Deflected Double Weave

Double with a Twist

A few years ago I drove to Arnhem in the Netherlands to spend a week at the studio of Marian Stubenitsky.

Marian has a lifetime of weaving behind her and a remarkable way of exploring and working with colour. Since that week, I have been an avid follower of her work and have all of her books in my weaving library.

In the most recent of her books (at the time of writing this post) – Double with a Twist – she explores the technique of deflected double weave.

Marian’s Books

Weaving software

Marian fills her books with the most marvellous photographs which show how the designs on paper finish up in real fabric. Then it is up to the individual weaver to develop the ideas from there. Colours can be changed, the width of different sections can be altered. This is the part which usually has me procrastinating for hours. Because I work with weaving software that makes changing colours as simple as clicking a mouse, it is too easy to keep looking at the options. At the end of the day, the finished cloth NEVER looks quite as it does in the software. How can it? The software is straight lines and solid colours; the silk I use is soft and once woven changes into a cloth with a luxurious drape.

Decisions, decisions

Finally, I decided on two warp colours, jade and chestnut. I warped enough for two scarves and then went through the same indecision for the weft colours. In the end it was easy, because I love working with pink and purple and had the silks available. The second scarf is slightly different in pattern as well as colour because I swapped the pink for red.

I will be definitely be experimenting and getting more ideas from this book. The resulting fabric is so soft and the structure really suits the silk. Tell me what you think.