These silk ribbons are colorfast (after washing) washable, dry-cleanable, 100% silk and are bias cut which gives them a dramatic drape, body and stretch. Because of the bias cut, there is a seam every two yards in the continuous spool and the raw unfinished edges will naturally soften with wear. We finish our seams with silk thread to help create a seamless appearance throughout the spools. We highly recommend ordering samples (which we send for free!) if your project is color sensitive or if you have never worked with bias cut silk. We also recommend washing a sample to see how it behaves before working the silk into anything that may be exposed to water. These Earth Silk spools are made by hand in our Seattle studio. Our hand dipped dyeing process produces a unique look with subtle qualities that cannot be found in traditional ribbon dyeing. Our process creates almost zero waste and generates a stunning work of art. In conventional dyeing the thread is first dyed in a vat and then loaded onto a loom where the strands are woven together to form the ribbon. In our hand dyeing method all of the action happens while the bias cut spool is tightly wrapped, and that pressure influences where and how the dye is absorbed and can produce a shift in color from the inside of the roll to the outside. We hope you enjoy our ribbons as much as we like making them! Orders of under 7 yards will be sent flat, bagged and carded. Orders of 7 yards and above will be sent on a spool.