Silk Basting ThreadBack in the day, silk basting thread was the norm it was the only thing we used. Sadly, its become nearly impossible to find in the right weights for basting, so cotton has become an alternative. And certainly there are times when Japanese basting cotton (which we also sell) is a fine choice when basting on a thick, textured boucl, for instance, where a thinner thread might be difficult to see. But then theres silk and it truly is the gold standard.