For markets it is kept in its green state in order to disallow the pupa to mature. Reeled, spun and noil. Thrown silk comes in two separate types: organzine  which is tightly twisted and plied and used as a warp, and tram  which has only a slight twist, and is usually used as weft.Noil or Bourette silk yarns:These are the left over fibers from the pupa. When starting a project with silks, the thickness and twist are most important. The yarns are slippery and will slip and creating a tangled mess.Spun silk yarn:This silk is the weak filament from the cocoon. Noil silks are easier to China high speed winding machine Manufacturers use, however it is best to tug on the strand to ensure the strength for warp.

This high quality silk yarn is still slippery, so a good tip is to use an empty paper towel tube put on the arm of the ball winder to keep the yarns tidy. Because of its slickness, its best to wind your warp and shuttle right from a sideways clamped swift. I started referencing silk yarns for weaving on the computer and found there was a lot of information. This silk is most common for hand weavers.Silk comes from the cocoon of a silkworm. It is the left over from the reeling process. The fiber is cut into uniform lengths and carded to remove tangles and any brown pupa from the cocoon. It then rotates its body 200,000 times in three days creating a silk thread the size of 12 football fields. Reeled silk that has twist added is called thrown silk.

It creates its cocoon with this silk.Here is a quick overview of silk. The majority is good for warp but single ply yarns are easily broken so might be better as a weft. The damaged, discolored, or uneven shaped cones are the raw material for this beautiful, cream colored silk yarn. This new strand will look similar to a human hair strand.Recently I decided to start a weaving project using silk yarns, instead of my usual wool. I found myself overwhelmed by multiple sites with either differing information or tangents of unnecessary information. Always check samples and the yardage available before starting. In the past these reeled silks were commonly used for large industrial weaving looms. It is designed to save time and unnecessary stress and frustration. Be aware if you plan to use reeled silk in your loom.Sorting the cocoons and opening the silk produces three grades of yarn. When the silkworm is ready to molt, it excretes fibroinand sericin, two natural proteins. The cocoons are unraveled 6-20 at one time, because one strand is too fine to be used alone.

There is a 2 week time period when this must be done, otherwise the pupa matures and excretes a brown juice, which disintegrates the silk cocoon. This is a quick reference guide for anyone wanting information about types of weaving silk yarns. Handle as little as possible to resist fluffing and pilling. Recently however, it has become available to hand weavers. I compiled all the information I needed for myself, and posted this article for anyone in my situation to reference. Noil has the strongest silk odor because of its impurities. They are short strands which has less luster and body as the others, resulting in a lower quality spun silk.Reeled:This is the highest quality of silk, only perfect cocoons can be used. These odors can be lessened by washing; however there is a possibility it will return when wet. Better still, having a few swifts saves tangling frustrations with any silk yarn.. Also, yarn winding machine Factory skip the ball winding process. It might take some practice/trial runs before you start your project.