Weaving
Senior 2 · Fine Arts
Weaving
Lesson 3 of 4
25 min
Every woven surface, from a banana-fibre mat to the denim of your jeans, is made from the same simple action: a weft passing over and under a warp. What changes is how many threads it passes over and under, and where each row starts. Master three moves and control your tension, and you can make stripes, blocks, diagonals and textures in any material.
Plain weave (also called tabby) is the simplest and strongest structure: over one warp, under one warp, all the way across. The next row does the opposite, so that it goes under wherever the row before went over.
Basket weave works with pairs: over two warps, under two, and the next row the opposite. It makes a chunky checkerboard, good for thick fibres. Twill goes over two, under two, but each new row starts one warp further along. The crossings line up into diagonal lines. Denim is a twill weave, which is why you can see fine diagonal lines on jeans.
The warp must be firm and even. The weft must be relaxed. If you pull each weft row tight and straight, it has no spare length to bend over and under the warp, so it drags the outer warps inwards and the weaving narrows like an hourglass. If you leave too much slack, loops stick out at the edges. The fix is to lay each new row across the warp in a gentle hill, then press it down with the beater: the hill gives just enough extra length.
Habimana's weaving measures 14 cm across at the bottom, but after 30 rows it measures only 12 cm, and the outer warps curve inwards. Step 1: the width has shrunk by 2 cm, 1 cm on each side, so the edges are being pulled in. Step 2: that is the sign of weft pulled too tight. Step 3: he unpicks the last few rows, then weaves on with a gentle hill in every row, and checks the width with a ruler every 5 rows. Step 4: once the width stays at 14 cm, he knows his tension is even.
A sampler is a small practice piece that tries out many moves. On your loom, weave in this order, pressing each row down firmly: 6 rows of plain weave in a strong yarn (the header); 2 cm of plain weave in banana fibre; 2 cm of basket weave; 2 cm of twill; a stripe of kitenge strip; a row of rya knots; then 6 more rows of plain weave. Measure the width at every stage.
This sampler was woven on a frame loom. Find the stripes, the triangles, the rolling hills where the weft follows a curve, the small birds and the crosses. The weaver built each shape by weaving one colour over only part of the width. At the top, the warp still waits for more rows.
Kente cloth from Ghana is woven on narrow looms in strips only about 10 cm wide, which are then sewn edge to edge. In the detail below, look at how blocks of pattern alternate along each strip. In some blocks the coloured warp stripes show; in others the weft covers them with its own design. Changing which threads show is itself a weaving move.
Tip
“Tight warp, relaxed weft.” If the sides pull in, the weft is too tight; if loops stick out, it is too loose. Lay a gentle hill, then beat. For weave names, remember: plain is 1 and 1; basket is 2 and 2; twill is 2 and 2, stepping along.
Row 1 of a plain weave goes over warps 1, 3 and 5. What does row 2 do at warp 3?
Solution: it goes under warp 3. Each row of plain weave does the opposite of the row before.
Name the weave: over two, under two, with each row starting one warp further along than the last.
Solution: twill. The steps line up into diagonal lines.
A weaving has small loops of weft sticking out along both edges. What is wrong, and how do you fix it?
Solution: the weft is too loose at the turns. Pull each row gently until the turn just hugs the outer warp, keeping a small hill across the middle.
What does a shed stick do, and why does it save time?
Solution: woven over and under across the warp and turned on its edge, it lifts every other warp to open a shed. The weft then passes across in one move instead of being taken over and under each warp by hand.
Remember
Sources and credits
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
