I love silk and I love weaving twill, so it should come as no surprise that I was immediately smitten with Laura Fry’s Wall of Troy 16-shaft scarf in scrumptious silk. Woven in the perfect shade of robin’s egg blue, this scarf is the epitome of elegance. You can find this scarf in Handwoven Loom Theory: Eight and Over Eight Scarf Collection and learn what Laura had to say about her design here:
Laura Fry’s Wall of Troy 16-shaft scarf is the perfect elegant accessory for a night out on the town.
Designer Laura Fry’s Statement
There is nothing quite like silk, especially when worn next to the skin. Halcyon’s 2/12 Gemstone 100% silk yarn is lustrous, produces great drape, and comes in a variety of beautiful colors.
To design an elegant scarf with a little bit of interest in the texture and pattern, I chose the 4-shaft twill variation that Marguerite Porter Davison calls Wall of Troy but expanded it to eight shafts. The pattern increases in complexity when expanded to eight shafts but still produces a beautiful allover pattern. Twill has good drape and, when combined with silk, creates a scarf that feels soft and molds itself around the neck.
I like to use one color for the warp and another close in value for the weft, and Gemstone 2/12 Silk comes in several different hues that work for that combination. When I am designing a variety of scarves, I frequently put one color on the loom as warp and then change the weft for each scarf. In the case of a luxury yarn such as silk, white or natural is quite often less expensive than the dyed yarns, so it makes good sense to use the undyed yarn for warp.
The Wall of Troy pattern is an asymmetrical point twill with one “leg” of the twill point extended. For this scarf, I threaded and treadled the same 40-end/40-pick repeat, but you could use another treadling sequence. Try putting on a longer warp and use other twill treadling sequences to produce different-looking scarves with either the same or another color of weft.
Weave well,
Christina
Project at a Glance
PROJECT TYPE: 16-shaft.
STRUCTURE: Twill.
EQUIPMENT: 16-shaft loom, 11" weaving width; 10-dent reed; 1 shuttle; 1 bobbin.
YARNS: Gemstone 2/12 Silk (100% silk; 2,800 yd/lb).