How to Use Silks in Your Quilt Making – A Review
January 22, 2025
Hi!
It’s review time again, and I’ve just finished a great class on “How to use Silks in Your Quilt Making”.
Quilter Julia McLeod has this fun class with Creative Spark as a companion to her book on this same topic (through C&T Publishing). She specialises on using silk in her quilt making, and shares a wealth of tips and her techniques in this quick class.
I don’t know about you, but using silk or other slippery fabric has always seemed too difficult to bother trying to use it in a full size quilt, but now that I know some of Julia’s tips and tricks for working with silk, it doesn’t seem that tricky after all. In fact, I’m going to be keeping an eye on my local thrift stores, to see what silk fabric I can find to have a play around with!
Examples Julia shared ranged from neck ties, to clothing and scarves and dressmaking fabric, and all can be used with great results in quilts.
(She also shared a super quick way of deconstructing a tie, to best use the silk fabric too!)
The best way to check if your fabric is indeed silk, is with a simple burn test. Julia shared what to look for, and how to determine this for yourself, when the clothing labels are vague or non-existent. And this matters, as you don’t want to wreck your project by treating a fabric incorrectly, by washing, or even scorching it if your iron’s too hot!
The three main issues with using silks in your quilt making are that it is slippery, it stretches and frays.
Whilst there are some good spray options, Julia also discussed the best fusible stabilisers to use behind your silk fabrics, for the best results for your quilt making.
Another method to use silks in your quilt making, is to work with a fabric foundation when piecing. Like paper piecing, this gives very accurate piecing, but using a light-weight cotton muslin foundation provides the stability and support the silk needs, and you can leave it in. As Julia says, “paper piecing is no good – the silk will not love you ripping the paper out.”
She covered how to draft a quilt block easily,
…and how to piece it correctly on the fabric foundation.
This class is a great foundational one for working with silk, for those of us who are not really used to using it in our quilt making. Julia shares several useful tips and tricks for making this easy, and it’s a class definitely worth taking if you are at all interested in expanding your practical knowledge of using different fabrics in your quilts, and extending past cotton.
There are some amazing quilts made from silk, like this one from Indigo_Shima,
and this from Claudia Pfeil.
Julia’s own quilts show a great variety too, from her quilted roses above, to this striking quilt made from a silk Indian saree below.
This final quilt showed a great way of incorporating different fabrics, with quilting cottons, light weight corduroy, satin and silk all working beautifully together in this quilted “Cocktail”.
You can find Julia McLeod’s “How to Use Silks In Your Quilt Making” class on the Creative Spark platform, or via the link below.
https://creativespark.ctpub.com/courses/silks-in-quilts
We have been lucky enough again this month to have one of these classes to give away too! To be in the running, please comment below with how you’d like to use silks in your quilt making, and we’ll draw one name out next Tuesday.
Good luck, and do check out this fun class this week.
Enjoy your week!
5 responses to “How to Use Silks in Your Quilt Making – A Review”
Leave a Reply
Welcome to our
Online Quilt Magazine Blog
Read through to discover hints and tips, articles from magazine contributors, sneak peeks and more!
Please enter your email address in the box below to receive notification of
new posts by email.
I would love to do this class! I have some beautiful silks I bought in Singapore but have been too afraid to use them!! They would really add to my personal quilts.
This could be the inspiration and instruction I need to give my grandchildren a memorial of their pawpaw–transform his silk ties into pillows.
I have silk ties from my father and some from my nephew. I would like to use them in a quilt or wall hanging.
The guild challenge this year is to make a 12″ block, “Flower fantasy” I have a small piece of silk satin from my wedding dress, 60 years ago that I want to incorporate into my entry
I have made several quilts: 2 wall-hangings, and a queen, using silks and have learned something about the temperament is silk each time. I still have a variety of different silk in my stash and will make more. This time it’s more wall hangings I think! And the workshop would definitely inspire me.