Plain weave

“ All of the Chincha striped cloths examined for this study were woven either in the over-one-under-one interlacing or its variation, twin warps crossed by single weft, a technique sometimes designated as the semibasket weave. What textural differences there are between the colored stripes and the ground material are the results of combining the single-warp plain weave with its twin-warp variation. ”

“ In plain weave, work twenty-six rows. Wet the spokes well now and bend them in. Introduce three weavers and work three rows of triple twist. Drop two weavers and work eleven rows in plain weaving. The weaver should be drawn tightly from now on. Weave two rows in 3-rod coil. Drop two weavers and work sixteen rows in plain weaving. Wet the spokes again and with the plier press the spokes well and bend them outward for a slight flare. Work seventeen rows in plain weave. Bend the spokes down and make three rows of triple twist No. 5 reed. ”

“ Fig. 2 complete on twenty-four threads and three picks shows such a pattern, where the twill is reversed every twelve threads. Figs. 3 and 4 are the four-thread and five-thread straight twills respectively, while fig. 5 is the five-thread sateen twill. These two latter weaves require a great number of threads and picks per inch, and are used only in the finest ticks. The plain weave is occasionally used for cheaper varieties. ”

“ It is customary in weaving materials with end as well as side selvages to give more or less attention to the closing of the space between the weaving proper and the heading strip. When the warps in the form of a skein had been spread out evenly and bound in place to the end bars, the ancient weavers on two-bar looms first wove a shallow heading strip to secure the warps in their positions and to establish the ultimate width of the fabric, a practice followed by some modern weavers today. ”

“ Weavers, like many other classes in Southern India, are eminently conservative. Even so trifling an innovation as the introduction of a new arrangement for maintaining tension in the warp during the process of weaving gave rise a short time ago to a temporary strike among the hand-loom weavers at the Madras School of Arts.
For the following note on the weaving industry, I am indebted to Mr. A. Chatterton. “The hand-weavers may be divided into two great classes— (1) plain weavers, who weave cloths or fabrics with a single shuttle, which carries the weft from selvage to selvage ”

“ Selvages at left. Width of narrowest border stripe, one-fourth inch; others in proportion.
Plate 7
a, reconstruction of border stripes of fabric in plate 6,e; b, reconstruction of stripe found on several specimens; c, section of fabric (×2) showing variations in plain weave and amount of twist given to weaving elements (16-1240) ; d, section of fabric (×2) showing two-and-two basket weave varied in appearance by arrangement of colored yarns (4-3962) . ”

“ Owing to the difference in length between the two side edges of specimen 4-4056, the weaver started making adjustments before she had woven half the length of her cloth. In order to restore a working edge at right angles to her warps, she introduced incomplete or fill-in wefts; that is, weft yarns entered on the long side and carried a distance across the web and then turned back in the next shed (pl. 8,a) . The largest number of fill-in wefts occurs roughly at a point about a third up from the end. ”

“ There are in this pattern six picks to the round. The appearance of the cloth will be a bar of five picks plain, and then a crank or open space, in the middle of which is a single pick; the crack is caused by the crossing of the ends.
FIG. 138.
In gauzes and fabrics of this description, a thin open fabric in which the ends will not fray or slide is the object. The nature of the weave enables a firmer fabric to be obtained with a smaller number of ends and picks per inch than in ordinary weaving where the threads are not crossed. ”

“ Plain cloths may be ornamented by using threads of different colours and of different thicknesses, as, for instance, if four picks of blue and four picks of white are alternately put into a cloth, the warp of which is composed of four ends blue and four ends white alternately, a check is formed although the weave is quite plain. A check may also be formed on a plain cloth by using one or more thick threads at intervals in both warp and weft. ”

“ Little children weave together strips of paper, straws, and splints,—"over one, under one,"—and the weaving of plain cotton cloth is in principle nothing more than this. The first thing to do in weaving is to stretch out the warp evenly. This warp is simply many hundreds of tiny threads as long as the cloth is to be, sometimes forty or fifty yards. ”

