Twill Pleats ~ Silk Ruffles

Last year I made two pleated scarves, one in black and white and the other in shades of pink. They both sold in the first sale that they were shown in so Mum and I decided that the style of scarf should be redone.

I am trying to be smarter this year about pulling enough warp for two scarves, not only is it more economical but it is a time saver also. Although it can be hard because I want to make the scarves different so finding two wefts for the scarves can be difficult. I am going to be talking about only one scarf in this post and a different scarf from the same warp in another post in a couple of days.

The woven structure of this style of scarf makes pleats; colour is used to accentuate the pleats. Going through the stash a matte grey silk with flecks of white and black was really calling to me, it is a slightly textured yarn. I added a very smooth white rayon to add shine to the scarves. In the photo you can see my new tape measure that I got for Christmas, it’s pink!
Each stripe is one inch wide and there are nine stripes total. I started and ended with the white rayon because the grey silk has a lot of texture and it could have made for messy edges. Even before weaving, you can see pleats forming.
The humps are made from the tension between two different twills. The white stripes are 3/1 twill and the grey stripes are 1/3 twill. In the picture the slight cupping can be seen.
For the first scarf the weft is the white rayon. On the top of the scarf the white weft really made the grey stripes subdued and a lot of the texture and the flecks of colour was lost. I was really worried out my choice of weft.
But when I could see the back of the scarf I was happy. The grey silk was prominent and showy. I like how it pops against the white.
After washing, the scarves needed to lay flat. They need to be pulled lengthwise to even out the pleats. Halfway through that drying process they need to be flipped so the pleats can be rounded on both sides. To help make to pleats even, the handle of a wooden spoon was used to run up and down the furrows of the pleats.
The finished scarf measures 3” across, which is amazing since it started out at 9”! The pleats give the scarf an amazing draping affect. The scarf has a lovely movement and it just seems to fall into place.
I can’t wait to show the next scarf, it is the same but different!