Do you feel warped yet?

For those of you who might have an interest in learning to weave, but don’t know much about it, I thought I would write about some of the basics of the loom and throw in some weaving ‘lingo’ you can add to your vocabulary.

In simplest terms, weaving is manipulating threads/fibers to make a web. It can be a shelter of woven branches or a fine linen handkerchief. At its most basic, one thread (the weft) alternates going over and under a group of threads that run perpendicular to the weft (the warp). When this is a simple over one, under one, over one, under one, etc..., this is called ‘plain weave’ or ‘tabby’.

In my last post, I mentioned several different types of looms (jack, counter-marche, etc…), so let me explain what those terms mean. First of all, floor looms (looms that sit on the floor) have harnesses that are manipulated by the weaver to control the pattern. On a jack loom, the selected harnesses raise up to make the shed (or opening) for the yarn to pass through. On a counter-balance loom, the harnesses work in tandem and must be ‘balanced’. When half of them go up, the other half go down. On a counter-marche loom, some harnesses go up, and some go down, but all independently of each other. This type loom is best for weaving linen (which has no elasticity). It puts less stress on the thread, plus it makes a nice large shed through which to pass the thread-filled shuttle.

There are many other types of looms that folk snobbily call ‘primitive’, used (of course) by people we ethnocentrically also refer to as ‘primitive’. I will happily discuss them and the amazing NON-primitive fabrics woven on them/by them in an upcoming post.