The other day as part of my definition of evenweave, I explained what warp and weft were. One of my readers, Marilyn, who is both an embroiderer and a weaver wasn’t very keen on my definitions of warp and weft, so I am revisiting the subject.
Probably the best way to do this is to show you a video of someone weaving and then work from there. This video was taken at the Sabahar silk weaving workshop in Ethiopia.
For those of you who have daily blog posts delivered by email, you’ll need to view the video here.
The warp threads are those which are mounted onto the loom. They are long – long enough to stretch the whole length of the fabric, however long that is to be.
The warp threads are divided into two groups. Every second thread is grouped together in one group, and all the remaining are grouped in another group. Each group is threaded through a separate heddle (I believe that’s what they are called – they look like combs stretching across the entire width of the warp threads).
At the beginning of the video, you can see that the man has each of his feet on a pedal. He alternately pushes one up and one down. Depending on which pedal he presses determines which heddle moves up and which one is down.
When one heddle is up, it lifts those warp threads up, creating a little tunnel right across the width of the loom, with the warp threads from the other heddle at the base of the tunnel.
It is through this tunnel that the shuttle is moved from side to side. When the shuttle has passed one way, the heddles are switched, and the shuttle is threaded through from the opposite direction than it was previously.
The picture right shows thread spools, and at the end of the www.vettycreations.com.au label, is a shuttle with a spool mounted into it. The thread on the spool forms the weft threads of the fabric.
In my previous definition of warp and weft, I said that weft is from side to side across the fabric or LEFT (rhyming with weft) to right and back again. Marilyn pointed out that what was left to right really depended on how you laid the fabric on the table and were looking at it. This was an excellent point. She suggested that from selvedge (edge of fabric) to selvedge was a better way to express it – and it is, but then we don’t get to use the “left rhyming with weft” memory aid!
However, if we think about it in terms of what the weaver is doing, he is indeed threading the shuttle/weft threads from left to right and back again!
Looking at the Sabahar scarf on the left, let’s go through those definitions again:
The warp threads go down the length of the scarf, and at the ends are gathered together in groups and tied into the fringe.
The weft threads go across the fabric from side to side, or from left to right. In the photo, they stretch horizontally across.
The selvedge (or selvage) goes down the sides of the fabric at the point where weft threads change direction and head back across the fabric to the other side. It is a woven edge.
Hopefully warp and weft are quite clear now. 🙂 But weavers are welcome to pick me up on anything I’ve gotten wrong!
White Threads is the blog of Yvette Stanton, the author, designer, publisher behind Vetty Creations' quality needlework books and embroidery products.
Yvette, thank you for taking my comment so seriously. And please accept my apology for leading you do a time-consuming re-write. I had to go back and read my comment again. And reading your response, I was delighted by your description of what weavers call ‘the shed’ as a tunnel. While weaving I have frequently thought of my shuttle as a race car going through a tunnel.
The only thing I would add is that after the shuttle goes through the shed, delivering the weft, the weft is beaten into place by the the beater or batten and it is this step that determines the number of wefts per inch. This can vary greatly on any warp by changing the amount of force used. Also, the shafts may change at any time in the beating process, before, after, or even just at the time the beater hits the fell (the last weft inserted).
Another thing I thought of as I re-read my comment is that often, when I buy fabric at my local embroidery store, you frequently do not see the selvedge as the piece comes from somewhere in the middle and the bolt is nowhere to be seen. But as the embroiderer uses it, is the orientation to warp and weft directions even significant? Hmmm…
Thanks Marilyn. I am pleased that my newer description is better! I hope that I did not feel that I was picking on you, in mentioning your comments as being the reason to revisit it. I certainly did not mean to make you feel uncomfortable. I found your comments to be extremely helpful, so there is no need to apologise at all! Thank you again for the time you have taken both times to help me and others to understand the issues from a weaver’s point of view.