Weaving Terms

Apron Rods: Sturdy wood or metal rods that are attached to the warp and cloth beams, sometimes by cloth aprons or cords. The warp is tied to the apron rod of the warp beam before beaming and to the apron rod of the cloth beam after beaming, threading, and sleying.

Back Beam: The horizontal cross-piece on the back of the loom around which the warp passes on its way to the warp beam.

Balanced Weave: A fabric in which the number of warp threads per inch is the same as the number of weft threads per inch. It can be loose or tight as long as the count is the same.

Beaming the warp: The process of winding the warp on the warp beam. The layers are usually separated with sturdy paper or warping sticks.

Beater: A frame that holds the reed. It is attached to the loom by an upright on each side that pivots to pull the reed through the warp and beat the weft in place at the fell of the cloth.

Breast Beam: The horizontal crosspiece on the loom directly in front of the weaver. The woven cloth passes over the breast beam on its way to the cloth beam.

Cone Rack: Allows ends from multiple cones to be wound at the same time. A screw eye, hook, or other device directs each thread so it unwinds above its cone without upsetting the cone or becoming tangled with threads from other cones.

Cross: The figure eight made at one end or both ends of the warp when measuring. It is used to prevent the warp from tangling.

Dent: A slot in the reed; a 6 dent reed has 6 slots or dents per inch.

Draft: A map of the pattern to be woven. A full draft is made up of four parts: threading, tie-up, treadling, and draw-down.

Draw in: The pulling in of selvedges while weaving; usually one to two inches.

Dressing the loom: Warping the loom.

e.p.i.: Ends per inch, the number of warp threads in an inch measured across the width of the warp.

Fell: The woven edge of the cloth on the loom where the most recent pick has been inserted.

Filler: Weft

Fiber: Raw material made into yarn

Harness: The frames that hold the heddles. When a harness is raised or lowered, all of the warp ends threaded through the heddles on that harness are raised or lowered. A harness is sometimes called a shaft.

Heddles: Wire, nylon, string, or flat steel rods attached to the shafts. Each heddle has an eye in the center through which a warp end is threaded

Lease Sticks: Two rods or flat sticks longer than the width of the warp. They are placed in the openings of the cross. The cross is maintained in the space between the lease sticks, keeping the threads in order for threading or sleying.

Loom: The frame that holds the warp threads aligned and under tension so that weaving can take place.

Loom Waste: The parts of the warp that tie on to the loom at the front and the back that never get woven.

Pedals: Attached to shafts to make them go up or down in all of the combinations required by the weave structure. Also called treadles.

Pick: A single pass of the weft through a shed; a pick is also called a shot.

p.p.i.: Picks per inch, wefts per inch.

Raddle: A board at least as long as the width of the warp with evenly spaced pegs or nails one inch apart. Groups of warp ends are placed in each raddle space and the warp is wound on the warp beam with the raddle secured on the back beam.

Raddle Cross: Formed by groups of warp ends on the opposite end of the warping board or mill from the threading cross. The number of ends in each group is equal to the number of ends to be placed in each dent of the raddle.

Reed: A steel comb with teeth that space the warp at an even density for the desired width. Reeds are sized by length and by the number of spaces, called dents, per inch. The reed is placed in the beater and acts to press the weft into the cloth as well as space the warp.

Reed Hook: A flat piece of metal, wood, or plastic with smooth curves at both ends for pulling threads through the dents of the reed. Also called a sley hook.

Sectional Warp Beams: Warp beams with protruding pegs that separate the beam into sections, usually one to two inches wide each. The warp is wound onto each section separately.

Selvage: The side edges of a fabric where the weft passes around the outermost warps.

Sett: The number of warp ends per inch, usually abbreviated as epi. The weft sett is the number of weft picks per inch, usually abbreviated as ppi.

Shaft: The frames that hold the heddles. When a shaft is raised or lowered, all of the warp ends threaded through the heddles on that shaft are raised or lowered. A shaft is sometimes called a harness.

Shed: The space created between upper and lower warp threads when shafts are raised or lowered. The shuttle carrying the weft goes through the shed.

Shot: A single pass of the weft through a shed; a shot is also called a pick.

Sley: To pass the warp through the reed.

Sley Hook: A flat piece of metal, wood, or plastic with smooth curves at both ends for pulling threads through the dents of the reed. Also called a reed hook.

Sleying the Reed: The placing of the warp threads through the dents of the reed. The number of dents in the reed and the number of warp threads in each dent determine the density, or sett, of the warp.

Spool Rack: A frame with thin horizontal metal rods that can support many spools of thread. Multiple ends can be unwound at the same time from the rotating spools to fill a section of a sectional warp beam or to pass through the slots and holes of a warping paddle.

Swift: An expandable cage that turns on a center rod to hold a skein of yarn so that it can be wound into a ball or directly onto the warping board.

Tabby: A box that warp ends are threaded through when a warp is wound sectionally that puts tension on each thread evenly and spreads the threads to the width of the section.

Threading Cross: The X that is formed by alternate warp ends because they each take a different path over and under a pair of pegs on the warping board. The crossing of the threads keeps them in order.

Threading: The order in which each warp end passes through a heddle on a specific shaft.

Tie up: Shows the shafts that must be raised and/or lowered by each treadle to make each shed required by the weave structure.

Treadles: Pedals attached to shafts to make them go up or down in all of the combinations required by the weave structure. Also called pedals.

Treadling: The order in which the treadles are pressed to lift the shafts.

Tying On: The tying of small groups of warp threads to the front apron rod.

Warp: All the threads that are aligned vertically on a loom before weaving begins.

Warping board: A square frame with evenly spaced sturdy pegs along the sides of the frame and pegs that can accommodate a cross along the top and the bottom. Warp threads are wound on the board in order and measured by a designated path around the side pegs. Warping boards can accommodate up to 18 yards of warp length.

Warping Mill: Can be used to wind the warp. Some mills are vertical; the mill spins on a vertical axis and the warp is wound around it through a path that goes from the top to the bottom of the mill and back again. Some mills are horizontal; the mill spins on a horizontal axis and the warp is wound around it from one end to the other and back again.

Warping Paddle: A device that allows the winding of multiple warp ends in the same pass around a warping board while keeping them separate and aligned and providing a cross of individual ends.

Weft: All of the horizontal threads that interlace with the vertically aligned warp.

Weave Structure: The order in which warp and weft threads go over and under each other.

Winding a warp: The process by which all the threads in the warp are measured and aligned in order. Usually this is done by placing each end in a remeasured path on a warping board or warping mill. The order of the ends is maintained by the threading cross.