What is the Difference Between Silk & Satin?

Usually the answer to this question is something like 'Silk is natural & more expensive, satin is a cheaper man-made alternative.'
WRONG!
This must be one of my biggest sewing peeves. Obviously being a seamstress & milliner I have learned about fabrics, their weaves, their fibres & their uses, & I can excuse those who don't sew for not knowing. But the number of sewists & bloggers who claim to have a clue, get this answer wrong.
The difference between silk & satin is, silk is a fibre & satin is a weave.
SILK is the content of the fabric.
Like wool, cotton, cashmere, linen, viscose rayon, polyester, nylon & tencel etc, silk is a thread  & is derived from silk worms. If you look at any clothing tag it should list the fibre content that is either natural or man-made or a blend of fibres. You should not see satin listed here.

Silk in the raw looks like this.

 SATIN, however is not a fibre, but a weave that typically has a glossy surface and a dull back. The satin weave is characterised by four or more weft yarns floating over a warp yarn or vice versa, four warp yarns floating over a single weft yarn. 
For example

Source Study Blue Textiles Flash cards

So you can have silk satin which is more expensive & luxurious, it will fall differently to a man-made fibre content. Equally you can have poly, nylon or acetate stains, which are cheaper & don't have the same feel or sheen. Other natural fibres can also be used for satins, such as cotton, which is usually known as sateen, & even wool.
There are some fabulous man-made satins produced these days, & when it comes to something like the heavier weight Duchess or Elizabeth satins they can be be quite stunning & reasonable hard to distinguish, even to the trained eye/touch. I've been fooled on more than one occasion.
And when you want the dress of you dreams at a more affordable price, they are a good alternative.

Here endeth the lesson on silk & satin.

Fonts & fascinators & 7 fabric dresses

Where did this last week go?

I have so many things I want to get on to, but there are never enough hours.

I've been on a 'make Empireroom look professional' jag recently.
I have these gorgeous head pieces & now everything else needs to look just as gorgeous, to get them out there & selling.
There's so much involved.
A new font & logo, better pictures, a new website with online shop, more samples for the range, sourcing materials. and then there is the business side of things.

I've been doing Marie Forleo's B-School which has opened up so many resources & information I feel a little like a duck. Serenely gliding over the water, with my little legs going like the blazes under the surface. There is a lot to digest in only 8 weeks, but i have learned so much about how to run an online business.

On the creative side, this has been happening.
Some more silk flowers with left over wedding petals.

A new blusher veil, in several different fabrics, this is crystal tulle.

Miz Mimi sporting last week's silk flower blusher.

A box of gorgeous crystal samples & some lace that I've been thinking of including in some 1920's bandaeaus

More petals & layered vintage motifs. I got these motifs in a huge garbage bag of dirty vintage lace from Job Warehouse years ago. They've been in the trims box at school since making lots of 1930's lingerie for 42nd Street in 2006. 

After all this time they suddenly spoke to me & said they were destined for bridal head pieces. And I think I agree with their destiny. I have stiffened them & layered  three on top of each other, all individually trimmed & with some beaded & gold thread they will look amazing

I also pick up this adorable Regency pattern & want to try the frilled wrap in silk & lace.

Of course the obsession with Wizard of Oz continues.

Glinda  & the Wicked Witch of the West  have hit the forefront & I'm so excited for their costumes now. 

Glinda was so hard because there are such strong images of her costume already out there. 

The MGM fairy floss pink  1930's fairy princess, the Meringue wedding dress of Wicked & the recent Great & Powerful Oz Glinda in slinky medieval inspired dresses.

I wanted my Glinda to be different & when the suggested wedding dress from Les Mis did not fit our actress, I was so happy to return to the drawing board.

Our Glinda will be wearing a dress of blue & gold brocade with 6 layers  of Organza, blue brocade, Glitter organza, blue tulle, gold spider web fabric in her skirt & silk shot chiffon sleeve drapes.

This was the inspiration.

 Our Wicked Witch also need to be equally spectacular. 

No ugly dowdy version. I loved that Wicked made her beautiful, paving the way to move beyond warts & pointed noses.

When I saw this 1890's dress on Pinterest I knew this was the foundation of the design. Majestic, elegant & powerful.

 Coupled with this pattern in my collection, I delved into the fabric store room & grabbed every textured scrap of fabric I could find. Lots of the pieces are from Chicago 2 years ago. I also like the feather trimming in the recent Oz incarnation & luckily I still had some Babette trim from Beauty & the Beast. Every single pattern piece is a different fabric, from sheer lace under sleeve, 3D flower fabric over sleeves, red & black lace overlay front panel, stretch cotton brocade bodice, lurex thread sleeve caps, crushed taffeta over skirt, red glitter tulle front under skirt & a removable black & red feather stand up collar.

Here is a little mock up with the scraps after cutting. 

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No business like Show Business

It's been a big week of creativity & culling.
I spent a lot of last week rearranging my workroom.

In my line of work it's impossible to throw anything out. 
You never know when you will need that piece of fabric, trim, cardigan, button, tool. So you have a ridiculously large stash of everything.

But with the new focus on millinery & accessories I decided a large amount of fabric could move to the garage, freeing up space for millinery supplies to be a hand.

Being a professional hoarder often means your work space can get out of hand, but my semi New Years resolution, to clean up after every project has stuck. I'm finding it liberating to pack everything away & have my work table & sewing space clear every few days or weeks. 

In my creativity this week I designed lots of costumes for the Wizard of Oz, 

made a year 12 formal dress 

& designed a new bridal comb to add to the collection.

The lovely Miz Mimi also joined our little team at Empireroom. You'll see her sporting our upcoming designs.

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Clean up Day

After yesterday's effort of trying to stiffen all the silk petals for my wedding fascinator on my work room floor & being left with a stiffened back, I am resolved to completely clear my storage, um I mean work table, so I can actually work on it. I'm sure I'll find lots of goodies I have forgotten I have. So that's the plan for today. Also got a call from a friend at church to help alter her daughters costumes for their upcoming production of Oliver. That should be easy, their school borrowed them from my 2010 production.

Pretty Pieces

I have too many options for the Biggish Day. I have searched so many website, wedding blogs, magazines, that I can't narrow all the ideas down. I guess on the upside I can just try a whole heap & then sell what I don't absolutely love. Good way to get my Etsy shop up & happening again.
Waistbands, fascinators, jewellery, dresses. No, I should really only make one dress.
Tomorrow I get started. Really, the search has to stop & the making has to start.