Tuesday, March 1, 2011

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!

8 comments:

Bunny said...

Spectacular!

DebbieB said...

Amazing - I really love this scarf!

Anonymous said...

Amazing! Do the pleads just show up because of the diffent twill setups?
Surprising effect!
Thanks for the inspiration and all the tecnical details on jour blog.
You´ve got a new frequent visitor.

Susan said...

I love the combination of the white and gray!
Its a classic..

Looking forward to the next one...

Susan

Ngaire said...

Hi ulitaloom,

Yup, the pleats just show up because of the 2 twills. When the warp is relaxed (i.e. when advancing) the pleats show up as cupping. But when the scarf is off the loom the pleating takes effect with no help from me! After washing, when the scarf is wet, the pleats need to be encourage by pulling lengthwise, but that is it.

Thanks for visiting!
Ngaire

Peg Cherre said...

Really lovely!

Can you show your draft?

Sunrise Lodge Fiber Studio said...

Beautiful!

Ngaire said...

Hi Peg,

The draft comes from The Best of Weavers - Fabrics That Go Bump. It is a pattern from Sandra Rude called Collapse Scarves on page 70.

Cheers,
Ngaire