Answers to: What is silk? What do I look for when buying silk?

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Buying a silk comforter can be extremely expensive, even if you know what to look out for. So it is important that you learn as much as you can about silk and buying silk from a store on-line and off-line. Silk is one of those products that have many unique features that can complicate any decision quite easily for an untrained consumer. Here is our guide to help you to better understand what silk is and how to buy a silk comforter without getting yourself in to trouble.

While it may not seem important to know where silk came from and what it actually is, it is important because it will determine the quality and feel of anything that is made from it.

Silk is woven from a silkworm cocoon. Actually, to use the word worm is incorrect. It is actually the larvae of a moth. What makes one type of silk unique from another will depend on what the silkworm ate and where it lives. The most popular and highest quality silk is called mulberry silk.

It gets the name mulberry silk because the worm’s diet consists mostly from mulberry leaves. There are silkworms that are cultivated in lab farms. These silkworms are given special synthetic foods that will make them produce certain types of silk, usually lower quality but much quicker.

The process of getting fabric from a cocoon is quite simple. The cocoon is basically unwoven. Sometimes a single cocoon and unweave in to a 1 mile long strand. This process of unweaving has been the same for centuries. Unfortunately, the silkworm is killed for its cocoon.

Buying silk is unlike buying cotton based linen. When buying a silk comforter it is important for you to know the merchant that you are buying from and understand whether or not they have a return policy for their silk items. Silk sheets are a product that most people have to try out over a couple of days to really understand the nature of it. And to be honest, there are many people who don’t like silk for various reasons.

After you have studied the stores return policies it is then time for you to figure out the exact dimensions of your bed. You really should find silk bedding that fits your bed’s dimensions exactly. If can't find the exact size you need then you can try queen size. Queen size bedding is versatile in that it can work with most bed sizes with a bit of tucking and pulling.

Silk comforters always coming with a filling and it is important that you know what it is made of and how much it weighs. Just by these two properties alone you can determine if it is going to keep you warm and how likely it is that it will fall off of you while sleeping. Personally I don't like to use silk on hot summer nights because I tend to sweat a lot and silk will then stick to my skin making things worse. However, on cold winter nights it tends to slide off of me quite easily unless I use a very fluffy mattress pad to offset the slope of my body.

If you are going to buy any type of silk bedding product, then you should always opt for mulberry silk. Mulberry silk is the best quality silk that you can buy. Chinese people have been working with this type of silk for hundreds of years and have mastered the techniques needed to turn it in to high quality bedding. Amazingly, it is more prized than wild silk which isn't as fine or smooth as mulberry silk is.

This was a glimpse in to the world of silk, but it should leave you with a better idea of what to look for. The best thing to remember is that cheap silk from a low end store is usually a cheap product that uses a low quality silk.