A

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B

Back Beam: The horizontal beam on the upper back of a treadled loom
Background weave: Any weave which forms the base fabric for a patterned textile
Backstrap Loom: A stick loom with a strap around which the weaver's body keeps the warp tensioned
Balanced pattern: A pattern which is symmetrical. Identical units occur on each side of the center
Balanced Weave: A weave which has exactly as many weft shots per inch as there are warp ends. Also called 50/50 weave, squared weave
Ball Winder: A device for winding balls of yarn from skeins
Barley corn weave: The German name for Spot Bronson weave
Basic weave: A simple weave which serves as a foundation, or from which other weaves are derived. Examples - plain weave, twill, and satin
Basket Weave: Balanced weave structure where the warp and weft threads are paired or grouped
Bast fiber: Coarse, strong fibers from tree or plant. Bast fibers are flax, hemp, jute, sisal, ramie
Batt: A thick, soft, "blanket" of fiber. Batts are generally produced on a drum carder
Batten: Flat stick that holds sheds open and is used to beat the weft into place
Beaming: The process of winding the warp on to the warp beam from either a creel, chain of warp or some other warping device
Beater: A frame that will pivot, holding a reed. This type can be found on Jack, Counterbalanced, and Countermarche Looms. A fork or weighted comb can be used as a beater on a tapestry loom
Beating: Packing the weft into the shed of the warp with the use of a beater of varying styles
Beetling: The process in linen manufacture of pounding the flax to free it from the woody pulp
Belt Shuttle: A short stick shuttle with one sharp edge for beating or packing the weft shots into the warp strands
Bias: The line on a piece of fabric that is diagonal to the warp and/or the weft
Binder: Another name for weft, or the crosswise threads of a fabric. Sometimes refers specifically to the tabby or background weft of a a 2 shuttle pattern weave
Bird's eye: A small, all over diamond pattern, also known as diaper. Usually a simple, 4 harness, 2-2 point twill woven as twill with a return
Bleed: The tendency for excess dye to float off in water. Usually all excess dye may be removed the first time a fabric is washed
Blend: As a color term means the combining of 2 or more colors
Blended draft: A multiple harness threading which combines two patterns or two techniques in such a way that either one may be woven independently or combination patterns or techniques may be woven. Eight harnesses are required for blending two 4 harness patterns or techniques
Blended yarn: Yarns which contain fibers of more than one type
Blood Count: one of three system for describing grades/fineness of wool. It originally referred to the amount of Merino blood present in the sheep breed. Now it generally refers to the fineness of the fleece. The higher the number, the shorter expected staple length and finer expected crimp. Grades include: "Fine" (64's - 80's), "Half Blood" (58's - 62's), "3/8 Blood" (52's - 56's), "1/4 Blood" (48's - 50's), "Low quarter Blood" (46's), "Common" (44's), "Braid" (30's - 40's)
Boat Shuttle: Literally a shuttle shaped like a small boat with the weft yarn wound on a bobbin or quill held in place by a hinged pin inside the shuttle
Bobbin: a reel, quill, or spool to carry weft thread
Boucle: A spiral or 2 play yarn in which one strand is allowed to feed very fast in the spinning so that it forms curls around the other strand
Boulevard weave: A multiple harness technique which is a refinement of the Summer and Winter weave, for achieving intricate texture effects
Bound weaving: The term for weaving 4 or more harness threadings on opposite sheds usually with two colors, to produce minute color patterns on 2 blocks. A tabby binder is not used
Bout: A group of warp threads, commonly the number of ends in 2 inches of warp, which are beamed simultaneously from the same number of spools onto one section of a sectional warp beam
Bow knot: The characteristic tie-in know used on the handloom. The tie-in bow knot is made without a half-hitch under it
Bradford Count: one of three grading systems to describe the fineness of wool. The Bradford system uses the number of 560 yard worsted spun skeins from a pound of top from that particular type of fleece. The larger the number, the finer the fleece. The Bradford Count has generally replaced the Blood Count as a grading system
Brake: the device on the warp beam which permits the beam to release and hold any fiber
Breast Beam: The upper horizontal beam at the front of the treadle loom over which the woven fabric passes
Broken twill: A reverse or point twill in which one or more harnesses is omitted at the point where the twill direction reverses so that a break occurs in the weave
Bronson lace: Also known as Atwater lace, which is a more accurate term

