Stardust is a new thread from brown paper packages. It combines their silk/wool thread with metallic. Currently it is available in four colors: white with iridescent, Really Red with iridescent, Pewter with iridescent, and Toast with gold. Future colors planned are Emerald (seen above), dark blue, and light blue, all with iridescent. The intention is to keep the line small with holiday colors, along with some for water and sky.
The iridescent picks up the color of the base thread, but it also picks up and reflects the color of the surrounding stitching making for a nice effect.
The base threads is Silk & Ivory, spun with a strand of metallic. I found it smoother and thinner than Silk & Ivory and it stitched beautifully on 18 mesh canvas. It will also work on 14 mesh.
I used it as the darkest green in this small piece from MJ’s Threadworks. I found that the sparks of metallic were less frequent than for similar threads such as Silk Lame from Rainbow Gallery or Shimmer from Vineyard Silks. In practice this means that the metallic effect will be somewhat more subtle.
Comparing it to another piece I did recently using Vineyard Silks Shimmer, the metallic was obvious in about half the stitches in Vineyard Silks, giving the area a tweeded look. With Stardust the metallic only showed up in about 25% of the stitches, making it much more of an accent. I liked that it added sparkle, but not so much that it detracted form the more matte threads around it.
Stardust is clearly a thread to keep in mind when you want an accent thread, but not one which will overwhelm the other threads in a piece.
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Since you’re working with shimmer threads, you might also want to try Opal by Planet Earth Silk (Tilli Tomas). It works well on both #18 and #13 mesh and has a large color range.
Janet – do you know if either the Stardust or the Opals from is like the Lame Silk from Cascade House in Australia that was available some years ago? I adored that Lame Silk, and have been hoping for a replacement thread a long time! Just have to get some Stardust and Opals to see, but would still love to have your opinion. Love the piece (sort of quilty, sort of poinsettia-y…..)
I loved that thread too. Cascade’s Lame Silk was a relatively shiny silk with the metallic. The silk was more the texture of Trebizond or Silk Serica, but not quite that shiny. Both Opal and Stardust are softer threads, so they aren’t anywhere near as shiny.
In terms of threads on the market now, Rainbow Gallery’s Silk Lame is the closest to Cascade’s, it’s not a soft thread, but it isn’t shiny.
HTH.
Keep Stitching,
Janet
Thanks for the info – will check the colors on Rainbow Gallery’s Silk Lame.