Slow fashion - sustainable luxury - Textile design and the weaving of merino lambswool accessories

Introduction - slow fashion and textile design to create luxury sustainable merino lambswool accessories

Handwoven fabrics are often described as slow fashion fabrics as there are many steps in their creation which involve a significant investment of time. When designing textiles, both innovation and tradition intersect to produce fabrics which can be unique, visually compelling and tactile. In this blog I describe the design of a range of luxury deflected doubleweave accessories. Woven with sustainable merino lambswool some of the important aspects of the design process to create the scarves are discussed.

What factors affect the design of a fabric?

A handwoven fabric is determined by a range of variables including the warp threads, weft threads, the threading pattern and the order in which the shafts are lifted when weaving. The yarn used is of pivotal importance. I weave predominantly with fine merino lambswool which creates fabrics which are lightweight, warm and cosy. Merino lambswool is a beautiful sustainable yarn to weave with. On the loom it doesn't feel very soft as it is coated in a spinning oil which helps to give the yarn a little more strength. After weaving the fabric is washed and the spinning removed. This process causes the fabric to full and bloom to create a beautifully soft fabric with a fine drape.

Deflected doubleweave

Deflected doubleweave is a weave structure that involves two layers of cloth that interconnect at selected points. Unlike traditional doubleweave, deflected doubleweave allows threads from one layer to 'float' into the other, creating fluid, organic shapes and a lightweight airy fabric. It is given its name because it has two similar but distinct patterns on either side of the cloth hence the term doubleweave. Deflected because the design incorporates long warp and weft floats which shrink and full differently to the tabby areas of the weave. When taken off the loom and washed the fabric shrinks differently in the float and tabby weave areas leading to a deflection and softening of the pattern edges.

The design process for a handwoven weaving project

When designing a deflected doubleweave fabric I approach it from a number of different angles. I first choose the yarn which as discussed previously is nearly always fine merino 2/17 lambswool. I then focus on the colours of the yarn. With a deflected doubleweave design I prefer a design where there are two distinct colours which accentuates the structure sculptural elements. I often like to use a range of shades of one colour. Careful planning is required right from the start, especially if a range of colours is used as the warp threads need to be prepared carefully with the correct number of each coloured yarn across the warp.

A recent weave was woven with fine 2/17nm merino lambswool in green, blue and grey at a sett of 15epi. As you can see below, the weave on the loom has straight edged patterning which is rounded in the final cloth after finishing.

Changing the Weft Colour when weaving luxury accessories

The weft colours in a deflected doubleweave are usually alternating numbers of dark and light threads which replicates the warping. So for example, if there are 4 light warp threads followed by 4 dark warp threads this pattern is repeated in the weft. Here I have used a light grey yarn and a range of blue and green shades. The scarf and snood above were woven with grey and blue weft whereas the images below show weaving with a grey and green weft. You can see that even though the warp threads were the same the final shawls look very different as a result of the weft colours used.

Experimentation with different wefts and lifting plans when weaving luxury accessories

Towards the end of this warp I decided to experiment. The first image shows the original deflected doubleweave design. The second image shows a tabby weave alternating four rows of grey and four rows of blue. The third image shows a zig-zag lifting plan with only a grey weft used. Each of these snoods was woven with the same warp (colour and warp order as well as the warp threading). Who would have guessed that this would be the result when the weft colours and lifting plan were changed!

Deflected Doubleweave

Tabbyweave

Zig zag with only grey weft

A sustainable luxury handwoven fabric.

In the age of fast fashion, the slow, deliberate craft of textile weaving offers a counterpoint. Merino wool is renewable, biodegradable and when ethically sourced is an environmentally conscious choice. Each deflected doubleweave piece presents hours of design, craftsmanship, and care, embodying the values of slow fashion and sustainable luxury.

These scarves and snoods are now for sale in my website for UK delivery. If you live abroad then do contact me for International shipping.

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