Retailer Where2Buy Home Click here to find Kreinik Threads in your area or to find a mail order source. The history of silk use in embroidery covers more than 5,000 years since it was first processed in China.
Silk is an animal fiber made from the viscous fluid of the silkworm.
Originally, silkworm cocoons were collected from trees. In 2640 B.C., a Chinese Empress discovered that a silk cocoon could be unwound to give a long filament if it was placed in hot water to soften the natural glue or sericin that held the cocoon together. Fo Xi, China's first Emperor, taught the Chinese people to cultivate mulberry trees and to raise silkworms. The first variety of silkworm to be domesticated was the Bombyx Mori. Over the centuries, at least thirteen other species have been cultivated.