What are Fancy Weaves in Textiles?
Fancy weaves and woven motifs are made by changing the interlacing pattern between the design area and the background. They combine structure and aesthetics, making them highly versatile for apparel, interiors, and accessories. The interlacing pattern is controlled by the position of the warp yarns during weaving. In a three-harness loom, there are three possible warp arrangements; in a four-harness loom, there are as many as 12. As the number of harnesses increases, the number of possible interlacings also increases. However, there is a practical limit to the number of harnesses that can be used efficiently. Small figures may require many different interlacings within one repeat, so special looms, attachments, or electronic control devices are often needed to produce these fabrics economically. Fancy fabrics are also called structural-design fabrics because the design is built into the fabric during weaving and becomes part of the structure. In some fabrics, such as extra-yarn weaves, the yarns forming the pattern can be removed, but removing them destroys both the pattern and the fabric.
Many of these fabrics are also made by fiber artists and handweavers. They manipulate warp, filling, and extra yarns to create decorative fabrics, or they use digitally controlled looms. These fabrics are used for interiors, apparel, and accessories. In this article, I will discuss the main types of fancy weaves in textiles, their methods of production, and their applications.
Different Types of Fancy Weaves in Textiles
1. Dobby Weaves
Dobby weaves are small-figured designs that require fewer than 25 different warp arrangements to complete one repeat. They are made on a loom with a dobby attachment, or on a dobby loom.
Two methods are used to create the pattern. In the older method, the weave pattern is controlled by punched tape or a similar device. The holes control the position of the warp yarns in forming a shed. In the newer method, a computer controls the position of the warp yarns. This system is faster, works well with CAD systems, and allows quick pattern changes.
Many dobby fabrics have small geometric figures. Bird’s-eye has a small diamond-shaped filling-float design with a dot in the center. Huck, or huck-a-back, has a pebbly surface made by filling floats and is used mainly in towels. Madras, or madras gingham, has small satin-float designs on a plain or ribbed ground. Waffle cloth has a three-dimensional honeycomb appearance and is used for blankets, dishcloths, bar cloths, upholstery, and apparel.
2. Extra-Yarn Weaves
Additional warp or filling yarns are woven into the fabric to create a pattern in an extra-yarn weave. These supplementary yarns are not part of the ground structure. When they are not used in the figure, they float across the back of the fabric and are usually cut away during finishing. In handwoven fabrics, the extra yarns can be laid in only where needed. In machine-made fabrics, special attachments are required.
Extra-warp yarns are wound on a separate beam and threaded into separate heddles. They interlace with the regular filling yarns to form a design and then float behind the fabric until needed again. The floats may be clipped close to the design or left long enough to produce an eyelash or fringed effect.
Many fabrics with small-dot designs are called dotted swiss. The dots may be formed structurally by extra-filling yarns in clipped-dot or swivel-dot constructions. Either side of these fabrics may serve as the fashion side. Clipped-dot fabrics are made with low-twist filling yarns inserted by separate shuttles. The extra yarns interlace with some warp yarns and float across the back of others; the excess yarn is later clipped. Swivel-dot fabrics are made on a loom with an attachment holding tiny shuttles. Each shuttle carrying the extra yarn wraps around the warp yarns in the ground fabric several times, then the yarn is carried along the surface to the next spot and cut away between spots. Because production is slow, swivel-dot fabrics are relatively expensive. Dotted swiss may also be made as an applied design rather than a structural one.
3. Piqué Weaves
The word piqué comes from the French word meaning quilted, because the raised effect in these fabrics resembles quilting. The piqué weave produces a fabric with ridges, called wales or cords, that are held up by floats on the back. The wales vary in width. Wide-wale piqué is woven with many warp yarns forming the face of the wale and fewer yarns forming the valley between wales. Pinwale piqué is much narrower and is formed by a regular arrangement of filling floats on the back. These long floats force the raised shape of the wale.
Stuffer yarns are laid under the ridges in better-quality piqué fabrics to emphasize roundness, and their presence is one way of judging quality. The stuffer yarns are not interlaced with the surface yarns and may be removed easily during fabric analysis. Piqué fabrics are woven on either a dobby or a jacquard loom, depending on design complexity.
Cords or wales usually run in the lengthwise direction. Piqué fabrics have a definite technical face and back; with abrasion, the floats on the back usually wear first. These fabrics resist wrinkling better and have more body than flat fabrics. Bird’s-eye piqué and bull’s-eye piqué are named forms of piqué. Bedford cord is a heavy fabric with wide warp cords used for bedspreads, upholstery, window treatments, slacks, and uniforms.
