above: "A Blouse for Susan" designed, woven and sewn by Sandra Hutton. Featured in Handwoven J/F 2015 issue. Photo credit: Handwoven magazine.
The heat of summer can make it a challenge to sit at the loom and weave. But our Silken Cloud, 70% silk/30% cotton blend is a perfect yarn for summertime weaving or knitting--and wearing!
Cotton is a cellulose fiber derived from the seed of the plant, similar to milk weed fluff. Cotton is the most consumed of all the natural fibers due to its versatility, high performance and appearance.
Cotton is soft, flexible, comfortable, strong and absorbent. Plus it washes easily and has a fair amount of elasticity. Silk blended with cotton adds more length, elasticity and shine to the cotton and is more affordable than 100% silk.
We love Silken Cloud and so do many other designers. Here's some Silken Cloud inspiration.
If you're a 4-shaft weaver & seamstress...
Silken Cloud is the yarn that Sandra Hutton used to weave and then sew into "A Blouse for Susan" that is featured in Handwoven Jan/Feb 2015. I'm the lucky Susan who is the happy owner! Every time I wear this blouse, I never want to take it off--the fabric woven from Silken Cloud is absolutely heavenly to the touch!
If you're a knitter...
If you are looking for a special summer project, Katrina King designed and knitted heirloom Wedding Mitts (fingerless gloves) for a special occasion, using Silken Cloud (70% bombyx silk/30% cotton). [see photo below]
The pattern, Mehndi-Inspired, was published in Piecework May/June 2017 Lace Issue, p 29-32. The pair of mitts weigh 20g, so you can make 3-4 pairs from an 80g skein of Silken Cloud.
If you weave with 4 shafts...
Here's "Summertime" a free draft designed by Sandra Hutton, using Silken Cloud to make 2 skeins = 2 scarves huck lace scarves (this link takes you to all of our free drafts--scroll down to see "Summertime"). You can weave it using "go-with-everything" natural Silken Cloud, or we can dye it for you. The dyed yarn is softer to the hand than the natural...with repeated washings and wearing, the undyed Silken Cloud will become just as soft. [see photo below]
If you weave with 8 shafts...two weaving kits
Kit #1: "A Luminous Stream", aka "ALS" 2-scaves kit was designed and woven by Karen Donde, using Turned Beiderwand weave structure. Treenway Silks donates 10% of the kit sales to ALS Association. [see photos below]
The ground cloth uses Silken Cloud, and the variegated supplemental warp uses Kiku silk yarn. News flash--you don't need 2 back beams to weave with a supplemental warp! The May/June 2020 Heddlecraft issue gives you a ton of information about supplemental warps and Turned Beiderwand.
I stayed away from trying a supplemental warp project for 20 years...yup, I was intimidated! But gosh, it's so much simpler than I ever imagined--why did I wait so long to give it a go?!
Kit #2: "Shade Garden" shawl kit, designed and woven by Susan Porter in networked twill. The instructions are featured in Handwoven 2019 Loom Theory: 8-shaft Shawl Collection. [see photo below]
This generously-sized, gorgeous shawl has such wonderful drape and hand!
Here's what Susan says about our Silken Cloud yarn:
"I think a summer shawl should be versatile since we continually move from air conditioned spaces into the warmer outdoor temperatures then back again into cool air.
"The 70% silk / 30% cotton blend of Treenway Silks’ Silken Cloud yarn is the perfect blend and weight for such a shawl.
"The cotton blended into the yarn gives it a glow instead of the shine we usually associate with silk. Because of this, this shawl can be either elegant or casual depending on what you pair it with.
"The feel of this yarn is so soft and the drape is so lovely that it’s easy to imagine an entire wardrobe woven with it!"
For a little, fun, here's a 2-second video link to me wearing the Shade Garden shawl and doing the "pashmina flip".
