“With time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown” – Ancient Chinese Proverb.

Dress made of Wild Peace Silk

Silk is one of the oldest fabrics dating back as far as 2900 BC. Silk is a luxurious fiber/fabric that comes from the cocoons made by silk worms in what is truly an amazing process of Mother Nature. Silk worms create a cocoon for their transformation into mothhood and leave behind a beautiful silk home with which we can spin into thread and fabric. Fueled by mulberry leaves, they spin a white fluffy cocoon from one single strand. However like so many other things, when made commercially the process loses some of that sustainable harmony. Commercially produced silk stops the process before the moths emerge so that none of the silk cocoon fibers are broken. This is how one site describes the process: “Once the worms happily eat their way to 10,000 times their weight at hatching time, which only takes them about a month, they have enough energy to spin their cocoon. That takes them three to four days. The cocoon looks like a little white fluffy ball. The cocoons are kept in a warm place for about 8 days. Then the cocoons are steamed or heated to a higher temperature to kill the worms inside them because they have now completed the job they were meant to do.”

Well thanks to “Peace Silk” if you do not wish to kill the worms and still have or wear a little silk you can. From Aurora Silk: “Peace Silk” lets the silkworm live out its full life cycle. “Peace silk”, also known as “vegetarian silk” is raised and processed differently. The moths are allowed to emerge from their cocoons to live out their full life cycle. The silk is degummed and spun like other fiber, instead of being reeled. The resulting yarn is soft, fluffy, and light like a cloud.

Wild Silk Dress by Fin

So who is using Peace Silk…where can you find it? EcoFashion pioneer Deborah Lindquist uses peace silk in her line making beautiful shorts, pants, jackets and more.  Norwegian label Fin uses peace silk also called wild silk as one of their collection fabrics making some beautiful dresses, jackets and shorts. Wedding gowns in wild peace silks are becoming more and more available as are green weddings altogether. If you are looking just for the fabric check out Aurora Silk. They offer a nice array of silk fabrics, natural and dyed as well as information on harvesting your own silk. Aurora silk even sells worms and cocoons!

That is a wrap on peace silk. Hopefully this has given you a new appreciation for the silk worm and the amazing process of creating silk. I know if we ate pounds and pounds of mulberry leaves we wouldn’t make anything close.

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