Welcome to Lee & Pearl Cyber Week — Day Three!

Today we have an exciting SILK FABRIC release in our Etsy store, perfect for all your holiday and heirloom doll sewing.

How do we know this fabric is perfect for doll sewing? It's the fabric we used to make this shimmering red gown for our NEW Pattern 3001: A Late Medieval Lady's Wardrobe for 16 Inch A Girl for All Time® Dolls.

We've been waiting to make THIS dress out of THAT fabric for a long time.

A while back, Lee & Pearl purchased the remaining silk fabric inventory from a small, custom manufacturer of Korean hanbok and bridal garments. We've been offering her brilliantly colored 100% silk organzas in the Fabric, Trim & Kits section of our Etsy store for over a year now — and today we're thrilled to release the next set of remarkable materials from her high-end inventory: this lightweight 100% silk shantung in a gorgeous, shimmering strié weave!

CLICK HERE to browse all our selections in the Fabric, Trim & Kits Section of the Lee & Pearl Etsy Store

CLICK HERE to go directly to the NEW 100% Silk Shantung Strié Fabric listing in the Lee & Pearl Etsy Store

We are offering this beautiful, 100% silk, 44 inch-wide fabric as cut-to-order lengths in half-yard increments. The fabric comes in the three coordinating strié-weave color ways shown above: CRANBERRY SHIMMER, MOSS ROSE and SILVER SAGE.

With its slightly slubby surface texture but crisp and otherwise smooth hand, we are classifying this material as a lightweight shantung — but with a dupioni, strié weave in which warp and weft threads of different weights and colors give the fabric a shimmering striped appearance as light hits it from different directions.

Here's a close-up of those colorful warp threads in the SILVER SAGE color way. Isn't it remarkable how such vivid colors work together to create a subtly beautiful pale green fabric?

Like many crisp silks, including our organzas, this is a super easy material to work with. It won't wriggle around while you lay out your pattern pieces and cut it. It pins and sews as easily as cotton calico. It presses into a perfect crease — or it can be steamed gently into shape as you work it between your fingers. And though we recommend you test a swatch before hand-washing your yardage in cool water if you so desire, chances are it will come through like a champ.

For human-scale dressmakers, these lightweight shantungs are suitable for airy, unstructured garments like blouses and evening wraps. They can also be used as a luxurious lining material, or underlined with a sturdy base layer and used as a decorative surface fabric in structured garments like jackets and evening wear.

But for doll-scale dressmakers, the lightness of this silk makes it an ideal material for almost anything. For instance, we would not normally recommend a crisp shantung for our medieval gown, but the CRANBERRY SHIMMER fabric worked beautifully, with the skirt gently steamed into soft folds, falling gracefully from our doll's hips to the ground.

We can't wait to try this fabric with lots of other Lee & Pearl patterns as well, such as the Pattern #1038 Bow Front Dress, the Pattern #1033 Bonjour Paris Top and Tunic and the Pattern #1031 Peplum Wrap Top.

Pearl was initially concerned that the crisp silk might not gather into doll-scale ruffles, but this test strip of the MOSS ROSE shows that with a little steam applied to ease the creases into place, even frilly garments like our Pattern #1035 Olá Brasil Dress and Top and Pattern #1022 Cookie Time Apron and Pinafore would work well in this material — and I'm sure you can think of many other pretty uses!

Of course, you can also create a suiting weight material from this fabric by underlining it (basting one set of silk pieces to a second set of muslin or calico pieces) and then using the resulting heavier weight 2-layer "fabric" for our Pattern #1964 Darling Doris Ladies' Suit or any of our Pattern #1072 Corps de Ballet, #1073 Prima Ballerina or #1076 Grand Gala Ballet Bodices.

Please NOTE that the CRANBERRY SHIMMER shantung has thicker weft (crosswise) threads and is thus a more substantial material than the MOSS ROSE and SILVER SAGE fabrics, which are almost (but not quite) sheer. Those two lighter colors might not work as well for the medieval dress pattern, which requires some weight for the skirt to hang properly.

And please be sure to check out all the photos in our listing, and read all the information on the individual colors before purchasing. Thank you!

CLICK HERE to browse all our selections in the Fabric, Trim & Kits Section of the Lee & Pearl Etsy Store

CLICK HERE to go directly to the NEW 100% Silk Shantung Strié Fabric listing in the Lee & Pearl Etsy Store!

Stay tuned for more Cyber Week fun, with a new featured sale, release or tutorial every day this week, through Friday 12/3/21!

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See you next time!