Undulating twill
“Undulating (adjective) – having a smoothly rising and falling form or outline”. In a woven twill form it is a beautiful pattern that can be accentuated by colour. This hand spun, hand dyed scarf is a great project to show off the undulating twill pattern.
As with all twill weave structures the weft will have less interlacements than plain weave, which will produce a fabric with more drape. The undulations are created by the weft going over varying numbers of warp threads – so the floats will go from shorter to longer, over two warp threads up to over four warp threads. If you don’t want to use hand spun, try it with some colourful or hand dyed commercial yarn.
It is a very beautiful weave structure – I highly recommend giving it a go!
This scarf was hand spun, hand dyed and hand woven by Daniela Linhartova. Daniela,her husband Paul and their daughter Daniela @pribehvlny together run Dalin Praha and are Ashford dealers in Prague, Czech Republic.
You will need:
Loom: Eight shaft loom
Reed: 10dpi (10ep2.5cm)
Warping frame
Ashford Silk/Merino blend (20% Mulberry silk 80% Merino) 180gm 6½ozs), #108 Vanilla
Spinning wheel
Ashford wool dyes in Teal, Purple and Navy-blue
Vinegar
Dish washing liquid
Water
Plastic wrap
Microwave
Darning needle
Here‘s how:
Spinning
Divide the fibre into two, spin each half and ply as a 2 ply. The plied yarn should be 18 wpi (wraps per inch) once plied. I recommend doing a small sample first. You will need 286m (312yds) for the warp and 202m (220yds) for the weft.
Dyeing
For the warp: wind a classic warp of 104 ends (with weaving cross) on the warping frame (see YouTube video for winding a warp). Secure warp with ties (loosely, so dye can penetrate yarn) and remove. Soak warp in warm water with a drop of dish washing liquid for 30 minutes. Remove and squeeze out excess water. Lay out flat and straight on plastic wrap. Prepare Teal and Purple dyes as per instructions. Paint or pour on colour in about 20cm (8ins) sections with the Teal and Purple allowing the two colours to blend where they meet. Make sure dye covers yarn thoroughly. Fold up sides and ends of plastic wrap to seal. Microwave for 2 minutes, allow to rest then microwave again for another 1 minute, repeat if needed. Remove (be careful – it will be very hot) and let cool then rinse in lukewarm water and lay flat to dry.
For the weft: Prepare Navy blue dye as per instruction. Wind the weft yarn into a skein. Dye weft yarn plus the two lengths of yarn for the floating selvedges on each side of the warp as above. Watch How to use Ashford Dyes video.
Warping:
Number of ends: 104 (does not include the 2 floating selvedges)
Width in reed: 26.5cm (10¼ins)
Sett: 10dpi
Finished width: 21.5cm (8½ins) wide, 1.9m (2yds) long plus 20cm (8ins) fringe on each end
Warp length: 2.7m (3yds)
Warp order: 1 Navy-blue, 104 hand painted, 1 Navy-blue
Weave structure: Undulating Twill
Warp as per draft, with a Navy-blue floating selvedge on each side.
HINT – by using a floating selvedge the same colour as your weft your edges will appear neater and will look more defined.
Click HERE for full treadling plan
Click HERE for full lift plan
Weaving:
Leave approx. 25cm (10ins) for fringe and weave 2.5cm (1in) of scrap yarn (this will be removed later) see our YouTube tutorial for spreading the warp. Using the Navy-blue yarn, weave 2.1m (2¼yds) following the draft using Navy Blue yarn. Leave approx. 25cm (10ins) for fringe and cut warp and remove weaving from loom.
Finishing:
Sew in the Navy-blue floating selvedge ends on each side leaving only the painted warp for the fringe. Tie warp ends in groups of 4 to make the fringe. Wash scarf in warm water and wool wash, rinse and lay flat to dye, when almost dry steam press with a cloth.