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C

Calculations: In weaving usually refers to the figuring of the warp and weft requirements for any project
Calendering: Rolling a fabric between two hot steel drums to flatten fibers
Camel hair: The hair of the Dromedary camel which is spun into a strong yarn
Cards: A plate set with fine, bent steel pins, used in pairs for straightening fibers
Carding: The process of drawing wool through a pair of cards to organize the fibers
Card Weaving: The process of weaving in which the warp threads are threaded through holes in a set of cards, which are turned to form different sheds. (a.k.a. "Tablet Weaving.")
Carpet: A woven floor covering
Carpet loom: Usually a heavily built 2 harness loom for weaving rag carpets
Carpet warp: A coarse cotton yarn, usually 8/4 in size, used for rag rugs
Cartoon: a full-scaled drawing of a proposed tapestry that is mounted behind the warp threads as a guide for the weaver
Castle Beam: The beam across the top of the treadle loom from which the harnesses are hung
Chain: The group of warp ends, all measured to the same length, which was wound on a board, frame, or mill in chaining motion to retain as nearly as possible the thread order
Chenille: A cotton, wool, silk, or artificial yarn which looks like a caterpillar, from which the name comes (French)
Chimayo weave: A tapestry weave worked in soft wools in characteristic patterns by the natives of the Chimayo region in New Mexico
Chroma: The quality of a color which includes hue and saturation not including black, white or grey
Circular weave: Another name for tubing. Circular double cloth without selvages
Classes of weaves: The large technique groupings in the classificiation of handweaves. The 7 classes are: plain, twill, twill derivative, unit, texture contrast, double, leno, and rhythmic weaves
Cloth Beam: The roller beam at the lower front of the treadle loom, onto which finished weaving is wound
Cloth Beam Rod: The rod attached to the apron or other such extensions of the cloth beam to which the warp ends are tied
Color: is the general term which applies to the whole subject - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, black and white and all possible combinations
Comb: Tool usually made of wood for hand beating the weft on primitive tapestry looms
Combing: Is a method of processing fiber
Cone: A conical shaped spool on which yarn is wound
Cone Holder: A rack of holding cones of yarn for unwinding
Cone winder: A tool for winding cones of yarn
Controlled Weave: A weave in which the weaver makes variations in the weave structure by hand techniques such as tapestry, pickup, brocade, as opposed to structural weaves
Cord: Term for a yarn in which two or more plied yarns are twisted together
Cord weave: A weave on which a heavy warp or weft thread occurs at regular intervals over a fine, plain weave background
Core: The plain binding strand in a fancy yarn, such as in rayon chenille
Cotton: Fine vegetable seed hairs or fibers which surround the cluster of seeds to which they are attached; Grown in warmer temperate and tropical regions for the fine white (sometimes brown) cellulose fiber. Originated in India; oldest documented use in India (Mohenjo Daro) c. 3500 B.C. and Peru c. 3,000 B.C. Cotton has a natural "z" twist
Count numbers: These indicate the number of yards of size 1 yarn there are in 1 pound, according to an arbitrary system for each fiber. See Yarn Facts for further details
Counter: a tool attached to the tension box of a sectional warping setup used to keep count of the yards or meters of yarn beamed on the warp beam
Counter-balanced Loom: A double action loom with harnesses hung in pairs so that when two harnesses are sunk the other two automatically rise. The positive action is sinking shed, and tie-ups are so made: 1-2, 2-3, 3-4, 4-1, 1-3, 2-4, limited to these 6 combinations
Counter-marche loom: A treadle-based loom that has a double set of marches or lamms to lower some shafts and at the same time raise the remaining shafts or harnesses
Crimp: The wavy bends in the individual fiber strand

