UNIT 7 WEAVING USING BASIC LOCAL MATERIALS
Key Unit competence: To be able to decorate weaved items.
Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns
or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods
are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal threads
are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling. (Weft is an old
English word meaning “that which is woven”; compare leave and left. The method
in which these threads are inter-woven affects the characteristics of the cloth.
Cloth is usually woven on a loom, a device that holds the warp threads in place
while filling threads are woven through them. A fabric band which meets this
definition of cloth (warp threads with a weft thread winding between) can also be
made using other methods, including tablet weaving, back strap loom, or other
techniques without looms.
The way the warp and filling threads interlace with each other is called the weave.
The majority of woven products are created with one of three basic weaves: plain
weave, satin weave, or twill. Woven cloth can be plain (in one colour or a simplepattern), or can be woven in decorative or artistic design.
Process and terminology
In general, weaving involves using a loom to interlace two sets of threads at right
angles to each other: the warp which runs longitudinally and the weft (older woof)
that crosses it. One warp thread is called an end and one weft thread is called
a pick. The warp threads are held taut and in parallel to each other, typically in a
loom. There are many types of looms.
Weaving can be summarized as a repetition of these three actions, also called the
primary motions of the loom.
Shedding: where the warp threads ends are separated by raising or lowering
healed frames (heddles) to form a clear space where the pick can pass.
Picking: where the weft or pick is propelled across the loom by hand, an air-jet,
a rapier or a shuttle.
Beating-up or battening: where the weft is pushed up against the fell of thecloth by the reed.
7.2. Various design patterns in decorating different weaved
items
