Weaving
Senior 2 · Fine Arts
Weaving
Lesson 1 of 4
20 min
Look around your home and you will find something woven: a sleeping mat, a basket for beans, a school bag, the cotton of your uniform. Weaving is the craft of making a surface by crossing two sets of threads or strips over and under each other. It is one of the oldest crafts in the world, and in Rwanda it is also an art form. The agaseke, the small basket with a tall pointed lid, is given at weddings and to honoured guests, and a traditional basket is one of the symbols at the centre of Rwanda's national emblem. In this unit you will choose materials, build your own loom, weave with even tension and finish a piece that is ready to hang on a wall.
| Fibre | Where it comes from | Qualities | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sisal | The long, spiky leaves of the sisal plant, often grown as a hedge; sold in markets as twine | Very strong, stiff, pale cream; takes dye well | Warp, strong weft, wrapping coils |
| Banana fibre | The dry outer layers of the banana stem, and dry leaves, after the bunch has been harvested | Free; cream to dark brown; rough, interesting texture; splits into strips | Textured weft, mats, natural colours |
| Papyrus | Tall plants of swamps and wetlands; the stems are split into strips when dry | Long, smooth, stiff strips | Mats, bold stiff stripes |
| Wool and cotton yarn | Sheep's wool or cotton, spun in factories; bought, or unravelled from an old jumper | Soft, even, many colours | Cotton string for warp; wool for colourful weft |
| Fabric strips | Offcuts of kitenge or worn-out cotton T-shirts, cut into strips 1 to 2 cm wide | Bright patterns, soft, bulky | Quick, bold weft stripes |
Rwanda protects many of its wetlands, such as the Rugezi marsh. Buy papyrus in the market or collect it only where you have permission.
The warp is pulled tight for the whole time you weave, and every row of weft is pressed hard against it. A warp that stretches or snaps ruins the work, so choose a strong, smooth, even fibre such as cotton string or sisal twine. The weft is not under strain, so you can choose it for colour and texture: banana strips, wool, papyrus, fabric strips, even feathers or seeds pushed in between the rows.
Mutesi plans a wall hanging 15 cm wide and 20 cm long, with 16 warp threads. She has cotton string, dry banana stems and an offcut of red kitenge.
An agaseke is not made on a loom. The weaver holds a thin bundle of grass as the core, wraps it tightly with a strip of sisal or another fibre, and stitches each new round to the round beneath it with a needle, working in a spiral outwards from the centre of the base and then up the sides. Patterns such as triangles, zigzags and stripes appear when the weaver changes the colour of the wrapping strip at exactly the right stitch. Traditionally the colours came from plant dyes; today many weavers also use bought dyes. After the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, weaving cooperatives brought women together to earn a living and rebuild trust, and the agaseke became known abroad as a “peace basket”.
In this agaseke, follow the black lines: each one climbs round the white body in small steps, like a staircase. Every step is a place where the weaver changed from white to black wrapping and back again. Now look at the lid: you can count the rounds of the coil as they spiral up to the point.
The second photo shows coiling in progress on a flat basket. On the right you can see the loose bundle of grass that forms the core; on the left, the finished rounds, tightly wrapped in yellow, white, blue and purple. Each coloured block begins and ends where the weaver changed the wrapping strip.
Tip
“Strong warp, beautiful weft.” In an exam, when you are asked to choose materials, always give a reason: the warp needs strength and evenness because it is under tension; the weft is chosen for colour and texture. Remember to soak plant fibres so that they bend without cracking.
Explain the difference between the warp and the weft.
Solution: the warp is the set of strong threads stretched tight on the loom first, running up and down. The weft is the thread or strip woven across them, over and under, and it carries most of the colour and texture.
Ishimwe wants to use soft banana strips for his warp and cotton string for his weft. Advise him.
Solution: swap them. Banana strips can split and break under tension, so they are poor warp. Cotton string is strong and even, so use it for the warp, and use the banana strips as a textured weft.
A weaving will be 25 cm long and have 12 warp threads. Allowing 10 cm per warp for tying off, how much warp string is needed?
Solution: each warp is 25 + 10 = 35 cm, so 12 × 35 = 420 cm, which is 4.2 m.
Why is an agaseke described as coiled rather than woven on a loom?
Solution: it is built from a bundle of grass wound in a spiral and stitched round by round to the row below. There is no warp stretched on a frame.
Remember
Sources and credits
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
