To unite, as threads of any kind, in such a
manner as to form a texture; to entwine or interlace into a fabric;
as, to weave wool, silk, etc.; hence, to unite by close connection
or intermixture; to unite intimately. [1913 Webster] This weaves
itself, perforce, into my business. --Shak. [1913 Webster] That in
their green shops weave the smooth-haired silk To deck her sons.
--Milton. [1913 Webster] And for these words, thus woven into song.
--Byron. [1913 Webster]
To form, as cloth, by interlacing threads; to
compose, as a texture of any kind, by putting together textile
materials; as, to weave broadcloth; to weave a carpet; hence, to
form into a fabric; to compose; to fabricate; as, to weave the plot
of a story. [1913 Webster] When she weaved the sleided silk.
--Shak. [1913 Webster] Her starry wreaths the virgin jasmin weaves.
--Ld. Lytton. [1913 Webster]
Weave \Weave\, v. i.
To practice weaving; to work with a loom. [1913
Webster]
To become woven or interwoven. [1913
Webster]
Weave \Weave\, n. A particular method or pattern
of weaving; as, the cassimere weave. [1913 Webster]
Word Net
weave n : pattern of weaving or structure of a fabricVerb
1 interlace by or as it by weaving [syn: interweave] [ant: unweave]
2 create a piece of cloth by interlacing strands
of fabric, such as wool or cotton; "tissue textiles" [syn: tissue]
3 sway to and fro [syn: waver]
4 to move or cause to move in a sinuous, spiral,
or circular course; "the river winds through the hills"; "the path
meanders through the vineyards"; "sometimes, the gout wanders
through the entire body" [syn: wind, thread, meander, wander] [also: woven, wove]
Moby Thesaurus
anatomy, arabesque, architectonics, architecture, arrangement, basketry, basketwork, braid, braiding, build, building, cancellation, careen, cloth, composition, conformation, constitution, construction, creation, cross-hatching, crossing-out, drapery, enlace, enlacement, entwine, entwinement, entwining, etoffe, fabric, fabrication, fashion, fashioning, feel, felt, filigree, finish, forging, form, format, formation, frame, fret, fretwork, getup, goods, grain, granular texture, grate, grating, grid, gridiron, grille, grillwork, hachure, hatching, indentation, interknit, interknitting, interlace, interlacement, interlacery, interlacing, intertexture, interthreading, intertie, intertieing, intertissue, intertwine, intertwinement, intertwining, intertwist, intertwisting, interweave, interweavement, interweaving, intort, knit, knitting, knub, lace, lacery, lacework, lacing, lattice, latticework, loom, loop, make, makeup, making, manufacture, mat, material, mesh, meshes, meshwork, mold, molding, nap, napery, net, netting, network, noose, nub, organic structure, organism, organization, pattern, patterning, physique, pile, pit, plait, plaiting, plan, pleach, plexure, plexus, pock, production, protuberance, raddle, rag, reticle, reticulation, reticule, reticulum, riddle, screen, screening, setup, shag, shape, shaping, sieve, silk, splice, stagger, structure, structuring, stuff, surface, surface texture, sway, swing, tectonics, textile, textile fabric, texture, tissu, tissue, tracery, trellis, trelliswork, twill, twine, twining, twist, twisting, wale, warp and woof, warpage, wattle, weaving, web, webbing, webwork, weft, weftage, wicker, wickerwork, wobble, woof, wool, wreathe, wreathingEnglish
Pronunciation
- , /wiːv/
-
- Rhymes with: -iːv
Homophones
Verb
Translations
- Albanian: end
- Catalan: teixir
- Chinese: 編織, 编织
- Croatian: tkati
- Czech: tkát
- Danish: væve
- Dutch: weven
- Esperanto: teksi
- Finnish: kutoa
- French: tisser
- German: weben (1, 2)
- Greek: υφάνει
- Hungarian: sző
- Indonesian: menganyam, menjalin
- Interlingua: texer
- Italian: tessere
- Japanese: 編む (あむ, amu)
- Norwegian: veve
- Portuguese: tecer
- Russian: сплести (splesti)
- Slovene: plesti
- Spanish: tejer
- Telugu: అల్లు (allu), నేయు (naeyu)
Noun
- A type or way of weaving.