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D

Damask: A structure of weaving in which a pattern is formed by the alternation of the warp and weft of face satin
Debris: Any foreign material found in the fiber; hay, grass, burrs, dirt, etc.
Degumming: The process of removing the natural gums from silk. This reduces the weight 30-40%. Raw silk is silk which has not been degummed
Dehairing: The removal of guard hair from fiber
Denim: A fine twill weave structure in which the warp is white and the weft a colour
Denier: A unit for measuring the man-made fibers and silk by the French system. It expresses the fineness in terms of weight in grams per 9000 meters of length. Thus, 100 denier yarn is finer than 150 denier. One denier weighs .05 grams
Dent: The space between the blades of the reed. Each space can hold one or more threads.
Dentage or DPI: The number of dents in one inch
Diagonal: Having an oblique direction or extension
Diamond: A figure formed by four equal straight lines, with two acute and two obtuse angles. The arrangement of the blocks of a pattern to form a diamond figure. One of the baic figures of overshot patterns
Diamond Twill: A point twill done so that the treadling forms diamond patterns
Diaper: Any small, symmetrical, all over pattern. Or a cloth, usually cotton or linen, woven with a diaper figure
Distaff: The rod for holding the bunch of flax, tow or wool fibers, from which the thread is drawn in spinning by hand
Diz: Disc shaped object with hole used to control the size of the sliver as it is removed from the comb. The size of the hole will determine the size of the yarn, i.e. The smallest hole may be no bigger than a pen dot or as big as a quarter inch across
Dobby Head: A programmed unit (by either manual or computerized means) attached to the loom which automatically controls the lifting of the multiple harness, this method uses only two harnesses
Donegal tweed: This refers either to a herringbone weave on a white warp with a dark weft, or to a tabby fabric with a plain warp and weft which has colored nubs
Dornik twill: A broken herringbone weave, the break formed by the removal of one thread (if the threading is 4-harness, more if more harnesses) at the point, to eliminate the 3-thread float which occurs at the point of a regular herringbone. This strengthen the fabric and off-sets the twill line
Double cloth: A structure in which two layers of fabric are formed. The layers of the fabric can be joined after or during the weaving. (a.k.a. Doubleweave)
Double sley: Threading of two warp ends through the same dent
Double warp beam: Usually on the treadle-based loom, where one is typically set as a sectional beam. These beams may be used singly or in combinations for various weaves requiring differing tensions, or is there is a greater amount of warp than can easily be handled on one beam
Doubleweave: see Double cloth
Double width weave: Any weave which produces two surfaces which are continuously joined at one edge, with both selvages lying at the other edge. The selvages may be made in the center, with both edges continuous. Requires twice as many harnesses as for a single surface, and warp set twice as closely
Doup: A half-heddle or loop which is attached to the lower heddle-bar of a doup harness, carried through a standar, in weaving leno. Sometimes spelled doupe
Doup leno: Leno made with doups and standards instead of hand twisted on a stick
Dovetailing: A vertical join in a tapestry in which 2 adjoining weft colours turn around the same warp thread
Down shed: On the inkle loom, the shed that is made by pushing the unheddled warp threads down; as opposed to the up shed. Also referred to as a sinking shed
Draft: The graph or code drawn on paper to show the threading sequence through the different heddles on the different shafts; or the code to show which shafts are to be tied to which treadles
Drafting: Drawing out fibers to the right thickness for spinning
Dressing the loom: Preparing the loom with the warp, so that it is ready for weaving
Draw-down: The pattern of a weave drawn on paper by following the threading draft, the tie-up draft, and the treadling sequence
Drop spindle: A hand spindle consisting of a light-weight shaft and whorl that is spun while hanging from the twisting yarn
Drum carder: A machine for carding wool or other fibers; consists of a drum with wire brushes that turns with a hand crank against a fixed set of brushes
Dukagang, full: Dukagang woven with the backgroun areas covered as well as the pattern areas. Resembles tapestry more than brocade
Dukagane, half: Dukagang in which the pattern is worked but the backgroun is tabby
Dummy warp: Warp threadings kept on the loom so that new warp ends may be tied to them, thus eliminating the threading process also commonly known as thrums
Dutch wheel: Same as Saxony wheel
Dye: A substance used for coloring fibers
Dyebath: The water and dye mixture in which yarn, fabric, or fiber is submerged for dyeing
Dyeing: The process of coloring a fiber or a cloth

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E

Elasticity: The quality of stretch and recovery in any yarn. Among the natural fibers, wool has the greatest elasticity, linen the least, and cotton between
End: A single warp thread
EPI: Abbreviation for "ends per inch". The number of warp threads in an inch.
Exhaust: To deplete the color in the dyebath as the dye enters the fibers
Expanded draft: A draft in which all pattern blocks of the original draft have been proportionately enlarged

