Basic weaves
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The basic weaves include plain (or tabby), twills, and satins.
Plain weave
Plain, or tabby, weave, the simplest and most common of all weaves, requires only two harnessses and has two warp and weft yarns in each weave unit. To produce it, the warp yarns are held parallel under tension while a crosswise weft yarn is shot over and under alternate warps across the width of the web. The weave unit is completed at the end of the second row, when the weft has been inserted over and under the opposite set of warps, thus locking the previous weft in place. Fabric length is increased with the insertion of each succeeding weft yarn. When warp and weft yarns are approximately equal in size and quantity, the finished fabric is balanced and potentially stronger than cloth made of the same kind and number of warp and weft yarns in any other basic weave. Tabby woven with different-sized warp and weft yarns results in such fabrics as taffeta and poplin, in which many fine warps are interlaced with proportionately fewer thick weft yarns to form cloths with crosswise ridges or ribs.
The term extended tabby describes any weave in which two or more warps or wefts, or both, are interlaced as a unit. The group includes fabrics with basketry effects and fabrics with ribs formed by groups of warps or wefts in each shed.
Tapestry weave is a tabby in which a variety of coloured weft yarns is interlaced with the warp to form patterns. It is usually an unbalanced weave, with wefts completely covering a proportionately low number of warps. These cloths are sturdy and compact. Although they are flat and generally do not drape well, they have been used for centuries to make ceremonial and decorative dress and costumes.
Twill weave
Twill weave is distinguished by diagonal lines. The simplest twill is that created by the weft crossing over two warp yarns, then under one, the sequence being repeated in each succeeding shot (pick), but stepped over, one warp either to the left or right. Twills with more warps than wefts floating on the fabric’s face are called warp faced; those with wefts predominating, weft faced. The angle of the twill can also vary.
Twills can be varied by changing the relative number of warps and wefts in each repeat (2:1, 2:3, 3:1, 6:2, etc.); by stepping the repeat in one direction; by breaking the direction of the diagonals formed by the twill at regular intervals; by reversing the direction of the diagonal at regular intervals to form chevrons or lozenges; or by combining several twills or modifying them to create a pattern.
Twills drape better than plain weaves with the same yarn count because twills have fewer interlacings. Twill weaves have been used throughout history in many weights and textures, from wool serges mentioned in medieval French manuscripts to English diapered (diamond patterned) table linens, patterned bed coverlets, and Indian shawls.
Satin weave
Although satin-weave drafts superficially resemble those of twills, satin weave does not have the regular step in each successive weft that is characteristic of twills. Thus, there is no strong diagonal line, and the fabric is smooth faced, with an unbroken surface made up of long floating warp yarns. A true satin must have at least five warp and weft yarns in each complete weave repeat and thus requires at least five harnesses. Most satin fabrics are made of smooth, lightly twisted yarns that heighten the effect of light unbroken by visible crosswise bindings. The limited number of interlacings allows the weaver to use a proportionately large number of warp yarns and thus produce a heavy textured cloth that can be arranged in smooth, shadowed folds. Satins, having long floats, are susceptible to the wear caused by rubbing and snagging and are, therefore, generally regarded as luxury fabrics.
Among the variations of satin weave are damask and sateen, a weft-faced satin. Damask is the most important variation of basic satin weave. Classic damask is a patterned solid-coloured fabric with figures in warp-faced satin and background in weft-faced satin weave. The pattern is created by the difference in light reflection between the warp-faced and weft-faced areas. Silk damasks probably originated in China and came to Europe through Italy, the centre of European silk manufacture between the 13th and 17th centuries. During this period drawloom weavers from the Netherlands and Belgium also developed the art of linen damask weaving. Pictorial linen damasks, unlike most silk damasks of the time, often consisted of a single large repeat, picturing biblical scenes, contemporary events, or the arms of nobles and kings.
Complex weaves
Complex weaves include multiple plane, pile, inlaid, Jacquard, dobby, and gauze (or leno) weaves.