- That rug has a very tight weave.
Translations
a type or way of weaving
Verb
Translations
to weave
- French: se faufiler, se frayer un chemin
- Slovene: vijugati
References
- This article describes textile weaving. For other senses of this word, see weaving (disambiguation).
Weaving is an ancient textile art and craft that
involves placing two sets of threads or yarn called the warp and
weft of the loom and turning them into cloth. This cloth can be plain (in
one color or a simple pattern), or it can be woven in decorative or
artistic designs, including tapestries.
The majority of commercial fabrics, in the West,
are woven on computer-controlled Jacquard
looms. In the past, simpler fabrics were woven on other
dobby
looms and the Jacquard harness adaptation was reserved for more
complex patterns. Some believe the efficiency of the Jacquard loom,
and the Jacquard
weaving process makes it more economical for mills to use them
to weave all of their fabrics, regardless of the complexity of the
design. However, an industrialist weaving large runs of simple
plain weave fabric may need to be convinced of the logic of
investing in Jacquard machines, when a much lower cost loom would
suffice.
Handweaving, along with hand spinning,
is a popular craft. Weavers use wooden looms to create rugs, fabrics, and tapestries.
Fabric in which the warp and/or weft is tie-dyed before
weaving is called ikat.
Fabric decorated using a wax resist method is called batik.
Satin weaves,
twill weaves, and plain weaves
are the 3 basic types of weaving by which the majority of woven
products are formed.
Process
In general, weaving involves the interlacing of
two sets of threads at right angles
to each other: the warp and
the weft. The warp are held
taut and in parallel
order, typically by means of a loom, though some forms of weaving
may use other methods. The loom is warped (or dressed) with the
warp threads passing through heddles on two or more harnesses. The
warp threads are moved up or down by the harnesses creating a space
called the shed. The
weft thread is wound onto spools called bobbins. The bobbins are
placed in a shuttle which carries the weft thread through the shed.
The raising/lowering sequence of warp threads gives rise to many
possible weave structures from the simplest plain weave (also
called tabby), through twills and satins to
complex computer-generated interlacings.
Both warp and weft can be visible in the final
product. By spacing the warp more closely, it can completely cover
the weft that binds it, giving a warpfaced textile such as rep
weave. Conversely, if the warp is spread out, the weft can slide
down and completely cover the warp, giving a weftfaced textile,
such as a tapestry or a
Kilim rug.
There are a variety of loom
styles for hand weaving and tapestry. In tapestry, the image is
created by placing weft
only in certain warp areas, rather than across the entire warp
width.
Weaving in ancient and traditional cultures
There are some indications that weaving was already known in the Palaeolithic era. An indistinct textile impression has been found at Pavlov, Moravia. Neolithic textiles are well known from finds in pile dwellings in Switzerland. One extant fragment from the Neolithic was found in Fayum at a site which dates to about 5000 BCE. This fragment is woven at about 12 threads by 9 threads per cm in a plain weave. Flax was the predominant fibre in Egypt at this time and continued popularity in the Nile Valley, even after wool became the primary fibre used in other cultures around 2000 BCE. Another Ancient Egyptian item, known as the Badari dish, depicts a textile workshop. This item, catalogue number UC9547, is now housed at the Petrie Museum and dates to about 3600 BCE. Enslaved women worked as weavers during the Sumerian Era. They would wash wool fibers in hot water and wood-ash soap and then dry them. Next, they would beat out the dirt and card the wool. The wool was then graded, bleached, and spun into a thread. The spinners would pull out fibers and twist them together. This was done by either rolling fibers between palms or using a hooked stick. The thread was then placed on a wooden or bone spindle and rotated on a clay whorl which operated like a flywheel.The slaves would then work in three-woman teams
on looms, where they
stretched the threads, after which they passed threads over and
under each other at perpendicular angles. The finished cloth was then taken to a fuller.
