Today, Thailand remains the best source for silk, which is probably a must for all first-time visitors to the Kingdom thinking of buying a souvenir.

The process of making silk requires total dedication and patience. It is tedious and requires hours of labor especially for those complicated designs. That's why its prices are always way above those of other fabrics.

The whose thing starts by culturing silk worms that are fed mulberry leaves regularly until they grow to about three inches. Once they are in the spinning stage, the worms are placed in a round basket that is covered by cloth to keep them from flies.

When the worms transform themselves into cocoons, they are immersed in hot water. This process forms filaments which are then skillfully reeled on a wooden spindle. Subsequently, this will produce a uniform strand of raw silk or yarn. Each cocoon can produce about 700 yards of filaments

These are then immersed again in hot water and subsequently dyed. The skilled hands of the weavers take over and the silk is spun around wooden or plastic tubes to be prepared for warp or weft. To make thicker silk, two or more weft yarns are reeled together by hand. The term "ply" (i.e. two-ply, four-ply, six-ply) is often used to indicate the weight of the fabric.

Then the weaving begins. Unlike machine-woven fabrics, hand-woven silk gives a lustrous sheen and has a slightly uneven texture.