Weaving starts with laying out the warp of the pattern. The warp consists of the threads, which run vertically from top to bottom of the cloth. They are set out in a pre-determined colour pattern which is created by the designer. The number of threads in the warp varies according to the fineness of the yarn and the density and width of the fabric required.

Warping was originally carried out by hand on warping stakes, a process that is still sometimes used for short sample lengths and design blankets. For production runs the warp yarns are wound from cones onto warp mills in the pre-determined colour sequence.

When the warp is ready it is wound onto a circular beam and transferred to the loom for weaving. Weaving is the introduction of the weft yarn, the threads that run horizontally across the cloth.

The designer lays out the pattern of the weft, like the warp, on a pre-determined plan. The shuttle is the device that carries the weft threads across the warp. The 'pick' is the action of throwing the shuttle across the warp and the speed and efficiency of the loom is measured in picks per minute.

A traditional broadloom was about 6ft (1.8 metres) wide and a narrow loom about three feet (0.9 metres). Modern rapier insertion looms transfer the weft threads in the middle of the warp, directly from cones of yarn, and they are both faster and more efficient than the other shuttle looms.

Types of Weave

There are many different types of weave, all of which depend on the manner in which the warp threads are raised and lowered in the weaving process.

The simplest of all is Plain Weave, where every alternate warp thread is raised, the weft passing over one warp thread and under one warp thread on every pick.

The Twill or 'Tweel' appearance when the threads run diagonally across the cloth is created when the warp threads are raised two at a time in sequence.

Varying the sequence in which the warp threads are raised and lowered can create complex patterns. This is taken to the extreme by a Jacquard loom where each warp thread is individually controlled. This loom was developed by Joseph Marie Jacquard in 1804 and originally operated using a punch card system - the system also employed to 'digitalise' the names of the immigrants and refugees arriving at Ellis Island in the 1840s. It could be said to be an early form of computerisation.

The weaving of Johnstons' scarves, stoles and rugs requires the use of specialist techniques to insert 'leno' or 'puggie' threads, which bind the edges of the finished product. Fringes are formed by leaving unwoven sections of warp thread which are then divided and twisted to form the distinctive rolled fringe.

Next: Finishing