Today most of our textile needs are supplied by commercially woven cloth. A large and complex cloth making industry uses automated machines to produce our textiles.
However, there are artisans making cloth on hand looms, in home studios or small weaving businesses, who keep alive the skills and traditions of the early weavers.Eventually the backstrap loom was developed, and not only was it easy to transport, it was simple to construct. One end of the loom was attached to a fixed point, like a tree trunk, and the other was attached to a rod, which was held in place with a cord that passed around the waist of the weaver. By leaning back against the waist cord, the weaver could put tension on the warp threads and adjust tautness at will. Click here to view a diagram of a backstrap loom.
Not only could the loom have shed sticks, it could also be fashioned with the slot-and-eye heddle system, a significant step in loom evolution. This tool not only gives two clear sheds, it also acts as the beater, pushing weft threads into place. Clearly, the heddle system was used on looms types other than the backstrap, but once again, we have no way of knowing exactly when this tool was used for the first time.
The backstrap loom is still used today by Native Americans in the southwestern part of the United States and by people in Central America and Mexico. The loom is limited in complexity only by the skill of the weaver, and the entire loom with the weaving in progress can be rolled up at any time and carried from place to place.
Since the horizontal ground loom required the weaver to lean over to accomplish his task, this made for a very uncomfortable exercise. Eventually, the ground loom evolved into the pit loom, so named because the loom was placed over a pit which was dug into the ground. The weaver could now sit comfortably on the edge of the pit with legs dangling in the hole and be on the same plane as the loom. Click here to view a drawing of a pit loom.
It is thought that the first looms, called warp-weighted looms, were vertical structures. The weaver would suspend fibers from a tree branch, which was parallel to the ground, or he might fashion a vertical loom using tree limbs and branches. Below is an image of a warp-weighted loom depicted on a terra cotta Greek vase. The picture gives us clear information about early loom construction, tools used, and weaving processes.
Warp ends were tied over the top branch and were then placed under tension with stones or weights made of baked clay. Initially, weaving was accomplished by walking back and forth in front of the loom, lifting one warp thread at a time, and passing the weft under and over the warps from side-to-side. Working against gravity, wefts were pushed up into place with the weaver's hands or with a crude comb. Since every warp thread had to be lifted by hand, the process was slow and tedious. In time, a large tapered stick was introduced and was used to carry the weft across the warp and to push, or beat, the threads up into place. Early on, this stick resembled an over-sized needle, but ultimately, it became the shuttle, a tapered device on which weft yarn is wound and which passes between warp threads.
One of the most useful discoveries during the evolution of weaving was the realization of the shed, an opening in the warp through which the weft thread travels, resulting in a web. Initially, weavers had to raise every warp thread by hand and then pass the weft thread through bit by bit, but in time, weavers found ways to create sheds. One such way involved the insertion of a rod under every other warp thread. The rod, called the shed stick, could then be lifted or turned on its side, revealing a clear passage for the weft. The creation of the shed hastened weaving time, but the weaver still had to continually use one hand to hold up the rod in order to pass the shuttle through the shed.
