Production of the material includes several stages: silk floss is spun into yarn by hand, with patterns added by hand-tying bundles of yarn before dyeing the yarn with indigo, then the silk is woven using a back-tension loom.

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Lanvin eschewed the restrictive silhouettes of those clothes and made loose dresses for Marguerite to allow for easy movement, but she used the most luxurious fabrics silk taffeta, gold-spun lace, diaphanous chiffon and liberally embellished her designs with intricate folk-inspired embroidery, silk flowers, lace ribbons and lots of ruffles.

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In her workshop at the Limerick Craft Hub, she showed me how the technique just involves a strip of silk, some lengths of spun wool, some water and a couple of hand sanders.

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According to the Web site Ecouterre.com, the dress is made from what's sometimes known as ahimsa, or "peace silk" a material spun from cocoons without killing the worms inside.

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