Silk fabric guide
Silk Suit Design with AI
A silk suit is a specialist order: ask for silk shantung at 90 to 140 g/m², and expect fewer mills to take it on.
It is the lightest of the 12 cloths this guide lists for this cut; duchess satin comes next.
Next to duchess satin, it is lighter.
Studio films
Silk Suit at a glance
- Cloth to ask your mill for
- Silk shantung
- Typical weight
- 90 to 140 g/m²
- Drape
- Fluid, falls close to the body
- Stretch
- None
- Breathability
- High
- Warmth
- Neutral
- Care
- Dry clean
- How common
- Niche, usually a specialist order
- Typical cloth price
- $15-100/yard
Typical trade ranges, not one mill's figures: confirm them with your mill.
The suit, in numbers
- Typical length
- 72 to 78 cm, from the high point of the shoulder
- Defining details
- Matching jacket and trousers, canvassed front, lined jacket, optional turn-ups
- Cloth needed
- about 3.2 to 3.8 m of 150 cm cloth, roughly $52 to $420 of cloth at typical prices
Typical figures for an adult size M. The pattern tier is set from the real piece count when you order.
How silk behaves on a suit
In a suit it gives a soft, unstructured shoulder; the fronts need a fusible or a canvas to keep a lapel.
At this short length a fluid cloth has little room to swing, so it reads through how it clings at the bust and the hip.
It is neither warm nor cool, so it works across most of the year.
The finished piece is usually labelled dry clean only.
Water can spot it, sunlight fades it and perspiration weakens it over time, so it suits occasion pieces more than daily wear.
About silk
Silk is a protein fibre unwound from the cocoon of the silkworm, the only natural filament fibre. It is light, strong for its weight and has a lustre no other fibre matches.
Most silk is reeled in China and India, and much of the finest is woven and printed around Como, in Italy; its weight is quoted in momme, about 4.3 g/m² each.
A silk piece is often left unlined, or lined in silk habotai when a pale color has to be opaque.
Cutting, sewing and color
Use a fine 60/8 or 70/10 needle, French seams and a press cloth; pins leave marks, so pin inside the seam allowance.
It takes acid dyes deeply, which is why a silk color looks richer than the same shade on cotton.
Its high sheen catches every fold, so light it from the side and keep the background quiet.
A description to start from
A suit in silk shantung, 90 to 140 g/m², with a fluid drape and a high sheen surface, for most of the year.
If silk is not quite right
- Heavier: Satin, in duchess satin
- Warmer: Velvet, in cotton velvet
- Easier to care for: Linen, in suiting linen
Also: how the studio works, prices and questions and answers.
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