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F

Fast: Describing dyes that do not fade in water or light
Fell: The weaving line, or the line made by the last weft shot against the unwoven part of the warp
Felt: An unwoven fabric made of matted fibers of wool, rolled and pressed together
Felting: Same as fulling, but done to a degree that actually makes the fibers join together as in felt
Ferrous sulfate: The metallic salt used as a mordant in natural dyeing, commonly called "iron."
Fiber: Any tough substance of thread-like tissue, whether of animal, vegetable, mineral or synthetic origin, capable of being spun and woven
Fiberglass: A spun thread made of filaments of glass
Filament: An individual strand of any spinable material. The smallest cloth unit
Filler: Primarily used at the beginning of a weaving where the warp ends have been tied in groups to the cloth beam rod
Finger weave: Any weave, particularly certain brocade techniques, in which the decorative weft threads are placed with the fingers instead of with a huttle or a bobbin
Fingering yarn: A type of worsted yarn which is not completely combed
Finishing: The final step or process in completing a fabric, usually washing, fulling, steaming or pressing
Finnweave: Double weave with pick up patterns which reverse the two sides of the fabric. Woven in Finland by a special method which requires the use of a round and a flat stick and a stick shuttle
Fixed heddle: An unmovable heddle, such as the half-heddle used on the inkle loom, which holds half the warp in a fixed position so that the other half may be moved above or below it to form two sheds
Flake yarn: Also known as slub yarn. A yarn in which soft, thic, elongated tufts of fiber are incorporated at regular intervals. Usually twisted with a fine binder yarn which gives it strengh
Flamepoint weaving: A method for weaving simple Overshot and 4 harness twill threadings in 4 shed rotations with 4 colors and no tabby. The fabric is beaten for a complete warp coverage
Flat steel heddle: A commonly used heddle made of a narrow strip of steel
Flax: Plant which produces the bast fiber used to make linen yarn and cloth; originated in the Mediterranean region; earliest known use by Swiss Lake Dwellers c. 8,000 B.C.; has a natural "s" twist
Flax wheel: Same as flyer wheel, as opposed to wool wheel
Fleece: Fiber removed from a wool bearing animal by shearing
Fleece wools: One of four categories in the geographical classification of U.S. wools; obtained from sheep grown east of the Mississippi
Flicker: The single hand card that is used in "flicking."
Flicking: The process of combing out briskly the ends of a lock of raw wool in preparation for spinning
Float: A warp or weft thread that "floats" over the top of several threads at a time. A thread which is not caught at every intersection. Can be warp floats or weft floats.
Floating warp: A warp end or ends, usually added as a decorative thread, which is not beamed but hangs weighted at the back of the loom. Floating selvages is another term. Also used for making correction of a broken warp end.
Floor loom: Same as treadle-based loom
Flyer: The U-shaped device on the spindle mechanism of certain spinning wheels which flies around the bobbin and winds the yarn onto it simultaneously with the spinning of it
Flyer wheel: A spinning wheel with a flyer mechanism; also called "flax wheel" or "low wheel."
Fly shuttle: The metal-tipped shuttle that is automatically thrown back and forth after each beat of the batten on the fly shuttle loom
Fly shuttle box: The box at the end of the fly-shuttle beater which holds and releases the shuttle
Fore beam: Another term for cloth beam
Fork: The hand beater shaped like a fork and usually made of wood, used to pack in the weft in tapestry or rug weaving, or when weaving on a primitive stick loom
Four harness: Describing a loom that has four harnesses or shafts
Frame loom: Any hand loom that consists of a four-sided frame on which the warp threads are wound and held in tension
Fringe: An ornamental border for a fabric consisting of projecting ends of yarn which are woven, braided or knotted together
Front beam: Another name for breast beam
Fulling: A commercial process that subjects woven fabric to hot soapy water and agitation, for the purpose of matting and shrinking it
Fustic: Wood chips of a large tree of the same name growing in tropical America used for a yellow dye
Fustic extract: A concentrated dyestuff made from fustic ships

