Glossary

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  • A method or process used to create a textile. Different techniques can produce the same structure. For example, a cloth woven on a loom in plain weave can have the same structure as a basket interlace using only the hands.

  • See yarn.
  • The number of warps or wefts per unit length (generally one inch or one centimeter).
  • One insertion of weft through a shed opening, either using shuttle or bobbin.
  • See flying shuttle.
  • See resist-dyeing, plangi.

  • See resist-dyeing.

  • A plaited sitting mat offered to visitors.
  • A bar pressed by the foot, used (for example) to raise a heddle or to depress a shed stick during weaving. Synonym: pedal.
  • A loom equipped with treadle(s).
  • A compound weave employing three sets of warps and wefts, each set interlaces to form its own weave and create a distinct layer.
  • See stitch-resist dyein -(Malay) patterning on woven cloth by sewing running stitch following a design and pulling the cloth tight. The stitches act as a resist when the cloth is dyed.
  • See circular warp.
  • A basic weave structure characterized by warp or weft floats and the diagonal bindings of the warp- and weft-interlacing. There are many different types of twill (diamond twill, herringbone, etc.).

  • Weaving or cloth patterned by a regular diagonal alignment of floating threads.

  • A weaving technique in which pairs of warps or wefts are twisted around wefts or warps respectively. It is commonly used as a finishing technique at the edges of textiles. The weaver crosses a pair of wefts above and below the warp, twists them to reverse their positions, then crosses them over the next warp. This can be done simply to strengthen an edge, but it is also possible to make decorative designs using elaborations of the twining technique.

  • (Batak) a traditional cloth.
  • A textile, normally made of silk, that is patterned using raised pile on the surface. The pile is made of loops of supplementary warps that are raised using metal rods inserted during weaving. The loops may later be cut to create plush or left uncut. Velvet piles can be of multiple heights depending on the metal rods used.
  • See Cinnabar.
  • Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the Dutch East India Company.