Originally Posted by
peaceandjoy
frannella, how does the silk compare as far as warmth and breathability?
Interestingly, I find wool to be cooler than cotton, while DH finds it to be warmer. He is ALWAYS cold, where I have found that hot flashes will be part of my life forever.
Peace and Joy--I have been told (by a quilt teacher) that silk will keep you just as warm as wool. Based off one tablecloth (my only silk batt project to date), it's a little hard for me to give you an answer. IMHO, silk has a lighter heft and/or more fluid drape, if you will, and is probably more breathable. That might make it warmer.
Silk is
really lovely stuff, but I also I know more than one quilter who lines her silk batts with a thin 100% cotton batt as well. I think they do it for strength and possibly for warmth as well. To be clear, their quilt sandwiches are composed of : quilt top, cotton batting, silk batting, quilt backing. Because it's so dear, I haven't experimented with silk batt beyond my one tablecloth. Wool batts breathe, too, and I go through an awful lot of wool batting and I think it isn't as warm as cotton because of its breathability.
Although the protection-from-bugs issue is equally relevant to silk, I haven't seen silk sold in rolls, so that issue is moot. Packaged battings are easier to protect, control, and store than rolls are. I am sure there are a lot of quilters on this list who use silk batts, but silk batting vs wool batting is probably another thread. HTH and Happy sewing.