“ More than a third of the patches were taken from the edges of the breadths, as the stripes indicate.
Techniques used to fasten down the edges are hemming and whipping. The workmanship is fairly coarse, the lengths of the individual stitches approximately a quarter-inch long. Standards were much below those held by the weaver, but this difference is not surprising.
Threads employed for the patching suggest that the seamstress used odds and ends of weaving yarns. Two or more kinds ordinarily appear on a single patch, one of them usually a coarse white cotton thread of fairly loose twist. ”

“ This fabric may, like Velveteen, be either of a weft or warp pile weave, which is more fully described under "Velveteen." Being plain, it is free from any ornamentation produced by printing, embossing, or combination of weave, and of uniform colour throughout the width and length of the material. ”

“ Plains show no figure of any nature on the face of the cloth, have every end and pick interwoven alternately, while the warp forms a right angle with the weft. Apparent figures, ribs and stripes may be made by using fine and coarse weft or alternate counts of warp. Stripes or checks of colour may be introduced, but if the weave be unaltered the cloth still is classed as plain. ”

“ In Fig. 317 the ground weave is shown in solid squares; the extra warp is lifted by the small circles, and the extra weft is thrown to the back of the plain cloth by the small dots, which lift all the ground ends on the extra picks where the extra warp is lifted. This design is made for single picks, but in the majority of looms there are only change boxes at one side, and so the design must be arranged for two picks alternately of ground and extra weft. ”

“ This branch of design will be treated of more fully in a subsequent chapter, but it will be obvious that this limit to the number of threads of a given count which can be used in a plain cloth renders the weave unsuitable for heavy fabrics. If a plain cloth is very heavy and thick, it must of necessity be coarse. ”

“ The weave used may be a twill or satin instead of plain, if desired, or the two cloths may be of different weaves, and one brought through the other to form a figure. Fig. 344 is a design for a small spot pattern on the double plain principle. The threads should be “end and end” and “pick and pick” of different colours, the first end and first pick being, we will suppose, black, and the threads for the second cloth being white. The lifting marks for [Pg 265] bringing the back cloth to the face are the solid squares, whilst the white cloth is brought to the top by the circles. ”

“ In many of the heavier ones the effect of a poplin or repp weave is produced by having about three times as many warp threads to the inch than there are weft. This results in the warp forming the surface of the cloth and, of course, minimises the amount of labour.
A Shan woman can weave about five yards of this plain cloth in a day and, unless there is to be a design, the yarn is not dyed but the complete cloth is soaked in an infusion of the indigo.plant, dried, washed and steeped again until the result is sufficiently dark in colour. ”

“ Gold or silver metal threads are sometimes introduced in the figures.
Brocateles were originally somewhat coarse fabrics of silk and wool or silk and cotton with designs produced by the brocade weave. The term is now also applied to a type of heavy satin damask in which the satin figure is on a lustrous ground of the same or contrasting color.
Printed fabrics.—Both hand-and machine-made printed fabrics are produced in an enormous variety; on linen, cotton, silk, rayon, mohair, wool, and jute grounds; and on plain twill, rep, damask, velvet, and other grounds. ”

“ The term "end" in weaving is used to designate the warp thread, while each weft or filling thread is called a "pick." The fineness of a cloth is expressed by saying that it has so many "ends" and "picks" to the inch. The character of the weave offers the best basis for classification of woven goods, and nearly all varieties of cloth may be classified under the following weaves:—
Web.—Web is the name given to a piece of cloth at the moment it is taken from the loom and previous to its having been treated to produce the special feature of the class of cloth the web belongs to. ”

