A seven strand embroidery floss made from spun silk. The base material for the brand-dyed Painters Threads thread (SDA) is Soie d’Alger® from Fa. Au Ver a Soie in Paris. The plain thread is available in over 600 colors. In Germany and the BeNeLux you can purchase the thread from Historische Stickmuster . For sources of supply in other countries, please contact Au Ver A Soie directly.
The thread is S-twisted and therefore well suited for hand embroidery. The single thread is slightly thicker than the single thread of the well-known cotton embroidery twist. It is softer and results in a flat embroidery pattern. The individual stitches are no longer as accurately recognizable and therefore appear much more homogeneous than with cotton embroidery thread.
The natural silky sheen is retained even after washing and ironing.
The individual threads are only slightly twisted together so that they can be separated very easily. They are spun from relatively short silk fibers. Accordingly, the single thread is elastic and lays very well on any embroidery base.
Suitable needles are tapestry needles and tapestry embroidery needles, embroidery needles and, if the entire thread is used, a wool darning needle. The strength of these needles depends on the number of threads used. A single thread requires, for example, an embroidery needle 7 or 9 for plain fabrics or a tapestry embroidery needle 7. The wool darning needle 18 is good for work in which 5-7 single threads are worked on a plain fabric.
Soie d’Alger lends itself to virtually any textile technique. Below are a few examples of what Soie d’Alger is often used for.