4. Jacquard Weaves
Large-figured designs that require more than 25 different warp arrangements to complete one repeat are jacquard weaves. They are woven on the jacquard loom.
In older looms, each warp yarn is controlled independently by punched cards joined in a continuous chain. Rods strike the cards; some pass through the holes and raise selected warp yarns, while others remain down. In this way, the shed is formed for the passage of the filling yarn. This method makes it possible to weave large and complex figures.
The newer method uses computer-controlled jacquard systems. The computer controls the position of the warp yarns and allows quick pattern changes. These looms are used for fabrics such as mattress ticking, upholstery, and apparel.
Fabrics made on a jacquard loom include damask, brocade, brocatelle, and tapestry. Damask has satin floats on a satin background, with the floats in the design opposite to those in the ground. If the pattern is warp-faced, the ground is filling-faced. Damask patterns are subtle but visible because light is reflected differently from the two areas. Damask can be made from many fibers and in many weights for apparel and interiors. It is the flattest jacquard fabric, and its durability depends largely on count because long floats can roughen, snag, or shift.
Brocade has satin or twill floats on a plain, ribbed, twill, or satin background. It differs from damask in that the floats in the design are more varied in length and often appear in several colors. Brocatelle is similar to brocade but has a raised pattern. It is often made with filament yarns, using a warp-faced pattern and a filling-faced ground. Coarse cotton stuffer filling yarns help maintain the three-dimensional effect, especially in upholstery.
Originally, tapestry was handwoven with discontinuous filling yarns to create intricate pictures for wall hangings. Today, jacquard tapestry is mass-produced for upholstery, handbags, and heavyweight apparel. Wilton rugs are figured-pile fabrics made on a jacquard loom, but because they are costly to weave, tufted and printed alternatives are common.
5. Momie Weaves
Momie is a weave that shows no wale or other distinct weave effect but gives the fabric the appearance of being sprinkled with small spots or seeds. The appearance resembles crepe made from high-twist yarns. Fabrics are made on a loom with a dobby attachment or electronic control. Some are variations of satin weave, with filling yarns forming irregular floats. Momie weave is also called granite or crepe weave.
Sand crepe is a medium-weight to heavyweight fabric of either spun or filament yarns. Granite cloth is made with a momie weave based on satin weave and has no long floats or twill effect. Moss crepe combines high-twist crepe yarns and momie weave. Bark cloth is a heavyweight momie-weave fabric used mainly in interiors; its rough surface resembles tree bark and helps reduce the appearance of soiling.
6. Leno Weaves
Leno is a weave in which the warp yarns do not lie parallel to each other. Warp yarns work in groups, usually pairs, and one yarn of each pair is crossed over the other before the filling yarn is inserted. Leno is made with a doup attachment, which may be used with a plain or dobby loom.
The yarns may appear to be fully twisted around each other, but careful examination shows that they are crossed and that one yarn of the pair is always above the other. This crossed-yarn arrangement gives greater firmness and strength than plain-weave fabrics of similar openness and minimizes yarn slippage.
Fabrics made by leno weave include marquisette, mosquito netting, shade fabrics, and some bags for laundry, fruit, and vegetables. Polyester marquisettes are widely used for sheer curtains. Casement draperies are often made with leno weave and novelty yarns. Chenille yarns are also made by a leno-weave method: the fabric is cut apart parallel to the warp, and the low-twist filling untwists to produce the fuzzy chenille yarn.
7. Double Cloth
A single woven cloth is made from two sets of yarns: one set of warp yarns and one set of filling yarns. The fabrics grouped under double cloth are made from three or more sets of yarns. The two sides of double-cloth fabrics usually look different because of the construction. These fabrics tend to be heavier and to have more body than single cloths and are used for coats, draperies, and other end uses requiring weight and firmness.
Double cloth, the specific fabric type, is made with five sets of yarns: two fabrics woven one above the other on the same loom, with a fifth yarn set, usually warp, interlacing with both layers. True double cloth can be separated by pulling out the yarns holding the two layers together. It can be used in reversible garments. Double cloth is expensive to make because special looms are required and production is slower than for single woven fabrics.
Spacer fabric is a three-dimensional technical fabric made by several methods. One type is a true double cloth used in products such as vehicle interiors and shaped airbags. The arrangement and length of the yarns connecting the two fabric layers determine the thickness, strength, and stiffness of the fabric.
Double weave is made with four sets of yarns, creating two separate layers of fabric that periodically reverse position and interlock. Between the interlocking points, the layers are separate and create pockets. For this reason, double-weave fabrics are also known as pocket weaves. They are common in high-quality upholstery fabrics.
