In weaving the weft or woof is the term for the yarn which is drawn through the warp yarns to create cloth. A single thread of the weft, crossing the warp, is called a pick. Terms do vary, for instance in North America, the weft is sometimes referred to as the fill or the filling yarn.
The weft is a thread or yarn of spun fibre. The original fibre was wool, flax or cotton. Nowadays man-made fibres are used in weaving. Because the weft does not have to be stretched on a loom in the way that the warp is, it can generally be less strong.
The weft is threaded through the warp using a shuttle, air jets or rapier grippers. Hand looms were the original weaver's tool, with the shuttle being threaded through alternately raised warps by hand. Inventions during the 18th century spurred the Industrial Revolution, with the picking stick and the flying shuttle (John Kay, 1733) speeding up production of cloth. The power loom patented by Edmund Cartwright in 1785 allowed sixty picks per minute.
In weaving the weft or woof is the term for the yarn which is drawn through the warp yarns to create cloth. A single thread of the weft, crossing the warp, is called a pick. Terms do vary, for instance in North America, the weft is sometimes referred to as the fill or the filling yarn.
The weft is a thread or yarn of spun fibre. The original fibre was wool, flax or cotton. Nowadays man-made fibres are used in weaving. Because the weft does not have to be stretched on a loom in the way that the warp is, it can generally be less strong.
The weft is threaded through the warp using a shuttle, air jets or rapier grippers. Hand looms were the original weaver's tool, with the shuttle being threaded through alternately raised warps by hand. Inventions during the 18th century spurred the Industrial Revolution, with the picking stick and the flying shuttle (John Kay, 1733) speeding up production of cloth. The power loom patented by Edmund Cartwright in 1785 allowed sixty picks per minute.