Multiple plain weave
Reversible double-woven cloth is produced by multiple plain weaving. It is woven in two layers, which may be completely independent, may be joined at one or both selvages, may be held together along the edges of a pattern, or may be united by a separate binding weft. Though often tabby weave is employed on both surfaces, any of the basic weaves may be used, depending on the intended use of the fabric.
Double-woven cloths have been used for clothing, but, though warm, they tend to be heavy and to drape poorly. They are most often used as bedcovers or wall hangings. German 18th-century Beiderwand is an example of antique double-woven cloth consisting of two layers of tabby weave joined only along the edges of the pattern. A dark-coloured pattern in one layer is set against the light-coloured ground of the other layer; the pattern is seen in negative or the reverse side of the cloth.
Nonreversible cloth with two or more sets of warp and sometimes of weft can also be produced. These cloths have an intricately patterned face, and all warps and wefts that do not appear on the face are carried along and bound into the web on the reverse side. This class includes important historic textiles, such as early Persian and Byzantine figured fabrics, as well as more recent Jacquard-woven imitation tapestries and a wide range of imitation brocaded fabrics.
Pile weave
Pile weaves have a ground fabric plus an extra set of yarns woven or tied into the ground and projecting from it as cut ends or loops. A great range of textures is included in this binding system, from terry pile toweling and corduroy to silk velvets and Oriental rugs.
In warp-pile fabrics the pile is formed by an extra set of warp yarns. To create such a fabric, first one set (sheet) of ground warps is raised, and the weft makes its first interlacing with the ground warp. Next, pile warps are raised, and a rod is inserted through the entire width of the web. The remaining ground warps are raised to form the third shed; then the ground weft is shot across again. This sequence is repeated several times; then the rods are slipped out, leaving a warp pile. To form cut-pile velvet, a knife on the end of the rod cuts the pile warps it passes, creating two fine rows of cut pile. Although the system has many technical variations, the same basic process can be applied to most warp-pile weaving.
If the pile is not cut when the rod is removed, a loop pile fabric results. In weaving terry pile fabrics, the ground warp is under tension, and the pile warp stays slack. When wefts are beaten in, the slack yarns are pushed into loops on both sides of the cloth.
To make velvets by double-cloth construction, two layers of cloth are woven simultaneously face-to-face, with long pile warp yarns connecting the two layers. After the cloth is woven, a knife slices the two layers apart.
Corduroy and velveteen are weft-pile constructions. Weft yarns having long floats are inserted between ground-weave picks. The floats are slit longitudinally after the fabric is completed, thus forming a ribbed surface of cut pile. In manufacture of velveteen the floats are formed over the whole surface of the fabric and cut evenly to imitate velvet.
Hand-knotted Oriental and Scandinavian rugs are constructed on a tabby-weave ground, with each row of knots followed by tightly beaten-in wefts. The pile of fine Oriental rugs may contain 160 knots per inch, thus completely obscuring the knots in the rug’s foundation.
Inlaid weave
In all of the fabrics of this class, designs are created by inserting pattern warp or weft yarns between ground warps or wefts.
Brocaded fabric has a pattern of coloured or metallic threads, or both, set in low relief against the ground weave. The ground weave can be any basic weave, since the brocaded pattern is merely inserted between ground wefts and is bound by ground warps. Until the advent of the Jacquard mechanism in the early 19th century, brocaded fabrics were woven by drawloom weavers who inserted the pattern wefts by hand. These weft yarns were wound on small brocading shuttles that travelled across the width of each pattern repeat, a separate shuttle being used for each colour in the repeat. Generally, these extra wefts were found only in the area in which the pattern was located and usually formed long floats on the reverse side of the fabric.
A mechanical process closely corresponding to hand brocading is called swivel, a system of figuring fabrics by using mechanically controlled pattern shuttles. The figures, inserted between ground-weft picks, interlace with the warp. The lappet system produces figured fabrics resembling those made by swivel figuring, but the pattern yarns are extra warps (rather than wefts) brought into play from separate warp beams. Lappet weaving is generally confined to coarse pattern yarns and can be distinguished from swivel by its interlacing with weft rather than with warp yarns.
