Satin Science

Ask a shop assistant if a satin dress can survive rain and you will often get a shrug, a guess, or a confident yes that means nothing. One word, satin, seems to promise a single behavior in water. They do not. What happens next depends on what the satin is made from, how it was…

Ask a shop assistant if satin breathes and you will get a one word answer. That answer will be wrong half the time. Satin is not one cloth with one fixed behavior in heat. It is a weave, and the fiber woven into it decides how it handles air and sweat. That is why two…

What happens to satin after it is woven? Woven satin goes through preparation, dyeing and finishing before it is the fabric you buy. The cloth that comes off the loom, called greige, is usually dull, stiff and undyed, and it still carries the oils, sizing or natural gums that helped the yarn survive weaving. Wet…

What are drape and shine in satin? Drape is how a fabric hangs and folds under its own weight, and shine is how much light it reflects back to your eye. Satin is prized for both, and they are linked: the same smooth, fluid structure that lets satin fall in soft folds also gives it…

What is momme? Momme is a unit of weight that silk sellers use to describe how heavy a silk fabric is. One momme equals 4.34 grams per square metre of silk fabric, so a 19 momme silk weighs about 82 grams per square metre, and a 22 momme silk about 95. A higher momme means…

What does GSM mean for satin? GSM means grams per square metre: the weight of one square metre of fabric. It is the standard way to say how heavy a fabric is, whatever its fiber, and it lets you compare a silk satin, a polyester satin and a heavy duchess satin on the same scale….

What is a float in a satin weave? A float is a stretch where a yarn travels over several crossing yarns without being tied down. In a satin weave, each lengthwise (warp) yarn floats over four or more crosswise (weft) yarns before it dips under one and locks the fabric together. Those long, unlocked stretches…