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) points to numerous Biblical
references to weaving in ancient times:
Weaving in the American Southwest
Textile weaving, using cotton dyed with pigments, was a dominant craft among pre-contact tribes of the American southwest, including various Pueblo peoples, the Zuni, and the Ute tribes. The first Spaniards to visit the region wrote about seeing Navajo blankets. With the introduction of sheep and wool by Europeans, the Navajo adopted the new source of thread and the resulting woolen products have become very well known. By the 1700s the Navajo had begun to import yarn with their favorite color, Bayeta red.Using an upright loom, the Navajos made almost
exclusively utilitarian blankets. Little patterning and few colors
were characteristic of almost all early blankets, except for the
much sought after Chief's
Blanket, which evolved from the 1st Phase, few wide bands, to
the 2nd phase, wide bands with squares on the corners to the 3rd
Phase which made more and more use of patterns and colors. The
Navajo also traded for commercial wool, including the uniforms of
soldiers, to reweave into intricate multicolored blankets called
Germantown.
Under the influence of European settlers at
trading posts, the local Navajos began to weave blankets and
rugs
into distinct styles. They included "Two Gray Hills" (predominantly
black and white, with traditional patterns), "Teec Nos Pos"
(colorful, with very extensive patterns), "Ganado" (founded by
Don
Lorenzo Hubbell), red dominated patterns with black and white,
"Crystal" (founded by J. B. Moore), oriental and Persian
styles (almost always with natural dyes), "Wide Ruins," "Chinlee,"
banded geometric patterns, "Klagetoh," diamond type patterns, "Red
Mesa" and bold
diamond patterns. Many of these patterns exhibit a fourfold
symmetry, which is thought to embody traditional ideas about
harmony.
Weaving in Amazonia
In Native Amazonia, densely woven palm-bast mosquito netting, or tents, were utilized by the Panoans, Tupí, Western Tucano, Yameo, Záparoans, and perhaps by the indigenous peoples of the central Huallaga River basin (Steward 1963:520). Aguaje palm-bast (Mauritia flexuosa, Mauritia minor, or swamp palm) and the frond spears of the Chambira palm (Astrocaryum chambira, A.munbaca, A.tucuma, also known as Cumare or Tucum) have been used for centuries by the Urarina of the Peruvian Amazon to make cordage, net-bags hammocks, and to weave fabric. Among the Urarina, the production of woven palm-fiber goods is imbued with varying degrees of an aesthetic attitude, which draws its authentication from referencing the Urarina’s primordial past. Urarina mythology attests to the centrality of weaving and its role in engendering Urarina society. The post-diluvial creation myth accords women’s weaving knowledge a pivotal role in Urarina social reproduction. Even though palm-fiber cloth is regularly removed from circulation through mortuary rites, Urarina palm-fiber wealth is neither completely inalienable, nor fungible since it is a fundamental medium for the expression of labor and exchange. The circulation of palm-fiber wealth stabilizes a host of social relationships, ranging from marriage and fictive kinship (compadrazco, spiritual compeership) to perpetuating relationships with the deceased.Weaving in Persia
Hand weaving of carpets and kilims has been an important element of the tribal crafts of many of the subregions of modern day Iran. Examples of carpet types are the Lavar Kerman carpet from Kerman and the Seraband rug from Arak.Weaving as an industry
Before the Industrial Revolution, weaving remained a manual craft, usually undertaken by craftsmen in their homes. Looms might be broad or narrow; broad looms were those too wide for the weaver to pass the shuttle through the shed, so that the weaver needed an assistant (often an apprentice). This ceased to be necessary after John Kay invented the flying shuttle in 1733, which also sped up the process of weaving.Great Britain
The first attempt to mechanise weaving was the work of Edmund Cartwright from 1785. He built a factory at Doncaster and obtained a series of patents between 1785 and 1792. In 1788, his brother Major John Cartwight built Revolution Mill at Retford (named for the centenary of the Glorious Revolution. In 1791, he licensed his loom to the Grimshaw brothers of Manchester, but their Knott Mill burnt down the following year (possibly a case of arson). Edmund Cartwight was granted a reward of £10,000 by Parliament for his efforts in 1809. However, success in power-weaving also required improvements by others, including H. Horrocks of Stockport. Only during the two decades after about 1805, did power-weaving take hold. This led ultimately to hardship among handloom weavers, whose wages were driven down by competition from machine. This led to machine breaking by the Luddites. Textile manufacture was one of the leading sectors in the British Industrial Revolution, but weaving was a comparatively late sector to be mechanised. However, ultimately, the various innovations took weaving from a home-based artisan activity (labour intensive and man-powered) to mass-production under the power of steam undertaken in factories. See also Textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution.Another important step forward was the invention
in France of
the Jacquard
loom, enabling complicated patterned cloths to be woven, by
using punched cards to determine which threads of coloured yarn
should appear on the upper side of the cloth.
