Weaving

“Weaving is essentially the criss-crossing together of yarns in at least two directions to produce a textile.” (McGovern 2008: p. 201)

Weaving on a hand loom
When weaving on a hand loom you often set out the warp between two beams. The weft is then interwoven between the warp. This setup will most likely have a heddle where every other warp thread is attached. When the heddle is lifted or dropped it pulls apart the warp threads and creates a shed. The weft thread is attached to a shuttle and is passed through the shed.

Band weaving
Bands can be woven with tablets, with a rigid heddle loom or an inkle loom.
Tablet weaving uses tablets or cards with 4 holes (one in each corner). The warp is threaded through each of these 4 holes. A pattern is created by turning the tablets a quarter back and forth.
Bands can also be woven in three different ways on the ridig heddle loom or the inkle loom.

Weft-faced patterns use a second weft thread to create pattern to an otherwise tabby weave. One pattern row is followed by one tabby tow. This pattern does not lean itself to long horizontal lines.
Warp-faced patterns use every third warp thread (which is three times as thick as the other threads) to create a pattern. The patterns is created by lifting and dropping the pattern threads. This pattern is not suitable for long vertical lines.
Warp-wrapping (Native American name for this is Soumak) passes the weft over two or four warps and back under one or two warps. This method is good for multi-coloured patterns and block patterns.

Tapestry weaving
The art of weaving using a warp-faced technique where you insert pieces of yarn to create an image.

Books we have reviewed about weaving:

Scandinavian Weaving
Tina Ingell, 2010
“I seldom find a project based book with so many projects in it that are all so attractive to me.I brought this book with me on holiday home to Denmark so that I could have a look through it with my mother…”
Reviewed by: Eddie