“ Most goods gain from 3 to 7 per cent. in weaving. That is, if we make a warp of 300 meters for a satin and we obtain 315 yards of cloth, this gain should not be calculated, as usually there is no account taken of samples used in the selling department. But the loss in length should be figured and taken account of on goods with a heavy rib, such as moiré, faille, etc.
DISP. 7—A 3 1/3-inch repeat can be obtained with a 600-hook jacquard machine, seven repeats in a width of 23 inches.
DISP. 8—Taffeta weave, but the two cotton picks must go in one hole. ”

“ A knowledge of the construction of weaves as explained in the foregoing chapters will enable us to determine the weave of a simple pattern by merely raising a warp-thread with a needle on any point of interlacing and counting off how many picks apart from this place it makes an impression. ”

“ In weaving Satin the same style of weave is adopted as in weaving Cotton Sateens, the object aimed at being an even, close, smooth surface and one capable of reflecting light to the best advantage. In a warp-weave Satin the warp only appears on the surface, the filling or weft threads being effectually and completely hidden. ”

“ The better grades of fiber yarns are extremely tough and long wearing, giving the finished rug a tough, long-wearing surface. Also they are finer than the grass fibers, giving a thinner, less heavy feel, but increasing the cost because of the additional labor involved and the increased number of picks. Three basic weaves are used to give variety:
The basket weave.—In this 2-, 3-, and 4-weft or filler, yarns are shuttled across the loom between each raising and lowering of the warp. This produces a weave resembling the broad, flat weave of a market basket. ”

“ Out in the villages, where these people live, it would seem almost as absurd for the weaver to become a carpenter as for the weaver who uses only cotton thread to become a silk-weaver, or for those who weave coarse white cloths to produce the finer coloured cloths worn by the women. ”

“ I will talk about the weavers this morning. And the first thing I have to say is that this is no uncommon trade among birds. Take the nest of any of the common small birds that use hair for a lining, and you will be apt to find some part of it woven."
"But, Uncle Philip, you do not mean that [Pg 203] birds weave as smoothly and regularly as people do!"
"Not quite, boys; but still it is very fair weaving, and done as our weaving is, by working a hair or thread in and out between other hairs and threads, or roots, or bits of stick and grass. ”

“ For a jacquard weaving plant the designing is the most important factor.
BOX LOOM WEAVES INCLUDING CREPES
Box looms are required for weaves such as bayadères, checks, plaids (see pages 63-65) , bengalines, crêpes, etc., where two or more shuttles are needed to bring out the effect.
For the crêpes (crêpe de chine, crêpe georgette) only two shuttles are needed, while plaids and other articles are made with more shuttles.
To weave such articles the loom or the lay must be fitted with two or more shuttle boxes on one or both sides of the loom. ”

“ THE three principal movements in weaving are shedding, picking, and beating up the weft. By shedding is meant opening the warp threads to allow the shuttle containing the weft to pass over certain ends and under others. In the common [Pg 49] hand loom the shed is made by the weaver operating treadles with his feet. Fig. 35 shows the method of connecting the shafts or staves with the treadles for weaving a plain cloth. ”

“ Weft, wool, occasionally cotton; of coarse diameter. For a short space a thread of weft crosses twice, that is across and back once, between every two rows of knots, then three times, and so alternates every several rows. Pile, wool of medium length, soft, and silky. Border, three to five stripes, and frequently an outer edging of uniform colour. Sides, a double overcasting. Both ends, narrow web and loose warp fringe. Texture, stout and firm. Weave at back is of coarse grain. Usual length, eight to twenty feet. Usual width, three fifths to three quarters length. ”

“ A pure gauze fabric is one in which the crossing thread is brought up on one side of a standard end, and up the other side of the standard end on the next pick. Fig. 135 shows how the threads are interlaced in gauze weaving. It will be seen that the weave repeats every two picks. The crossing end, and the end round which it crosses, must be placed in one dent, and if an end is made to cross round a number of ends they must all be in the same dent or split in the reed, as it is very obvious that an end cannot be made to cross into another dent with the ordinary doup heald. ”