FAQ - Series #1

  • What is Soie Surfine?
    Soie Surfine is a 130/2 tightly twisted silk thread from Au ver á Soie.
  • What's the difference between Soie Surfine and Soie 100/3?
    As the weight indications would imply Soie Surfine is thinner than Soie 100/3. Soie Surfine is twisted with 2 strands of silk vs. 3 used in Soie 100 and is about 25% - 30% thinner. You can feel the weight difference with your fingers or even better, you can view it with a microscope. Both are supple threads that do not untwist like Soie d'Alger so they hold their shape and stitch smoothly.
  • Is the Society thread a skein or a spool?
    Because this is a hand-dyed thread it will come as a skein.
  • Is the skein one continuous thread or cut?
    Our threads come as a hand-twisted 100 yard cut skein. The color is aligned in the skein so you can easily use one or more strands.
  • What threads colors are part of Series #1?
    The five thread colors are rose, green, gold, blue and brown. They will each be a tone-on-tone color and will coordinate with each other as well as with the custom color of Lakeside Linens fabric we're calling Society Charm. Carmine Rose is the first color in Series #1. Olivine is the second color in Series #1 and was released in December 2009. Inca Gold is the third thread color and was relesed in February 2010. Northern Lights will be released in late March and Cocolat in late April.
  • What count fabric does it work best on?
    Soie Surfine works great as a single strand on 40 or 45 count. We have stitched with it both over one or over two on these counts. Over two on 45 count gives great coverage, it's sparser on 40 count over two so if you want it too look full, use two strands. Over one on 40 count works better than over one on 45 count if using cross-stitch - it's a little too plump but it's still lovely. If you want to do over one on 45 count do a half-cross or tent stitch. You can use it on other counts but you will need to use more than one strand. The colors are aligned in the skein so stitching with more than one strand isn't a problem.
  • Can I sign-up now the series has been going for a while?
    You can sign-up for Series #1 until approximately 30 days after we have released our last color (expected in late April 2010). You will receive all the of colors released for Series #1 up to that time as well as any not yet released as they become available. If you wait until the end of Series #1 you would get all of the threads and the fabric in one shipment.
  • Can I order more of a Series #1 thread or fabric?
    You can order more of the Series #1 thread colors and fabric until the end of Series #1. Additional thread and fabric is only available to Series #1 Subscribers. We will take orders for additional thread and fabric until approximately 30 days after our last color is released. At that time all colors will become unavailable.
  • Can I order a different count of fabric?
    We are only doing Society Cuts in the 40 and 45 count as part of the subscription. But you can order a Stitcher's Half of 28, 32, 36, 40 or 45 count as additional yardage. We will handle all the extra fabric orders after the subscription shipments have been completed. Additional fabric is only available to Series #1 Subscribers.
  • How often are the releases?
    We plan to do one each month. So there will be a single thread color in 5 of the months and the fabric in the sixth month. Timing is not exact since we have to get the base thread from France, which can sometimes take a bit and fabric from Italy and Germany.
  • When will the fabric be released?
    The fabric - Society Charm - was released in February 2010.
  • Are there designs for the thread?
    There are no specific designs at present, either for the hand-dyed Society thread or the solid colors. We are talking with designers about that but have no definite plans yet, but there is interest on the part of a few designers to work with us. However, we're sure everyone has great designs they would love to use this thread on in the meantime. Any designs that are a single color or tone-on-tone work great. You can find photos of some of them on the blog.
  • Does Soie Surfine come in solid colors?
    The Society is having the thread dyed in part because availability of the solid colors is very limited. Au ver á Soie makes Soie Surfine in several solid colors but only a small portion of that is available in the US at any given time. The Society has worked with the US distributor to bring in some of the colors in sufficient quantity so that it would be available for those wanting solid colors. Contact your Society Member Shop to see what we've been able to get for solid colors from Au Ver á Soie.

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