A Scarf Inspired by Summertime Butterflies

Weaver and naturalist Dorothy Tuthill was inspired by her day job to design a scarf based on the colors and wing pattern of monarch butterflies. Here’s an overview of her design—you can find the full project in the November/December 2023 issue of* Handwoven.—Handwoven *editors

Milkweed & Monarchs Scarf by Dorothy Tuthill

Life is good when our passions and our work overlap and cross-pollinate. Two of my passions are weaving (of course!) and being outdoors in the natural world. In my professional life, I work on engaging nonscientists in biodiversity science to construct a conservation ethic. A couple of my work projects led directly to a weaving project—a series of scarves inspired by butterflies native to my state, Wyoming.

Monarchs are not abundant in Wyoming; we are not on their migration routes, yet they are seen on both sides of the Continental Divide within the state. Because they are not common, they are poorly studied within Wyoming. To gain more information, my colleagues and I developed a community science project to encourage people to record observations of monarchs and their food plants, milkweeds. That meant I had to learn a lot about the biology of these fascinating creatures to promote the project! A few months in and my monarch immersion resulted in a scarf based on their color and wing pattern.

Getting to know butterflies has been both fun and challenging and has led to a new weaving goal—the creation of scarves inspired by more beautiful native butterflies. We have more than three hundred species in Wyoming, so I’d better get busy!

Get a closer look! Click any image in the gallery to open it in full-screen mode.

Project at a Glance

STRUCTURE
Parallel network twill.

EQUIPMENT
8-shaft loom, 8" weaving width; 10-dent reed; 1 shuttle.

YARNS
Warp: 10/2 pearl cotton (4,200 yd/lb; Tubular Spectrum; Lunatic Fringe Yarns), 5 Yellow Red, 210 yd; Black, 450 yd; Bleached White, 24 yd. 8/2 Tencel (100% lyocell; 3,360 yd/lb; Valley Yarns; WEBS), Burnt Orange, 210 yd.
Weft: 10/2 pearl cotton, 5 Yellow, 340 yd.

WARP LENGTH
297 ends 3 yd long (includes floating selvedges; allows 8" for take-up, 34" for loom waste; loom waste includes fringe).

SETTS
Warp: 40 epi (4/dent in a 10-dent reed).
Weft: 22 ppi.

DIMENSIONS
Width in the reed: 7⁶⁄₁₀".
Woven length: (measured under tension on the loom) 66".
Finished size: (after wet-finishing) 6¹⁄₂" × 58¹⁄₂" plus 6¹⁄₂" fringe.

You’ll find this project in the November/December 2023 issue of Handwoven.