TWO NEW SILK FABRICS ARRIVING SOON | MAY 2019

For the first quarter of this year the state of the Chinese Silk Industry is still in flux. Prices have not yet come down as expected from and from their all time high of last year, partially due to the postponement of a resolution to the trade agreement between China and the USA.

We are still optimistic that later this year prices will lower and we can restock our 4.5 momme Tissue Silk (Silk Georgette). In the meantime, we managed to secure two fabulous NEW fabrics at an incredible price, given the state of the market. They are currently ‘on the boat’ and are expected to arrive in June.

One of the fabrics is a 3.5momme Crepe Silk Georgette to supplement our Tissue Silk fabric line. This new fabric has an incredible springy crepe texture! It’s handle will have a slight stretch due to it’s crepe yarn structure. The fabric was offered to us on a clearance sale from the supplier and therefore will be a ‘limited edition’.

Our other new fabric is great addition to our Silk Chiffon line. It was also sold to us as a ‘Limited Edition, clearance priced’ 4.3 momme extra wide, Silk Chiffon (140cm wide, 55inches). This fabric is fine and translucent enough to see through and is an excellent choice for fine nuno felting. When you purchase 140cm wide fabric, the cost is slightly higher, but remember you will receive 23% more fabric! 

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MAGNETIC CLOSURES FOR FELT and FABRIC

Treetops is happy to introduce our new line of one-off exclusive Australian designed magnetic closures for felt and fabrics.  Everyone knows how hard it is to find an appropriate fastening device for felt garments.  Button holes stretch, hooks and snaps can leave a garment with limited options for which it can be worn, pins can leave holes….

Our wonderful friend, Soosie Jobson, has come up with a gorgeous and inspiring solution for all of us! Uniquely designed magnetic closures (brooches) have been hand-crafted from Polymer clay and designed to coordinate with many of our Treetops Colour Harmonies colourways! Each brooch is unique.

The magnets are strong enough for lightweight to mid-weight felt. She will be developing a range for heavy weight felt in the near future. Swivel magnetic back to a vertical position to remove. Health warning: Magnetic device. Do NOT use with pacemaker. Click Here for products.

SILK CHIFFON (extra wide) | BASE TONES

Treetops just received a special ‘Limited Edition’ shipment of extra wide (140cm, 55inch) Silk Chiffon fabric. Fantastic for sewing and nuno felting of garments because of its wider width and slightly heavier weight (5.5 momme).

We have created a unique dyeing technique for this fabric called ‘Base Tones’. The fabric is designed to coordinate with many different Colour Harmonies. By removing the highlight colour, a more tonal colourway has been created. It’s up to you then to add a variety of ‘splash’ colours to create your own personalized colour statement.

The Chiffon is a slightly more dense and lustrous weave than our Tissue Silk (Silk Georgette). It drapes more like Paj silk fabric and appearance is halfway between shiny and flat.

When you purchase 140cm (55inch) wide fabric, the cost is slightly higher, but remember you are purchasing 23% more fabric!

More colours coming soon!!

ORNAMENTAL METAL PRESS SNAPS

Our NEW Ornamental Metal Press Snaps are an elegant closure solution for felted garments. Simply sew these strong snaps into position. They lie very flat against the felt and are not bulky at all. A great solution instead of button holes….

Hint: if you don’t want the stitching to be seen on the front-side of your felt, simply don’t push needle through to the other side, just catch enough fibres with your needle/thread to hold snap in place.

To create a  Reversible Garment Closure stitch a snap on both the front and back of each side of your garment. Therefore when your garment is reversed it can be snapped closed either way. An additional bonus being that the front-side would have a decorative snap showing, which could be quite nice.

Colours available include: Antique Brass, Gunmetal, Grey Silver, Hexagonal Gunmetal and Black Gunmetal.  Snaps measure 20-21 mm in diameter. Sold as a set.

SAMPLER PAC | SILK MESH DESIGN PACK

The Silk Mesh Design Pack is designed using our Exclusive Silk Mesh Fabric in conjunction with our Silk Hankies and Bombyx Silk tops.  It’s a great way to obtain a variety of products to play with, all of which have been chosen around a central colour theme.

We have put together eight colourways for your designing pleasure: Tropical, Ghost Gum, Bush Tucker, Dark & Moody, Ambient, Obsession, The Melbourne, River of Blue.

Each Silk Mesh Design Pack contains:

  • Silk Mesh fabric in 3 Colour Harmonies, each piece is 25cm long x 114cm wide
  • 15gms of Silk Hankies in 3 colourways
  • 12gms of Bombyx Silk tops in 2-3 colourways

SILK MESH NEWS FLASH!

We have just discovered you can indeed ‘Snip and Rip’ our Silk Mesh fabric. Simply make a 2cm (3/4″ inch) snip. Then hold your hand approximately 25cm (10 inch) apart on each side of the snip and then just rip (pull hands apart)… I usually cut the last little bit left on the selvage with scissors so the last few threads don’t pull. Will little wonders never cease to amaze…Cheers!

SILK MESH VIDEOS

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words… Treetops has taken the plunge and decided it was time to make a video about our new Silk Mesh fabric. We are very pleased to be able to share with you all the tips and techniques we have discovered about using our new hand-dyed open weave silk fabric.

For a printed version of the video, please click on these PDF links.  Discovering Silk Mesh and Pulling a Thread in Silk Mesh.

A huge thank you should go out to Soosie Jobson, my head computer tech and head video engineer. She has many areas of talent, one of which being her own YouTube channel where she teaches free tutorials about 3-D shrinkage rates other felt related things. Check her out at Soosie YouTube.

NEW SILK FABRICS

Paj Silk Fabric now in two weights | 2017

Treetops is delighted to offer our clients two different weights of Paj Silk fabric. We selected these fabrics with both nuno feltmakers and clothing designers in mind. The 4.5 momme Paj silk is lighter weight and fabulous for scarves and wraps. We suggest using the slightly denser and more sturdy 5 momme Paj for garments. When ordering you will be asked to select which weight of Paj Silk fabric will best suit your needs.