Silk twill: 12mm--heavy enough?

[Rana]

I'm interested in attempting some cotehardies (men & women's) in silk twill, but the only sources I have found (Dharma Trading and the LA garment district) carries only 12mm, which seems fairly light for cotes.

Plus I'd have to dye it. I'm willing to give it a go if 12 mm is "good", but I'd hate to go to all that trouble and expense to discover it's just too light.

I've looked at fashion fabrics and denver fabrics (which seem to be the same company, yes?), there's not much there to work with unless you like yellow. I don't do yellow.

Thanks in advance!

[azure d'or]

You can put the yellow in a dye vat ...

My thoughts - 12 mm is rather light. I'd line it completely if you're serious about using it, especially if you're wanting the women's garments to be supportive.

Every now and then, fabric.com has silk twill, but I haven't checked recently.

You're in Caid, have you seriously shopped in the fabric district in LA? (Probably a dumb question, but ...)

[Rana]

... the only sources I have found (Dharma Trading and the LA garment district...

So yep, went to the fabric/garment district. While I didn't go into every store, I popped into the ones I know are good for natural fabrics, and found...exactly what Dharma Trading offers (white 12mm).

I guess I'll keep checking fabric.com.

Thanks for the weight input!

[lordfulmine]

Can't vouch for them as I haven't ordered from them yet, but http://www.fashionfabricsclub.com/ has a wide selection of pretty much any fabric.

[Charlotte J]

I've gotten it from FFC, and been happy. I don't know the weight, though. There seems to be a lot of yellow, but also some olives, tans, etc. And ecru, which would be easily dyeable. I'd maybe order a swatch first?

http://www.fashionfabricsclub.com/catal ... ?TypId=568

[Rana]

You know Charlotte (and others), you're right, that's likely the best way to get decent weight silk twill at this stage.

I'm not crazy about probably having to dye, but there are very talented folks out here who've already told me they'd help in that regard.

Thanks.

[Rana]

I forgot to ask, when I was looking for the silk twill in the garment district, I was shown "3-ply" silk which was very expensive, and told about 4-ply silk, which was nt available but I was told it is the platinum of silk (and is correspondingly expensive).

Now I'm not going to spend $35/yd on 3-ply silk, but is that appropriate for recreating historical garments?