Matelassé is a double-cloth construction made with three or four sets of yarns woven on a jacquard or dobby loom. Additional crepe or coarse cotton yarns shrink during finishing and give the fabric a puckered, quilted appearance. It is used in apparel, upholstery, and bedspreads.
Double-faced fabrics are made with three sets of yarns: two warp and one filling, or two filling and one warp. Blankets, satin ribbons, interlinings, and silence cloth are made this way. Satin ribbons have a lustrous satin face on both sides. A double-faced interlining combines a smooth face with a napped back for warmth.
8. Pile Weaves
Woven-pile fabrics are three-dimensional structures made by weaving an extra set of warp or filling yarns into the ground yarns to form loops or cut ends on the surface. In these fabrics, the pile receives the surface abrasion and the ground weave receives the stress. A compact ground weave improves resistance to snagging, shedding, and pulling out, while a dense pile stands erect, resists crushing, and gives better cover.
Filling-pile fabrics are made with two sets of filling yarns and one set of warp. The ground fabric is made with one filling set and the warp set, while the extra filling yarns float across the surface and are cut after weaving. Corduroy and velveteen are the best-known examples. In corduroy, the floats are arranged in lengthwise rows that form wales when cut. In velveteen, the pile floats are scattered over the base fabric. After cutting, the surface is brushed to raise the pile and improve the final appearance. Corduroy is recognized by its lengthwise wales; velveteen has more body and less drape than velvet.
Warp-pile fabrics are made with two sets of warp yarns and one set of filling. One warp set and the filling form the ground fabric, while the extra warp set forms the pile. In the double-cloth method, two fabrics are woven one above the other and cut apart on the loom by a traveling knife. The depth of the pile is determined by the space between the two fabrics. In the over-wire method, wires are inserted across the loom so that loops form over them; the loops may be cut or left uncut.
Velvet is a warp-pile fabric usually made of filament yarns with a short, dense pile. Velvet must be handled carefully because folds or improper pressing can flatten the pile. Crushed velvet is made by twisting the wet cloth and flattening the pile in different directions. Panné velvet has the pile pressed flat in one direction to give high luster. Velour is a warp-pile cotton fabric used mainly for upholstery and draperies. Plush has a deeper pile.
The pile in terrycloth is formed by a special weaving arrangement in which picks are inserted and beaten up so that slack pile-warp yarns are pushed into loops. The loops can be on one side only or on both sides. Terrycloth is used for towels, robes, and sportswear. Absorbency depends on yarn type, fiber, and construction. Sheared loops produce a more compact surface that absorbs more slowly than loop-pile terry.
9. Slack-Tension Weaves
Two warp beams are used in a slack-tension weave. The yarns on one beam are held at regular tension, and those on the other are held at slack tension. As the reed beats the filling into place, the slack yarns crinkle or buckle to form a puckered stripe, while the regular-tension yarns form the flat stripe. Seersucker is the best-known fabric made by this method. Its stripes are always in the warp direction, and the fabric is used in curtains, children’s wear, summer suiting, dresses, and sportswear.
10. Tapestry Weave
A tapestry weave is a hand-produced, filling-faced plain-weave fabric. The discontinuous filling yarns are arranged so that, as the color changes, a pattern is created. Each color moves back and forth only as long as the design requires that color; then another color is used. The warp yarns are usually covered completely by the filling.
If the color change follows a vertical line, slits can develop in the structure. Different methods of weaving can either emphasize or eliminate the slit, depending on the effect desired by the artist. Tapestries may be made on horizontal or vertical looms and are used for one-of-a-kind rugs, wall hangings, and fiber art. This handwoven structure is often called true tapestry to distinguish it from jacquard-patterned tapestry.
Conclusion
Fancy weaves extend woven design beyond basic structures by changing interlacings, adding extra yarns, or forming layered and piled surfaces. From dobby and jacquard fabrics to leno, double cloth, pile, and tapestry, each weave combines structure and appearance in a distinct way. Understanding these weaves is important for evaluating fabric quality, performance, cost, and end use.
References
[1] Kadolph, S. J. (Ed.). (2010). Textiles (11th ed.). Pearson.
[2] Corbman, B. P. (1983). Textiles: Fiber to Fabric (6th ed.). McGraw-Hill.
[3] Joseph, M. L. (1988). Introductory Textile Science (6th ed.). Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
[4] Tortora, P. G., Johnson, I., & Merkel, R. S. (2014). The Fairchild Books Dictionary of Textiles (8th ed.). Fairchild Books.
[5] Adanur, S. (2001). Handbook of Weaving. Technomic Publishing Company.
Founder & Editor of Textile Learner. He is a Textile Consultant, Blogger & Entrepreneur. Mr. Kiron is working as a textile consultant in several local and international companies. He is also a contributor of Wikipedia.
