Pleated Bamboo

Time for some spring colors to make an appearance. Actually, bamboo is an all-weather fiber, and this pale green and blue paired with the white would transition well from icy winter outings to sunny lakeside picnics.

Most cloth is two dimensional, but sometimes it is interesting to create three dimensional fabrics. One way to do this is by working with the natural tendencies of unbalanced twills to curl: a warp-faced twill will curl one way, and a weft-faced twill will curl the other; convex and concave. Careful selection of the right yarns and their placement can accentuate these natural tendencies to form lovely undulations in the fabric.

While under tension on the loom, the fabric is about 11 1/2" wide and flat, like normal cloth. Then, when taken from the loom, the pleats magically take shape, collapsing into a bumpy, skinny, 3" wide scarf.

Wet finishing enhances and sets the pleats permanently. Furthermore, in this particular design, the stripes in the warp produce two distinct faces to the cloth: green/blue on one side of the finished scarf and white on the other! Way cool!