One of the places I visited on my second day in 
Xi'an was a silk factory. I was amazed to learn that a single cocoon holds over 1 kilometre of silk. If my memory serves me right, the single cocoon silk is used for scarves, clothing, mats, etc.
The ones that are double and hold two worms are used for making bedding - quilts, pillows and the like.
Each process is slightly different, although both entail steaming the cocoon, which kills the worm, then boiling the cocoon to make the silk soft and liable.
The single cocoons are 'unravelled' on a reeling machine. First the cocoon is kind of swished around in water with a comb like thing that loosens up some ends
, then they are attached to the reeler, probably at least five or six together to make a stronger thread. The thread is on large reels, which you can see at the top of their heads along the reeler in the full picture which shows two women at work.
By the way the worms are saved and later served as a delicacy for someones meal!
The double cocoons are pulled apart by hand, the worm extracted,
and then the resulting material stretched a couple of times on a small frame. Eventually it is ready to be stretched even 
more into a 'sheet' that looks almost like a spider's web.
Several layers
are put together to form the desired thickness for quilts or pillows.
Meanwhile, the silk thread from the single cocoon is dyed and woven into various pieces of clothing, some of which is then hand embroidered, using more coloured silk threads.
Yes, I couldn't resist. I happened to need a housecoat as I had left my behind in Canada, so I bought myself a beautiful blue one with some very minimal embroidery on the front and some on the back...
Xi'an was a silk factory. I was amazed to learn that a single cocoon holds over 1 kilometre of silk. If my memory serves me right, the single cocoon silk is used for scarves, clothing, mats, etc.The ones that are double and hold two worms are used for making bedding - quilts, pillows and the like.
Each process is slightly different, although both entail steaming the cocoon, which kills the worm, then boiling the cocoon to make the silk soft and liable.
The single cocoons are 'unravelled' on a reeling machine. First the cocoon is kind of swished around in water with a comb like thing that loosens up some ends
, then they are attached to the reeler, probably at least five or six together to make a stronger thread. The thread is on large reels, which you can see at the top of their heads along the reeler in the full picture which shows two women at work.
By the way the worms are saved and later served as a delicacy for someones meal!
The double cocoons are pulled apart by hand, the worm extracted,
and then the resulting material stretched a couple of times on a small frame. Eventually it is ready to be stretched even 
more into a 'sheet' that looks almost like a spider's web.Several layers
are put together to form the desired thickness for quilts or pillows.
Meanwhile, the silk thread from the single cocoon is dyed and woven into various pieces of clothing, some of which is then hand embroidered, using more coloured silk threads.
Yes, I couldn't resist. I happened to need a housecoat as I had left my behind in Canada, so I bought myself a beautiful blue one with some very minimal embroidery on the front and some on the back... 
