FAQs

YLI Silk Threads

  • What is Kanagawa silk?
  • At last I know the answer! There is no difference between “Kanagawa” silk thread and YLI silk thread except the packaging and spool. All YLI silk is made and dyed by Kanagawa Co., Ltd of Japan. YLI may directly import spools or cards of thread from Kanagawa. And as such the cards and spools will display the Japanese information. In other cases, YLI will directly import large cones of thread and rewind it onto spools and cards at their plant in Rock Hill, SC. And at that time of this writing all 1000 denier and #30 silks are imported on cards and spools directly from Japan. #50 silk can be a mixture of importing on spools from Japan or rewinding from cones at Rock Hill, SC. But in the end analysis the only difference is in the spools. So what is the difference between a Kanagawa and YLI spools? The Kanagawa spools is 28 mm in diameter and 37 mm tall while a YLI spool is 32 mm in diameter and 33 mm tall. So a Kanagawa spool is taller and skinner than a YLI spool. For what is worth my wife prefers a YLI spool.
  • What thread is suitable for making jewelry or string beads?
  • It is known that 100 weight, 50 weight, and 30 weight YLI silk threads and not suitable for this application. However, 1000 denier YLI silk threads can be used for beading applications on material. So it may be suitable for string beads or jewelry. If not, you may be able to use it by twisting two or more strands of 1000 denier silk thread together. Until someone tells me, I just do not know the complete answer to this question.
  • Can this silk thread be used for fly tying or fly rod eye binding?
  • Yes, I have personally used 100 weight YLI silk threads for binding eyes to fishing rods. And my grandchildren have also used it on their rods beginning with their first fishing rod. I used a rod wrapping jig and the 100 weight silk. You just need to take some care with it so as to not snap the thread in the middle of a wrap. YLI 30 weight and 50 weight silks are also used for this application and are stronger. These threads work equally well with bobbins. Do not use the 1000 denier silk thread as it too highly twisted.
  • What YLI silk thread is the strongest?
  • The short answer from the strongest / thickest to the weakest / thinnest silk threads it is 1000 Denier Silk > #30 Silk > #50 Silk > #100 Silk. But to better understand why, it is helpful to understand some thread terminology.

Weight – is a way of indicating the thickness of a thread. The most common weight system specifies the length of the thread in kilometers required to weigh 1 kilogram. Therefore, the higher the weight number, the thinner the thread.

Denier – is a weight specification that states how many grams 9,000 meters of the thread weighs. The greater the denier number, the thicker the thread. The denier weight system also specifies the number of strands of the specified weight which were wrapped together to make the finished thread.

Tex – is the mass in grams of 1,000 meters of thread. If 1,000 meters weighs 25 grams, it is tex 25. The larger the Tex number, the larger the thread.

Tex / Weight / Denier
1000 Denier Silk / 105 / 1000
#30 Silk / 60 / 30 / 567
#50 Silk / 27 / 50 / 243
#100 Silk / 12 / 100 / 125
  • What size needle do I needle to use with silk thread?
  • That, obviously, varies with the size of the silk thread so while I am at it, I may as well provide some additional information on each silk thread.

Machine Needle / Available Colors / Applications
1000 Denier Silk / 90 – 100 / 100 / Topstitching, Quilting, Beading Silk Ribbon Embroidery, Cross Stitch and Other Embellishments
#30 Silk / 90 – 100 / 35 / Hand Buttonholes, Topstitching, and Quilting; Rod Wrapping and Fly Tying
#50 Silk / 80 – 90 / 88 / Construction, Machine Quilting, and Embroidery; Rod Wrapping and Fly Tying
#100 Silk / 60 – 70` / 67 / Machine Quilting, Hand or Machine Appliqué; Rod Wrapping and Fly Tying
  • Can I machine wash an application made with YLI silk thread?
  • Well you can wash it anyway you want, but I would not recommend it. My wife tells me to hand wash and drip dry or dry clean anything made with silk thread. And I trust and listen to my wife.
  • How much thread is on a spool of Sparkle?
  • That can be confusing as you will see it expressed in meters and yards and the numbers are not always correct. It is also puzzling when you see 20 meters of 1000 Denier Silk selling for almost the same as 200 meters of #100. But if you consider that there is enough silk on that 20 meter card to produce 160 meters of #100 silk then the pricing is not out of line. The finer the silk thread the greater the manufacturing loss and the greater the amount of dye used so the remaining differences go away. But here is the amount on each card or spool that we sell.

Product / Length
1000 Denier Silk / 20 Meters Per Card
#30 Silk / 50 Meters Per Spool
#50 Silk / 100 Meters Per Spool
Silk Sparkle / 100 Meters Per Spool
Variegated Silk / 200 Meters Per Spool
#100 Silk / 200 Meters Per Spool