Total Art Soul - for artists

I can understand about the silk, Cathy. I made six bridesmaid's clutches out of silk (I have two shops on Etsy - crazy me!), and the fibers exude some sort of oil or something that gets all over the machine, your fingers, and your clothes. It's not TERRIBLE, but it does make me wonder what it might be doing to the insides of my machine! LOL It was fun though.

I also quilt, so fun cottons are a lot of fun, too!

I don't do much sewing, try to avoid it actually, but I remember when I used sil (I made my own wedding dress), it just seemed to have a life of it's own and would pull all over the place.

I can't believe that I just came across this discussion only now.
I love to work with all natural fibers including silk, cotton, linen, hemp and wool. I love some of the hemp silk blends especially although they can be a little tricky to work with. I recently learned to dyed with acid dyes so was able to add wool to my repertoire.
The hemp fabrics really impress me because of the sustainability of their production and I think that more should be done with them - legalizing the growing of hemp would be a great start.

I love hemp and hemp blends too; right now I'm working with a hemp twill and a hemp suede that is a pleasure to use. Sturdy and as you said, renewable.

I like hemp, I love anything organic and natural.

I have to admit it is hard for me to pick a favorite fabric to work with....it just depends on what I am making. And it so varies from great, soft 100%cottons, silks, satin, duck cloth and even some vinyl mesh. However, my sewing machine isn't too fond of the mesh!