Glossary

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  • A general term for monochrome patterned fabric with contrasting textures. The technical definition of the damasks referred to in this book is a simple weave structure that employs two types of weave, usually one would be warp-faced and the other weft-faced. Although the warp and wefts are often the same color, the different faces of the weaves reflect the light in a different way, allowing the eyes to perceive the damask design.
  • See twill.

  • A printing technique, in which a bleaching agent is printed onto previously dyed fabrics to remove some or all of the color to create design elements.

  • Supplementary weft that extends across just a few warps, i.e. Does not stretch from selvedge to selvedge.
  • A warp that is not wound continuously, but is composed of short lengths of yarn. Typically the ends of the yarn are tied individually to the warp beam and the cloth beam, for example warps made of raffia.
  • A Jacquard device for controlling a pattern loom.

  • (Java) A man’s and woman’s ceremonial hip wrapper, typically a large cloth made from two separately woven pieces joined together along their long edges.

  • A compound weave employing two sets of warps and wefts, each set interlaces to form its own weave and create a distinct layer, thus the name double cloth. Normally the two weaves are of the same type, for example, plain weave and plain weave.
  • A loom that has a pair of heddles for opening the sheds for making the ground weave. Other heddles, such as pattern heddles, may be present in addition. Compare with single-heddle loom.
  • The most difficult ikat technique, both the warp and weft threads are pre-dyed. The technique has traditionally only been practised in Gujarat in west India, where the silk patola is created, and in Tenganan in east Bali, where the famous cotton geringsing is woven. During the weaving process the weaver takes great care to align the motifs as the final design takes form. The loom is set up so that both the warp and the weft are visible on the final woven cloth. The cloth is reversible with the designs appearing equally clearly on both sides of the cloth. While the sombre Balinese double ikat geringsing are always woven from hand-spun cotton, the brightly coloured double ikat patola (singular, patolu) from Gujarat are always made of silk. In this case the usual sari size has been modified to suit Indonesian use and the open weave is typical of some export patola.
  • A type of tapestry in which wefts in adjacent color sections share a common terminal warp.
  • A leash in a complex pattern heddle.
  • A loom with a complex pattern heddle that records warp lifts for weft insertion, and allows warp threads to be raised in any combination. In addition to the weaver, there is normally a second person (drawperson) who manipulates the pattern heddle.

  • A textile with a twining technique, often with plain silk warp and two or three color colors of silk wefts. The result is very tightly woven cloth, used as a belt in the Surakarta court until the late 19th century (Jasper and Pirngadie 1912: 233).

  • See spindle.
  • A soluble coloring material that penetrates and binds to fibers (as opposed to a pigment).

  • A process through which molecules imparting color are chemically bonded to fibers. The fibers may be un-spun, or in the form of yarns or fabrics, during the dyeing process.