Silk quilting questions!
 

Hi All!
My grandmother worked for many years in fabric showroom. When she retired and the showroom closed, she made off with bags of fabric samples-- the sneaky minx! She's in full-time care now and I came across a bag of beautiful upholstery silk samples when we packed up the house. I am hoping to make a quilt with them, but I am already faced with a number of questions.

Below is a quick pic of the fabrics I am dealing with. Some are only two or three swatches, but there are many of the dark silk with colored squares and the plaids.

Sentimentally, the first thing that came to mind was a lone star quilt. She gave me a lone star when I was a baby that had been passed down for years, but I was a rough kid and its falling apart now. I don't know if I have the skill yet to manage all these stripes and plaids, along with the warp and weft, while managing diamond pieces. I'm not even sure these fabrics would look nice as a lone star, I can't imagine it-- but I am getting bored with bricks and squares and would like a challenge. Any suggestions?

I read a list of suggestions on Cherry House Quilts for dealing with silk. Pinking shears, larger seam allowance, etc. Even here is this forum people suggest using a fusible backing to stabilize the fabric. This fabric is thin, but it is stiff upholstery fabric, not silky-silk. I am afraid that backing it will make it too stiff to ever be comfortable. Fusible-back on already-stiff silk?

Lastly, it is all marked dry-clean only. Do I risk a quick hand-wash before going at it? Or do I just consider the finished quilt dry-clean only?

Any ideas or thoughts are greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance :)
-Em

Plaids are not really the best choice for a Lone Star. I worked in the Home Dec department of House of Fabrics and don't remember having any silk upholster fabrics. You might want to do some homework seeing if these fabrics are washable. I remember that even the Cotton home dec fabric had washing instructions that always stated to "Dry Clean" the fabric.

I know what you mean by wanting to challenge your quilting skills. I might want to look at wall quilts since the need for washing them are less than a bed quilt. I would Google "Plaid quilts" and look at the pictures to see if you could find something that would inspire and challenge you at the same time. Have fun and good luck !!

I think your right about plaids and a lone star, I am stumped. I am looking around online and most plaids used have a much smaller pattern that what I am working with. The labels on the fabric are from the showroom, Payne Fabrics, and read: Made in India, 100% Silk, Dry Clean Only. They samples taped with some heavy tape and serged, so I except to deal some unraveling.

Hopefully, I can find some more inspiring pictures! I feel like this load of fabric is really too good for me! Thanks for you advice!

my feeling on 'free' fabric is... wash it and see if you can live with the results. if it doesn't work out, nothing really lost. i feel this way because i refuse to remember which finished items need special attention. i only keep things in my house that can be washed in the 'regular' manner. JMHO :o

First, I would take your least favorite piece and hand wash it, just to see how it does. Can you get Woolite or another soap for delicates? I would also use a sheerweight stabilizer, like pellon 906. Again, iron it on a least favorite piece to get your iron temp correct. I wouldn't worry too much about the scale of the plaid, and go with a simple pattern that uses squares & HSTs

I understand your wanting to challenge yourself - but I am thinking that the fabric alone may be enough of a challenge. then you can challenge yourself technique or quilt wise on your next project with quilting cotton. I am thinking that something scrappy might look good. I recently saw a scrappy dresden that was beautiful. I m sure someone will suggest just the right pattern for you.

Since you like the Lone Star, you might check out the one made from HST. You could make it in larger cuts than the regular pattern and no diamonds. (Debbie Maddy has the 'no diamonds' patterns.)

Thanks so much for your suggestions! I am looking at HST and square patterns. We'll see how well this stuff takes to being washed!

I would do as suggested above...choose your least favorite piece. Measure it and then put thru a regular wash cycle--exactly as someone would do with a quilt...maybe a dry cycle also (tho I line dry mine), and then iron and re-measure to see how much ''damage'' you have done. Only then would I put the labor and cost into actually designing the quilt. Your fabrics are beautiful and would make gorgeous purses---or pillows. Had you tho't of those?