Colonial America
Colonial America was heavily reliant on Great Britain for manufactured goods of all kinds. British policy was to encourage the production of raw materials in colonies. Weaving was not prohibited, but the export of British wool was. As a result many people wove cloth from locally produced fibers in Colonial America.In Colonial times the colonists mostly used
cotton and flax for weaving. They could get
one cotton crop each fall. Flax was harvested in the summer.
In preparing wool for weaving, colonists would
first shear the
sheep with spring
back clippers. This was done while keeping the sheep's feet
from touching anything so it would not try to break free. They
would try to cut the wool off the sheep in one big chunk because
that way they would get long fibers. Sheep-shearing was done in the
spring so that the fleece would regrow in time for the
winter.
After shearing, wool would be washed in hot water
to get out the dirt and grease (lanolin), then carded, at which
point it would be ready for spinning
into yarn. Washing the wool was a delicate procedure, because they
didn't want to agitate the fibres too much in the process, and end
up with felt. If the wool
was clean enough (little to no vegetable matter), they could wait
until after it is spun to clean out the lanolin, at which point it
is easier to clean because it is yarn.
A card is a set of two brushes stroked one on the
other with the fibre in the middle. This process of carding loosen and fluffs the
fiber, as opposed to combing, which lines up all the
fibres in the same direction, making the wool or cotton ready for
spinning.
Cotton was harvested from little stalks. The
cotton boll is white, roughly spherical and fluffy. Its seeds had
to be removed before carding, a difficult and time-consuming
process. (Later, a "cotton gin"
was invented which took a lot of the work out of seed removal.)
After carding it would be ready for spinning.
Linen is made from flax fibre. After growing the
flax, workers had to ret
it. To prepare flax for weaving, the stalks would be "braked",
meaning beaten, with a tool that looks like a paper cutter but
instead of having a big knife it has a blunt arm, then a scutching
tool (a blunt wooden knife) is used to scrape away pieces of
the stalk, and
then the fibre is pulled through a heckling
comb to get it ready for spinning. A heckling comb is like a
brush with metal bristles that you pull flax stalks through.
After they spun the yarn, it would be dyed with
berries, bark, flowers, herbs or weeds, often gathered by
children.
With the yarn made, they would prepare the loom.
The strings on a loom run in two directions. The yarn that is
attached to the loom is called the warp, and
the woof or weft is woven
through it. The woof is wrapped around the shuttle,
and woven alternately over and under the warp strings.
A plain weave was what most people liked in
Colonial times. Almost everything was plain woven then. Sometimes
designs were woven into the fabric but mostly designs were added
after weaving. The colonists would usually add designs by using
either wood block prints or embroidering.
Weaving in America, 1800-1900
The Jacquard loom attachment was perfected in 1801, and was becoming common in Europe by 1806. It came to the US in the early 1820's, some immigrant weavers bringing jacquard equipment with them, and spread west from New England. At first it was used with traditional human-powered looms. As a practical matter, previous looms were mostly limited to the production of simple geometric patterns. The jacquard allowed individual control of each warp thread, row by row without repeating, so very complex patterns were suddenly feasible. Jacquard woven coverlets (bedspreads) became popular by mid-century, in some cases being custom-woven with the name of the customer embedded in the programmed pattern. Undyed cotton warp was usually combined with dyed wool weft.Natural dyes were used until just before the
Civil War, when artificial dyes started to come into use.
See also
References
External links
weave in Danish: Vævning
weave in German: Weben
weave in Spanish: Tejeduría
weave in Scottish Gaelic: Breabadair
weave in Italian: Tessitura
weave in Hebrew: אריגה
weave in Dutch: Weven
weave in Polish: Tkanie
weave in Portuguese: Tecelagem
weave in Finnish: Kudonta
weave in Swedish: Vävning
weave in Tamil: நெசவுத் தொழில்நுட்பம்
weave in Thai: การทอผ้า