A process for producing a silicon-containing CMC article. The process entails depositing one or more coating layers on silicon carbide (SiC) fibers, drawing the coated SiC fibers through a slurry to produce slurry-coated fiber material, and then processing the slurry-coated SiC fiber material to form unidirectional prepreg tapes. The tapes are stacked and then fired to yield a porous preform. The porous preform is then further densified by infiltrating the porosity therein to yield a CMC article. Infiltration can be achieved by a series of polymer infiltration and pyrolysis (PIP) steps, by melt infiltration (MI) after filling the porosity in the preform with carbon or one or more refractory metal, by chemical vapor infiltration (CVI), or by a combination of these infiltration techniques.