Clingy Pink Pleats
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For a very simple direct weave structure this pattern sure has lots of potential. It weaves flat on the loom but ‘magically’ pleats up after washing. It’s not so dependent on type of yarn as the size of the pleat repeat – so experimentation is needed. The pink pleats photo is of a very wonderful and drapey scarf. Getting the RIGHT type of pleats is important and I wanted to create a shoulder clingy textile. By this I mean a scarf that doesn’t slip off all the time, one that is in tune with the body. I used a 20/2 cotton warp and a 60/2 silk weft. For my first experiement I used a 16 thread repeat. This produced very tight, highly organised, stiff pleats – not what I was after. In the next sample I used a fine Galway linen as the weft. This weft didn’t enact the pleat at all but produced a lovely textile nevertheless. Finally the magic textiles consisted of a 12 thread repeat in the cotton warp/silk weft. This made the pleats a little unexpected and clingy. These experiments gradually let to a series of ‘skinny’ scarves inspired by the tides on Old Bar beach, Australia. One collection is infused with the colours of the rocks and another with the ocean. I am currently offering these for sale through my new etsystore. You can see a photo here of the pleats stretched out. The weft is emphasised on the inner part of the pleat and the warp is emphasised on the top of it. Here’s an opportunity for real dye playing and manipulation. It’s my next project – I hope. I’m sure, some of my best projects are in my head – and I haven’t got the hi-tech equipment to take photos in there. Getting those ideas out into the open is the tricky bit. Thanks to this blog and the generosity of its readers I can articulate some of my ideas and processes more clearly, propelled by the discipline of writing in this format. |
| Pinkly Pleated textile | |
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A screenshot of the 8 shaft pattern. A wif pattern |
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| Much too organised pleats attached to messy records. | |
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| Galway linen weft – nice but not pleaty. | |
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| Two collections – Old Bar Tides – offered at Etsy. | |
I love the effect. How do you think fiber choice plays in all of this? I have done a similar structure in handspun wool singles and did not get what I would call pleating, through there was a texture to the resulting shawl.
The number of ends in each pleat can affect how tight and neatly the pleats behave. Also a finer weft than warp seems to help. A good reference to this can be found in the magazine Weavers Issue 37 (Fall 1997)
I also tried a sample with cotton warp and wool/lycra weft and this really forced the the pleats to form but it was too regulated looking for my purposes.
Congratulations on your new store on Etsy. Hope it goes well. And I love the two scarves you have there.
NICE!
Tomorrow I can weave again after a month of being away from my loom and your pieces provide me with inspiration and excitement.
THANKS!
I wanted to let you know how much I love your blog! You give so much great information. The scarves are really beautiful. What was the sett?
That’s always my weak point!
Hi Karen, Dot Lumb at the Online Guild gave me the link to your site. Thanks for sharing, it’s a great help to see the results of other weavers’ experiments. I’ve been playing with pleating silk and had reasonable success with a 20/2 silk warp 8- thread repeat and an ultrafine silk weft which must be about a 100 count which I’ve woven at 40ppi. The pleats I got are quite springy and the result is a very soft scarf, but having read your results I’m going to try a wider repeat and a slightly heavier weft which might withstand more wear and tear. How many picks per inch did you weave with the 60/2 thread you used? Laura
what beautiful fabrics and what a neat effect!