Networked Twill Free Form Weaving

I’m fascinated with the way that a weave structure, which is basically right angle intersections can appear to have curves and undulations. I ‘ve recently smoosh dyed some 2/20 silk in turquoise and purple and since the colour splotches had some curve to them I decided to see if I could enhance the effect.This photo doesn't have the best colour, but the photos later on capture the wonderful colours.I chose to thread the loom as advancing twill that moved only in one direction. Basically I did small inverted v’s climbing upward and never going downward. This creates a staircase effect. My treadling was in the network manner. I used 2/20 black tencel and treadled a long curve separated by alternating tabby picks. The tabby gave the scarf structure and allows the pattern to develope without the need for stability.I did have a general pattern, but as the scarf began to emerge I grabbed the opportunity to do some free form weaving. The colours in the photo above are a bit off, but you can really see the pattern changes. I stuck to the general pattern, but if I liked the look of what I was weaving I could repeat it as I liked.

I love this technique, it’s quite liberating to be able to just go with the flow and see what happens. The curving weft did create one small problem…wavy selvedges! As the weft moves across the warp, some threads have long sections when they are not in use for patterning, so they tend to lie flat, but when the weft gets close to the selvedges they curve. By the way this is the true colour.I tried to press the selvedges flat, but they really wanted to wave. So then I tried my corded selvedge treatment, but this didn’t seem to be able to tame the beast either. I decided to embrace the beauty of three dimensions and so I sprayed the selvedges with water and finger enhanced the curves!I love it, it’s such a beautiful scarf and I’ve decided that it’s perfect for me. The fringes were twizzled using four bouts of threads, so the fringe has a wonderful round appearance.I love this pattern so much I have tied on another bout of dyed 2/20 silk.