Definition
Momme count is the number indicating the unit weight of silk.
1 momme=4.3056g/m2 or 0.127oz/sqyd
You can try a momme count calculator here.
That is to say, the higher the momme is, the “heavier” the silk will be.
Momme count goes for the fabric containing 95% silk and above.
What does it mean
The number indicates at least 3 important aspects of silk bedding:
Silk amount
The higher the momme is, the thicker the silk fabric is, and the more silk the fabric contains.
Durability
High density implies better durability too. In general, silk bed linens with 19 momme are machine-washable.
The higher the momme is, the less misshapen that the silk beddings will get due to washing.
Texture
The most common type of silk bedding is silk charmeuse.
Charmeuse has a wide range of momme: from 10 to 50.
The lower the momme count of silk fabric is, the more possible it gets translucent. Some charmeuse can be as thin as light chiffon. Below is a blouse made with 12 momme silk charmeuse:
That is probably not the best choice to sleep on.
In some case, even the charmeuse fabric whose momme is around 19 can be slightly translucent too, as the white fabric shows below:
You can confirm the transparency with the shop, or simply choose some “heavy” ones: 35 momme silk fabrics are more durable and opaque. For example, this mauve dress is made with 35 momme silk fabric, which is perfectly opaque.
Note: not every silk fabric has a momme count as thickness identification. For example, the silk brocade is a kind of silk fabric which is technically thicker than most silk bedding fabrics, yet momme is not a specification of brocade generally.
What’s the actual momme of my silk beddings?
Once you get your silk beddings, you may want to know if it matches the momme count on the product page.
For example, you just receive a 25 momme silk pillowcase on Amazon. How to tell if it is real 25 momme silk or something else?
To address this problem, the only things we need are a scale and a tape measure.
The scale is to weigh the pillowcase, and the tape measure is for the size.
Most silk bed sheets, silk pillowcases, and silk duvet covers are rectangular, which enable us to figure the size out easily with a tape measure.
In this case, for example, we have the following data:
- Weight: 1.72oz
- Size: 36×20 inch=0.56 sqyd
According to the formula 1 momme= 0.127oz/sqyd, instantly we have:
- 1.72÷0.56÷0.127=24 momme
Or, try the calculator as below:
Momme Calculator
You can easily figure out that the pillowcase matches the momme count number.
Sweet. But…
There seems something wrong: it is 24 momme, instead of 25 momme.
Is it Wrong?
It’s too early to determine that we are fooled by the cunning seller.
3 reasons are for reference:
1. Stretched fabric
Normally, the fabric gets stretched during the production, especially the dyeing process.
This will enlarge the area we get, and the momme number, therefore, turns smaller than it should be.
To make it accurate, you can try to do the measurement again after washing the silk pillowcase/bed linens/duvet cover. Shrinkage will offset the overstretched part.
2. Rare type
The most common momme numbers are 19, 22, 25 or more in the silk bedding industry. As a producer, it’s less competitive to have a 24 momme silk fabric when everybody else makes 25 momme ones.
On the other hand, there are rarely producers making 24 momme silk fabric instead of 25 momme, nor does the 24 momme silk widely exist on the market.
Let’s take a look at the Google search results of 25 momme and 24 momme.
There are 134,000 results of the search term “25 momme”.
Yet there are only 9,020 results of the search term “24 momme”.
9,020 is just 6.7% of 134,000, so is the popularity.
The existence of 19 and 20 momme silk is something special: it’s more like how people feel the price difference between $19.95 and $20.
So, if the momme calculated looks uncommon but close to the claimed momme, it’s ok to take it right.
3. Deviation
With weight 1.72oz, we have the result of momme count 24.
Suppose the momme was right, which should be 25, and the weight of your pillowcase would be 0.56 sqyd x 0.127 oz/sqyd x 25 = 1.778 oz.
That means, ideally, a “real deal” 25 momme silk pillowcase would be just 0.058 oz heavier than the actual weight. Think about this: a teaspoon of sugar weighs 0.14oz!
Besides, the actual weight is 96.7% of the real deal. You can easily measure less than 3% on length, especially when the silk thing is a bedsheet whose length is quite large.
Now you have an idea about what momme of your silk bed linens is, what momme count means, and how to measure it out. Lessinly hopes you get the right information, and make the right choice on the silk bed linens choosing, no matter it’s a twin size pillowcase or a king-size whole bedsheet. Goodnight!
