Glossary

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  • A pattern guide consisting of sticks embedded in strings, recording a design for supplementary warp patterning.
  • A long ceremonial cloth from the Lampung region, decorated with ships and other motifs.

  • A process similar to wax-resist dyeing in which a starchy paste is applied to areas of fabric before dyeing. Designs can be drawn free-hand, or a stencil may be used.

  • "Patola" (singular: patolu) refers to luxurious and brilliantly colored silk trade cloths made primarily in Gujarat, India, using the double-ikat technique. Although originally intended for the Indian market, patola became important export items to Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia, where they were highly valued as heirloom items. Printed cotton imitations of silk patola were also significant exports and can be found among Indonesian heirloom objects. The designs of patola were widely imitated and reinterpreted in Indonesian weavings.
  • A cord that records a warp lift in a complex pattern heddle, such as that found in a drawloom. This term is also used by some authors as a synonym for leash, when referring to drawlooms and jacquard looms.
  • A heddle that raises groups of warps for patterning purposes, for example for inserting supplementary wefts.
  • An opening in a warp created for the purpose of inserting patterning weft(s).
  • A characteristic feature of a Chinese drawloom; a framework built above the warp that supports the patterning system and the drawperson who operates it.
  • A treadle worked by the weaver, usually used to lift a heddle. The ensemble of treadle plus heddle is called a shaft.
  • A pointed stick used by a weaver for selecting individual warps, prior to inserting a pattern weft.

  • The joining of pieces of fabric to make a larger textile. The top layer of “patchwork” American quilts is pieced before being quilted.

  • A coloring material consisting of insoluble particles, for example mineral colors. Compare dye.

  • A plush or shaggy surface on a fabric resulting from loops or ends of yarn or fiber projecting above or below the surface of the fabric. In Oriental carpets, pile is formed by the cut ends of yarns commonly called rug knots.

  • (Borneo) continuous supplementary-weft technique.

  • The simplest possible interlacing of warp and weft elements in which each weft element passes alternately over and under successive warp elements (over one, under one), and each reverses the procedure of the one before it.

  • Plaitwork. See braiding.

  • A resist tie-dyeing process. Patterns are usually built up from small circles.

  • A plate with holes and slots in, through which warps are passed. When the plate is raised or lowered the warps in the holes are also raised and lowered, while the warps in the slots remain in position. By this means sheds are opened in the warp for insertion of wefts. This type of heddle is usually used for weaving narrow bands of cloth.
  • Yarn consisting of several strands, normally, but not always, twisted together.

  • The process of twisting together two or more single yarns. If the yarn is composed of two singles twisted together, it is said to be two-ply; if of three singles, three-ply, etc. Plying is usually done in the opposite direction from spinning.