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G

Gamp, color: A color combination sampler in which the warp is made of wide stripes of different colors and the weft arrangement reproduces the warp exactly, to indicate color effects when each color is woven with each of the others
Gauge: An instrument for making exact and identical measurements
Gauze: A weave structure in which the warp threads are twisted in pairs or groups before the insertion of the weft
Gimp: A narrow woven band used to bind edges or seams
Glauber's salt: A crystalline sodium sulfate used in dyeing
Goat hair: The fibers from the fleece of any goat but the Angora, whose fleece yields mohair
Golden section: A rectangle in which the lesser of the two dimensions is to the greater as the greater is to the sum of both dimensions
Goose eye: A small diamond figure woven on a herringbone twill threading
Gram: A metric unit of weight — one-thousandth of a kilo; approximately .035 ounce. 100 grams equal approximately 3.5 ounces
Granny knot: Two half-hitches made in the same direction. The knot slips fairly easily and consequently is good for tying string heddles which need adjusting
Grease, in the: Term used to describe spinning or weaving with raw wool or yarn that has not been washed, so that the wool grease remains in the fiber
Great wheel: Same as high wheel
Ground loom: The horizontal loom that holds the warp in tension with stakes driven into the ground
Ground weave: The base weave of a patterned fabric
Guides: The pegs or metal loops that divide the sectional warp beam into one or two inch sections

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H

Hackles: heavy combs across which flax is drawn to separate it into lengths
Half: Second-to-top category in the blood system of grading wool
Half tone: The secondary pattern areas which occur in some weaves, particularly overshot, in which background and pattern weft are mixed on the surface
Hampshire: A medium-wool breed of sheep; approximately 48s to 56s in the numerical count system
Hand: A word used to refer to the feel or the handling quality of any textile
Hand cards: The pair of wire brushes set onto wooden backs and with which fibers are combed out in preparation for spinning. See also Wool cards and Tow cards
Handloom: A loom on which the weaver performs the three operations of making the shed, throwing the shuttle, and beating the weft into position. Includes the treadle loom in which the shedding operation is done by foot power
Hand Loomed: This term refers to a fabric which has been woven on a fly-shuttle loom. The weaver operates the loom, makes the sheds and beats, but the shuttle is mechanically thrown
Hand spindle: Any spindle for spinning that is rotated by hand rather than by wheel or other power
Handspinning: The guiding by hand of fibers onto a spindle, which can be turned by hand, wheel, or other power
Handspun: The yarn or thread that has been made by handspinning methods
Handwoven: A fabric woven on a handloom. Handwoven means that the shed making, beating and shuttle throwing are all done by the weaver
Hank: A coil or loop of yarn. Technically a hank contains the number of yards of the count number for the particular type, but this is not always true
Harmony: A color term which means the association of two or more colors resulting in a pleasing effect
Harness: One of the several movable frames which hang in the loom castle and hold heddles, through which warp ends are threaded. Often called shaft
Harris tweed: Traditionally a hairy, colorful tweed made from virgin Scottish wool, and spun, dyed and finished in the Outer Hebrides – the group of islands off Scotland’s west coast. Authentic Harris Tweed is denoted by the "Orb" mark of the Harris Tweed Association
Heading: First few rows of weaving before the actual fabric is started; serves to equalize the spacing of the warp threads where they are tied to the cloth beam rod, and at the same time keep wefts from unraveling
Heddle: The string, wire, flat steel (or other material) that encircles a warp thread, so that it can be pulled up separately from other warp threads
Heddle, correction: A string heddle tied in place after a threading is completed to correct a threading error. Flat steel and wire heddles with open ends can be purchased for making corrections, but on the whole they are not as satisfactory or as easy to use as string heddles tied directly
Heddle, rigid: See Rigid heddle
Heddlestick: A stick holding loops or doups through which warp ends are passed so that a shed may be made by hand by lifting the stick. This is the shedding mechanism on primitive looms
Heddle jig: The form or pattern around which strings are tied to make string heddles
Hemp: a long, coarse fiber which comes from just inside the outer bark of the plant. It is difficult to bleach. Though used mostly for rope, the most refined fibers are also used for woven textiles. Hemp withstands water better than any other natural fiber
Herringbone: A twill weave that reverses treadling sequence every so often, so that the diagonals run in opposite directions
High wheel: The first spinning wheel designed in Europe, consisting of a base with a large wheel turned by hand, which drives a horizontal spindle by means of a drive band; designed for spinning while standing up; as opposed to the low wheel. Also called "walking wheel," "great wheel," and "bobbing wheel."
Hopsacking: Bagging or material made of coarse tabby weave
Horizontal: Any real or imaginary line or surface which is parallel to the horizon
Horsehair: Usually the mane or tail hairs of a horse, but can also mean the fibers of its coat
Hound's tooth: A 4-thread check in two colors, threaded to 3-harness twill and woven in 2-2 balanced twill. The characteristic effet is small checks with spurs
Huck: One of the small, 4-harness balanced linen weaves. May be threaded on 8 or 6 harnesses for patterns

