Valley Yarns #189 Fawn Silk Shawl

Valley Yarns Fawn Silk Shawl

What Is Being Made

The Valley Yarns Fawn Silk Shawl is an elegant, lightweight woven shawl designed by Anita Thompson. Measuring 23½ inches by 66 inches when finished, this shawl is crafted to provide softness and sophistication, making it an ideal accessory for a cool summer evening. The combination of alpaca and silk yarns creates a garment with natural drape and subtle sheen.

Weaving Structure and Techniques

This shawl is woven using the M's and O's weave structure, a traditional technique that creates visual interest through alternating pattern blocks. The design incorporates striped sections in coordinating colors that are distributed across the width of the fabric. The striping technique uses multiple yarn colors in both the warp and weft to build the pattern systematically.

The shawl is designed for a 4-shaft loom with a minimum weaving width of 27 inches. The warp consists of 484 ends with a warp length of 3¼ yards. The weaving width in the reed measures 24.16 inches, allowing for natural draw-in during the weaving process. The outer blocks are intentionally made slightly wider to compensate for this draw-in, ensuring balanced proportions after washing.

Yarn Materials and Specifications

The shawl combines two distinct yarn types from Valley Yarns to achieve its characteristic softness and subtle sheen:

• Valley Yarns 2/14 Alpaca Silk (80% alpaca/20% silk blend, 3472 yards per pound): This yarn is used in both warp and weft in two colorways. Fawn requires 866 yards for the warp and 520 yards for the weft. Chocolate requires 373 yards for the warp and 296 yards for the weft.
• Valley Yarns 20/2 Silk (100% spun silk, 4900 yards per pound): This pure silk yarn adds brightness and sheen to the design. White (#601) requires 373 yards for the warp and 272 yards for the weft.

Sett and Density

The shawl uses a mixed sett approach to accommodate two different yarn weights:

• The 2/14 Alpaca Silk is set at 18 ends per inch (epi) in the warp and woven at 18 picks per inch (ppi) in the weft
• The 20/2 Silk is set at 32 ends per inch (epi) in the warp and woven at 32 picks per inch (ppi) in the weft

The spun silk is sleyed in a 3-2-3 pattern in the 12-dent reed, while the alpaca silk sections are sleyed using either a 1-2 or 2-1 pattern depending on their placement in the color sequence.

Equipment and Supplies

This project requires a 4-shaft loom and a 12-dent reed. While one shuttle is the minimum, three shuttles are recommended to facilitate efficient color changes between the different yarns. The project also calls for 3 bobbins and off-white or beige sewing thread for finishing the inner hems. Additional supplies include heddles for the four shafts, with specific heddle counts assigned to each shaft based on the tie-up configuration.

Color Arrangement

The warp color order follows a structured pattern across the four shafts, with Fawn, White, and Chocolate sections distributed to create the striped effect. The heddle distribution ensures proper pattern formation, with Shaft 1 containing 121 heddles for the outer Fawn block, followed by alternating groups of 32, 34, 8, 8, and 16 heddles across the remaining shafts. This arrangement supports the M's and O's structure and the intentional width variation for draw-in compensation.