Silk fabric guide
Silk Trench Coat Design with AI
A silk trench coat is a specialist order: ask for silk faille at 120 to 200 g/m², and expect fewer mills to take it on.
Of the 13 cloths this guide lists for this cut, it sits between organza and polyester gabardine in weight.
Next to polyester gabardine, it is lighter, more fluid, shinier and more demanding to care for.
Silk Trench Coat at a glance
- Cloth to ask your mill for
- Silk faille
- Typical weight
- 120 to 200 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 trench coat, in numbers
- Typical length
- 100 to 115 cm, from the high point of the shoulder
- Defining details
- Storm flap, epaulettes, belt with D-rings, back yoke, deep vent
- Cloth needed
- about 3.2 to 4.0 m of 150 cm cloth, roughly $52 to $440 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 trench coat
In a trench coat it gives a soft, unstructured shoulder; the fronts need a fusible or a canvas to keep a lapel.
Cut long, a fluid cloth pools and trails, and its weight pulls the hem down, so it is hung for a day before hemming.
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 trench coat in silk faille, 120 to 200 g/m², with a fluid drape and a high sheen surface, for most of the year.
If silk is not quite right
- Lighter: Organza, in organza
- Heavier: Polyester, in polyester gabardine
- Warmer: Wool, in wool melton
- Easier to care for: Cotton, in cotton gabardine
- More structure: Tweed, in wool tweed
Also: how the studio works, prices and questions and answers.
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