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I

Iceland wool: The wool from Icelandic sheep which have a coarse outer coat covering a fine under coat, the latter being used for this high quality yarn
Ikat: A weaving technique using tie-dyed warp and/or weft yarns; the resulting design when woven gives a blurred effect because of the slight displacement of each thread during the warping and/or weaving procedure
Inch: A unit of measurement, 1/12th of a foot, 1/36th of a yard
Indigo: An ancient blue dye processed from the plant of the same name; in its natural state, insoluble in water; one of the fastest blue dyes known
Indigotin: The actual dyestuff in indigo
Indigo vat: The process in which indigo is made soluble so that it can penetrate the fiber
Indigo white: Term used to describe the indigo at a certain state of the indigo vat when white specks appear
Inkle loom: Small portable loom consisting of a framework with numerous pegs around which the warp is wound; used mainly for belts and bands of warp-face structure
Inla weave: A name for any brocade technique with a plain weave backgroun, for which the pattern weft is laid into the tabby shed over the ground weft
Interlocked tapestry: The tapestry technique in which two adjacent weft ends are carried around or clasped around each other to produce a continuous surface without slits between color areas
Irish tweed: Traditionally woven in Ireland of hand spun yarn, irish tweed is produced in 2-2 balanced twill on a white warp with a dark weft, usually blue, grey, brown or black
Iron: Short for ferrous sulfate, a mordant

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J

Jack: A lever, one end of which raises a heddle shaft by pushing or pulling when the other end is pulled down by a treadle
Jack loom: A treadle-based loom with jacks for raising the heddle shafts
Jacquard loom: A loom invented about 1800 by Joseph Marie Jacquard of Lyons, France, in which each heddle or warp end can be individually controlled
Jute: A coarse bast fiber, brown in its natural state but bleaches to a creamy color. Used ing burlap, and for novelty effects

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K

Karakul: A Middle Eastern breed of sheep with very coarse, hairy fleece
Kemp: A coarse fiber that occasionaly grows on sheep; it resembles vegetable fiber and tends to resist dye; the result of malnourishment of the animal
Kilim: A Middle Eastern tapestry weave in which open slits are formed at the vertical joins of color areas; the rug, blanket, or fabric made in this technique
Kilo: A metric measure of weight equivalent to 1,000 grams; approximately 2.2 pounds
Knitting: A single-thread textile craft that forms an elastic fabric by looping the thread within previous loops held in position on a needle
Knotted pile weaves: Rugs made by hand tying knots of yarn around a warp thread or a group of warp threads
Knots: The knots most used by the handweaver are: weaver's knot for mending broken warp ends because it is small and tight; snitch knot used for tying treadle-lamm connections because it is easily adjusted; bow-knot for tie-ins because it may be undone with one motion for tension adjustment; loop knot for counters and holding threads because it is untied with one jerk; granny knots for string heddles because it permits adjustment of position

