Vegetable Silk (also known
as Sabra, Cactus or Agave Silk)
If you search on the web for cactus silk or vegetable silk
it is likely you get presented with a lot of silk plants!
Having purchased some cushions and a pouffe in Vegetable
Silk from my Moroccan supplier, I was curious to find out more. It took me some
time.
Cactus silk is also known as Agave silk, or vegetable silk
or vegan silk and also as Sabra silk, the Moroccan name.
Some of the products made with this fiber are certainly
different. Wherever you are going in Morocco, you are coming across little
shops packed with tons of thread in myriad of colours. shiny, bright colours
with which buttons and trims finish off the traditional ‘djellaba’ ;
man wearing traditional djellaba
Cushion made of sabra silk
however there are also items made in this vegetable-vegan
silk in much more subtle colours and the end result is of understated and
classic yet modern items of soft furnishing.
Vegetable silk - pouffe
But I am running ahead of myself. Let’s start at the
beginning.
“Sabra” Cactus-Silk
Cactus silk or Sabra silk is a luxurious fabric made from
the Agave Cactus in the capital of Morocco, Fes.
Catcus plantJardin Majorelle, Marrakech - Cactus and agave
Jardin Majorelle, Marrakech - Cactus and agave
Also known as cactus silk, Sabra silk is a natural fiber
harvested from sustainable sources of Saharan Aloe Vera Cactus (the Aloe Vera
plant being part of the Agave family).
The fabric is a 100% vegetable silk blend of extracted
filaments from the aloe cactus grown in Morocco. It is sought for its quality,
strength and beauty since millennia. The process to produce sabra silk has not
changed for centuries. Once the Cactus plant is collected from the long agave
plants, the long spiky leaves are crushed and the fibres washed and hammered,
then the leaves are soaked in water to separate the fibres & filaments and
then these are spun and woven to make "silk thread which are then dyed in
different colours. The textile produced has a high elasticity and this makes
Sabra-Silk free of wrinkles.
You have come across - when walking through the narrow lanes
of the Medina in Marrakech –men threading fine, almost invisible, fibers on
spools. These are then twisted into thread by small battery powered twisters
and tacked along the walls of the medina while they were being created. The
colourful threads of the cactus silk are then sold in spools.
Cactus silk threads
Sabra Silk is hand-loomed in Morocco [See a picture of a weaver at work] and some of the
products are created with strips of the silks alternate with camel's wool. Some
have Chenille, and cotton yarn in contrasting colours which enhances the
amazingly vibrant, almost metallic shine of the cloths. This long and time
consuming process makes some of its products (cushions, rugs, textile) very
expensive and at the same time pretty unique.
Silk Napkin Ties covered with Cactus silk threads
Items made of cactus/sabra silk can be washed at 30 degrees
or dry-leaned. It is safe to iron them on a low steam, although as they are
almost wrinkle-free, this is hardly necessary...
