the leaves of the mulberry bush.

Silkworms spin their cocoons using a single thread 500-1,500 meters long. Because this single filament strand is extremely thin, many threads are combined to make a thicker, more practical fiber.

The silkworm cocoons are farmed from the mulberry bush and place in a vat of boiling water. This unravels the thread and separates it from the caterpillar inside.

Thai silk is produced by Thai caterpillars raised primarily on the Korat Plateau, in the country’s northeast region.

The silk from Thailand’s caterpillars varies in color from light gold to very light green. Weavers wash these raw silk threads, bleach them, then soak them in vats of hot dyes. Once they have been washed again and dried, the threads are wound onto spools.

Who discovered Silk?

A Chinese Empress named Si Ling Chi is widely credited with discovering silk. According to the tale, while sitting under a mulberry tree in a palace garden having tea, a silkworm’s cocoon fell out of the tree into her cup. When the Empress removed it from her tea, she discovered the fine silk filament of the cocoon had started to unravel.

The Chinese guarded the secret of silk for millenniums by putting to death anyone found guilty of smuggling silkworm eggs, cocoons, or mulberry seeds. Silk then became the cloth of emperors and royalty and a great source of wealth.

However, in the early 2nd century, a Chinese princess who married an Indian prince is reported to have successfully smuggled silkworm eggs out of China in her headdress, and then fed them with the leaves of Indian mulberry trees.

Since then, silk production has spread to other Asian countries and archaeologist have found silk 3,000 years old in the ruins of Baan Chiang, Thailand, which many of them consider the earliest civilization in Southeast Asia.

How to tell Thai silk from imitation fabrics?

Since traditional Thai silk is hand woven, each silk fabric is unique and cannot be duplicated, if you have a magnifying glass, you will see the bumpy Thai silk threads are not the same color, compared to synthetic fabrics, in which every thread is identical.

In addition, Thai silk has a unique luster, with a sheen that has two unique blends of color that changes as you hold the fabric at varying angles against light.

Because silk threads are actually insect fibers, very similar to the fibers in our hair and finger nails, they smells like hair when burnt. Furthermore, the silk will immediately stop burning once the flame is removed, whereas artificial fibers smell like plastic when burnt and stay lit once ignited.

How do I clean Thai silk?

It’s no doubt that you’ll want to keep as many memories of your wedding as possible. And what better way to do so, than incorporate practical Thai silk products that you can continue to use at home.

Table clothes, cushions, napkins, drapes, decorations, are just some of the practical ways you could incorporate Thai silk into your wedding.

If you do chose to adorn yourself in Thai silk, how do you keep it looking new and fresh?

Dry cleaning is the best way to keep Thai silk in good condition and  maintain its original beauty, luster, and texture. You can also hand wash it in lukewarm water using the mildest soap. Add a table spoonful of clear white vinegar added to the final rinse.

Never wring your Thai silk! Dry it in the shade, preferably where there’s a mild breeze, and be sure it’s well supported.

Iron Thai silk on the inside of the garment while it is still slightly damp. If already dry, apply a damp cloth on the outside and iron through the cloth. Properly cared for Thai silk can easily last a century and be passed on to your children and grandchildren.

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