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L

Lace: A fine fabric composed of threads interwoven into a patterned net. Real lace is made by hand with a needle or on a pillow with bobbins and pins. Lace making is a continuous operation which does not utilize a tensioned warp or a separate weft and the threads do not lie at right angles to each other. Therefore lace cannot be woven on a handloom. However, misuse of the name among weavers is current as they are apt to call any open weave lace
Lamms: The horizontal bars on a treadle-based loom that provide the intermediary action between the treadles and heddle shafts
Lanolin: A complex chemical sustance obtained from grease wool
Lath: A narrow slat of wood, two of which serve as the frame for string heddles on a treadle-based loom
Lazy kate: A rack on which bobbins of spun yarn can be put for unwinding
Lead: The difference in speed of the rotating spindle and bobbin on a flyer wheel, resulting in the yarn's being wound onto the bobbin
Leader: A short length of yarn tied to a spindle to which the first fibers for spinning can be joined
Lease rods: A pair of slender sticks that are inserted on each side of the lease to preserve it when the warp threads are spread out to the width of the planned weaving
Leno: One of the basic classes of weaves. In Leno weaves, two or more warp ends are twisted together, the twist held by a weft shot, to form a very open fabric
Level: The word used to describe the even penetration of dye into material
Lichens: Leafy fungus like growth on trees or rocks, some varieties of which are useful as dyes; they contain acids so no mordant is required
Lincoln: A long-wool breed of sheep; approximately 36s to 46s in the numerical count system
Line linen: Single-ply spun linen yarn
Linen: A thread or yarn made of the bast fiber flax. Noted for its great strength, luster, long wearing properties, soil resistance and beauty
Linsey-woolsey: A plain weave fabric on a handspun linen warp with a handspun wool weft, which was a common clothing textile in Colonial American days
Llama: A domesticated South American animal, similar to the alpaca, but raised mainly as a beast of burden; its coat yields a rather coarse fiber, which the natives use in making ropes and coarse sacking
Locks: Long curly tuft of fiber pulled from a fleece
Log cabin weave: A plain weave in which patterns are produced through the alternation of light and dark colors in warp or weft or both
Logwood: Dyestuff consisting of the wood chips of a West Indian and Central American tree, yielding a purplish gray color
Long Draw: a method of spinning where the fibers are controlled entirely by one drafting hand, pulling back against the twist
Long eyed heddle: A heddle (usually string) with a 2 to 4 inch long eye, used in certain double threaded techniques on the front or base weave harnesses. In a number of multiple harness pattern weaves, more pattern blocks may be woven on fewer harnesses through the use of the long eyed heddle, double threading method
Long staple cotton: The highest bred, top quality, strong, long filament cotton used for the best cotton yarns
Long wool: A category of sheep breeds in which the fleeces have long, rather coarse fibers; excellent for handspinning
Loom: Any tool for holding a warp in tension for the insertion of a weft to form a woven fabric
Loom allowance: The length of warp which cannot be woven into cloth because it is used for tie-ins, warp spreading and shed making. This length, which differs with the type of loom and the habits of the weaver, must be added to any yardage calculation in planning a warp
Loom cord: A strong, braided cord, usually especially treated for additional strength and friction resistance, which is used in making treadle lamm tie-ups and also for hanging harnesses. The best loom cord is linen
Loom waste: The amount or length of warp which necessarily cannot go into the fabric because it is used in tie-ins and in shed-making. The tie-up waste is variable, according to the habits of the weaver and the number of times the cloth is cut off the loom during the weaving of a single warp. The shed making waste may be considered as the distance from the back of the last threaded harness to the front of the reed in the beater's resting position, plus 8 inches
Loop mohair: Yarn made of loops of mohair usually bound together with a fine two-ply thread
Low quarter: Third-to-lowest category in the blood system of grading wool
Low wheel: Same as flyer wheel; as opposed to high wheel
Luster: shine
Luster wools: Also known as Leicester wools. Wools from a variety of sheep breeds other than merino. The wools are long staple, 1 to 12 inches, with strong light relection and are used for tweeds

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M

M's and O's: One of the balanced, texture contrast, linen weaves. The threading is based on contrasting arrangments of odds and evens, odds and odds, and evens and evens, so a true tabby cannot be produced
Madder: An ancient and very fast red dyestuff from the roots of the plant of the same name
Maidens: The vertical members that hold the flyer assembly on a flyer wheel
Maori weave: A textile technique characteristic of the Philippine Maoris. It is a twining technique, with two or more weft strands used simultaneously, worked on an untensioned, hanging warp with no shedding mechanism
Marche: English, Scotch, and Scandinavian term for lamm
McMorran Yarn Balance: a simple balance used to help determine the yards per pound of your handspun fiber
Medium wool: One of four categories of breeds of sheep, the fleeces of which have medium-coarse fibers
Medulla: The central core of air present in coarse wool fibers and hair fibers
Mercerized cotton: Cotton fiber that has been treated under tension with caustic alkali, resulting in a shiny surface and greater strength
Merino: A breed of sheep developed in Spain and yielding the very finest wool of any sheep
Metallic threads: Threads made of metals
Meter: A unit of length in the metric system, equal to 39.37 inches
Micron Count: One of three wool grading systems. Micron count is based on the average fiber diameter. The smaller the number, the finer/softer the fiber
Mohair: The long, silky fiber from the coat of the Angora goat
Mordant: Chemicals, usually acids or metallic salts, which combine with dyes on fibers to make more or less insoluble compounds
Mother-of-all: The horizontal member into which the maidens are set on a flyer wheel
Multiple harness loom: Literally would mean a loom with more than one harness. In actual usage, means a loom with more than 4 harness
Musk ox: Animal of the arctic regions of North America from which comes the extremely fine fiber called quivit

