Back in the day, silk basting thread was the norm - it was the only thing we used. Sadly, it’s become nearly impossible to find in the right weights for basting, so cotton has become an alternative. And certainly there are times when Japanese basting cotton (which we also sell) is a fine choice - when basting on a thick, textured bouclé, for instance, where a thinner thread might be difficult to see.
But - then there’s silk - and it truly is the gold standard. And, amazingly, we’ve come across a cache of silk thread - produced in the US when such a thing was widely manufactured here.
I can’t imagine we’ll ever come across such a collection again. When it all arrived and we began unpacking it, I was stunned. And thrilled.
Using it will remind you why it’s absolutely heavenly for basting. It glides in, it glides out when it’s time to remove it, it does’t leave an impression on the fabric if it’s pressed - in short, it’s perfect for the job.
I hadn’t basted with silk thread for a long time, and when I tried some of this, I was reminded why it’s so fabulous to work with. It’s gorgeous.
There are a number of manufacturers - mostly Rice, Belding Corticeilli, Gutebrod/Utica - and the spools are large - most are 450-550 yards.
Color-wise, most of them are what I’d call neutrals - a range of browns and greys, dark greens, beiges, silver - they’re all colors that are ideal for basting.
There are some brighter colors, too, and we’ve grouped those in the Special Boxes - boxes with 9 different colors. As you can imagine, there is a very limited number of those.
So, we’re selling:
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single spools (we will select the color)
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sets of 3 spools (we will try to vary the color), and
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the Special Boxes of 9 spools (all different colors).
