Butterfly Jacket

Silk Butterfly Jacket

Possible uses: Butterfly pin, adornment on jacket, closures for rag woven jackets, jewelry. I chose to use leftover silk scraps from numerous projects. The cut strips varied in length from 8 inches to one yarn. The weight of the silk varied from 6 mm habotai to 10 mm jacquard.
First I cut the silk scraps into 1 inch strips (sample S4). I tried cutting the fabric on the bias, circular and on the straight and cross grains. I put all the strips into a large mixed pile and pulled from it randomly. I attempted to spin the scraps on various wheels but found that the bulky spinner, bobbin driven, ratio 3:1 worked the best. The other wheels would twist the yarn but not draw in. I adjusted the bulky spinner to a very strong draw in. The first scrap was tied to the leader on the wheel and twisted in a Z direction. When I came to the end of the scrap I overlapped the silk one inch--not enough. One and one half to two inches was enough to hold the yarn together very well. I also tried slashing the ends and threading an eye like a knitter will do with rags. Unfortunately this produced too large a slub at the joins (sample S1).
Because of my study on knotting, I knew a soft spin would not be suitable. I put as much twist on the scraps as they could handle. As sample S6 shows, a single is not appropriate for knotting and is not stable. I decided to make balanced two ply. This gave a nice weight cord, was round and balanced. These were the criteria I discovered during the learning of the basic knots. As samples S7 through S9 reveal, straight and cross grains give the smoothest finish on the cord and circular the roughest. These samples were made from a 10 mm pin dot jacquard.
	I successfully tied a butterfly pan chang knot (sample S8) and was very pleased to I continued with the project. I formulated a design for a jacket--maybe a bomber jacket, maybe a sweatshirt. I finally decided on velveteen jacked lined in painted silk. Silk butterflies needed something elegant, yet the whole effect was to be whimsical. After the cord was spun, butterfly pan chang knots were tied. Each was given its own personality by how tight the knot was pulled. From some of the heavier cord spun mainly from the jacquard I knotted special butterfly closures. These were adapted from the pan chang butterfly knots and standard frog closures with button knots.
When the samples were knotted they were more bulky than I wanted. The button knots did not look very good in this cord (sample S10). I started again with 6 mm habotai cut into 3/4 inch strips and 8 mm habotai cut in 1/2 strips. All were cut on the cross grain of the fabric. The two weights of fabric went perfectly together when cut at that width. This cord I did not spin with as tight a twist as the larger cord because I wanted to be able to get a needle into it. The butterfly knots tied much nicer, had more definition and looked more like dainty butterflies (sample S11). The button knots (sample S11) still looked too flimsy. I decided not to use the button knot but use the butterflies as loops for standard buttons. Even with the softer twist, it was difficult to get a needle into the butterflies. The butterfly pan chang knots were sewn onto the velvet before the silk lining was sew in.
Section 2--Description The fiber of choice was 6 mm habotai cut into 3/4 inch strips and 8 mm habotai cut into 1/2 inch strips. The silk was all cut on the cross grain of the fabric. I spun a Z twist single with a twist angle close to 45 degrees on a bulky spinner, ratio 3:1. Carefully controlling the twist, it was plied into a balanced two ply. After the cord was spun, butterfly pan chang knots were tied. Each was given its own personality by how the knot was manipulated. The silk cord knots were sewn onto the velvet before the lining was sewn in. The lining of the jacket is hand painted pin do jacquard.

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