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N

Nap: Surface of a fabric formed by fibers standing at an angle to the plane of the fabric
Napped cloth: A cloth on which a nap has been raised
Natural dyes: Dyes from natural sources (animal, vegetable, or mineral) as opposed to synthetic dyes
Naturals: Colors of fibers that are in their natural undyed state
Navajo loom: A stick loom suspended in a rigid vertical frame, used by the Navajo Indians
Navajo rug: The weft-face rug or blanket, usually of tapestry design, woven by Navajos on a Navajo loom, and characterized by selvedge on all four sides
Navajo saddle-blanket weave: The 4 harness, 3 color rotation weave which is older and more characteristic of the Navajos than the tapestry, but rarer. Diamon patterns are used and the weaving is done on primitive looms with heddle sticks
Navajo selvedge: The characteristic twisted cord edge formed around the continuous warp at the top and bottom edges of the weaving
Navajo sheep: A breed of sheep raised mainly on the reservation; has coarse-fibered fleece with little wool grease
Navajo spindle: The hand spindle used by Navajos and Hopis for handspinning wool, characterized by its large size, which necessitates rolling the shaft on the thigh to make it spin
Netting shuttle: A small wooden or plastic flat shuttle, pointed at one end and concave at the other, with a long tongue in the center for winding yarn. It is intended for knotted net making but some weavers like to use it in pick-up weaves
Niddy noddy: A two-ended T frame, with top and bottom Ts at right angles to each other, on which yarn is wound from a spinning wheel or spindle to make a skein
Noils: The short fibers that are removed from the long fibers in the combing of wool for worsted spinning
Nostepinne: A short baton used for winding center pull balls
Novelty yarn: A ply yarn in which the arrangement of the component parts is uneven in regular cycles, producing simple or fancy patterns in the yarn
Nub yarn: A ply yarn in which at regular intervals one yarn is twisted many times around the other to make a bunch. The bunch may be small or large. A second twisting operation is required, in which the binder yarn is twisted in the opposite direction to hold the bunches in place
Numerical count system: A system of grading the fineness of wool fibers according to numbers, which represent the number of hanks of yarn, each 560 yards long, that can be spun from one pound of wool. Numbers range from 30s to SOs, which is the very finest Merino
Nylon: The name of a large group of synthetic fibers of protein-like structure, noted for extreme toughness, strength and elasticity. The nylons wash easily, dry quickly, and are resistant to mildew and insects

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O

Odds-and-evens: The progression of the twill threading, tie-up and treadling in which an odd numbered harness is always followed by an even numbered one, odds and evens combine in forming blocks or flats, and in treadle-lamm tie ups. All twill derivative weaves follow the odds and evens sytem, as well as twills
Oriental rugs: One piece, hand tied, knotted pile rugs. There are 6 types of oriental rugs, differing in place of production, type of knot, depth of pile, and type of color and design, but the history of oriental carpet is so long and confused and sujected to so many influences that even experts have difficulty in making identifications
Orion: A synthetic acrylic fiber which is warm, soft, resiliant, insensitive to moisture and has good wrinkle recovery
Overshot: A technique which is one of the twill derivative weaves and therefore has the basic characteristics of the 4 harness twill, but is interpreted to form 4-block patterns of great variety. Classically, the patterns have single color wool pattern weft on a white or natural background of cotton or linen
Oxford cloth: A cotton fabric woven in 2-2 basket weave

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© 2008 Melinda Cornwell