Need help with silk...
 

A friend/co-worker has lost a tremendous amount or weight and has asked if I would make a quilt out of his large - no longer wearable - silk shirts. They're all Hawaiian prints and very beautiful. I've never made a quilt out of silk and am wondering if I can mix silk with cotton. Also ... what type of batting would be suitable? I'm excited about the quilt as the prints are beautiful! I cherish all of the expert advise I gather from all of you and hope you can advise me in this venture. Thanks so much!!

Lucky you. I would stick with silk as the fibers get treated differently in cleaning. There are quilt battings available in wool/silk blends that would be nice with silk. I don't remember the brand. Have fun.

you will need to use a lightweight stablizer (interfacing) with the silks---it will make a huge difference in cutting and stitching- use a new, thin, sharp needle- a new blade in your cutter.
Dream Orient is a great choice for batting. it is a bamboo/silk blend- fabulous to work with
i have successfully mixed silks and cottons- in a quilt with wonderful outcome.
the only thing i worried about was iron temp...don't want to scorch the silks-
a good fusable, lightweight stablizer and you are ready to jump into your project! enjoy the process & be sure to share pictures :)

Thanks for the info! I'll be taking the shirts apart this weekend. I have 13 silk shirts and 2 rayon shirts. I'll use the rayon shirts to make pillows. The silk shirts will make a small quilt, but he wants something just to remember them...they're really nice shirts and were some of his favorites.

Thanks for pointing out the cleaning of the silk. I'm now going to be sure that I have the front and back in silk!

You will definitively need to stabilize the silk fabric. I feel the same as WilliP. You could put cotton borders around it to get around the ironing part. Silks sew nice but are slippery. Take your time sewing...don't be a speed racer. The bamboo batting is great also. How I always make things for other people is I make it like I was going to keep it for myself. Good Luck and be patient. Also you're friend needs to realize that this isn't a fast thing to just throw it together.

Buy silk pins. Make certain your needle is sharp. Don't be in a hurry. Silk is a wonderful fabric. You can even get silk thread if you want. Keep your iron cool enough. Have fun; use an easy block that will showcase those beautiful prints; they do not need any complicated piecing to distract the eye.

PLEASE go to Debbie Maddy's website and read her tips on how to use silk! Trust me, you will LOVE the process if you do it correctly!
http://www.calicocarriage.com/images...ith%20silk.pdf

I don't have any tips, I'm just green that you get to play with silk! And make sure you post pics when you're done, please??

Thank you for the link!