SILK TULLE

Sericulture or the cultivation of silk, begins with the silk moth laying its eggs on a specially prepared paper.  When the small worms are hatched, they are fed on fresh mulberry leaves.

The silkworm spins its silk filaments into a cocoon.  The cocoons are crushed to find the outside ends of the filaments and then several filaments are reeled to make a skein of yarn.

Approximately four hair thin threads are used in silk bridal veiling and they are woven together in a distinctive oval with six pyramid points. When compared to nylon netting, a nylon thread appears as a diamond shape without pyramid stars.

Sericin or gum, is a natural component of the silk.  It is not usually removed from silk until after the net is woven because it serves as warp sizing to protect the yarns from mechanical injury.  It also permits the thread to be used without "twist."  The seracin acts as a sizing and gives the veiling stiffness.

Once the silk sericulture process was revealed in fashion periodicals, the sophisticated Edwardian Bride considered it to be the height of fashion.  Rumor had it that a silk tulle veil took months to make and the reality was that the rumor wasn't far from the truth.

  By the end of World War I, the rarer silk veiling was now cut into veils with silk floss tambour chain stitched into delicate designs.  The tambour work was generally done in small workshops.

 By the mid 1920's, silk veils became the Bridal standard.

English Edwardian Style Silk Tambour Veil