Threads Of Life

The Basics of Weaving


The concept of weaving is simple: interlace perpendicular sets of threads to form a fabric. Most traditional Indonesian textiles are woven on backstrap looms. The loom holds the lengthwise threads, called warps, under tension, while the weaver passes a crosswise thread, called a weft, between them. In a plain weave, the weft passes over one warp, below the next, over the next, and so on to the edge of the fabric.