History of Weaving

Weaving is acknowledged as one of the oldest surviving crafts in the world.

The tradition of weaving traces back to Neolithic times - approximately 12,000 years ago. Even before the actual process of weaving was discovered, the basic principle of weaving was applied to interlace branches and twigs to create fences, shelters and baskets for protection.

Weaving is one of the primary methods of textile production and it involves interlacing a set of vertical threads with a set of horizontal threads. The set of vertical threads are known as warp and the set of horizontal threads are known as weft.

Weaving can be done by hand or by using machines. Machines used for weaving are called looms.

Loom originated from crude wooden frame and gradually transformed into the modern sophisticated electronic weaving machine. Now a days weaving has become a mechanized process, though hand weaving is still in practice.

20,000 - 30,000 years ago early man developed the first string by twisting together plant fibers. Preparing thin bundles of plant material and stretching them out while twisting them together produced a fine string or thread.

The ability to produce string and thread was the starting place for the development of weaving, spinning, and sewing.

Stone Age Man's early experiments with string and thread lead to the first woven textiles. Threads and strings of different sizes were knotted and laced together to make many useful things.

Finger weaving, lacing and knotting together of threads by hand, is still used today by many weavers.

During the Neolithic Era mankind developed great skill in weaving cloth. Every household produced cloth for their own needs.

Weaving cloth remained an activity associated with the family unit for thousands of years.

By the 11th century many of the weaving patterns used today had been invented. Skilled weavers developed highly specialized cloth.

During this time the task of weaving cloth began slowly to move away from the family unit into specialized work places.

Cloth weaving became a mechanized industry with the development of steam and water powered looms during the Industrial Revolution (1760 – 1815).

The invention of the fly shuttle removed the need to have a weaver place the weft thread into the warp by hand. John Kay of Bury, England, first discovered flying shuttle in 1733 which speeded the process of weaving and the production was almost doubled. A fly shuttle is a long, narrow canoe-shaped instrument, usually made of wood, which holds the bobbin.

The Jacquard Machine was developped in the early 1800s. This revolutionary machine used a punch card mechanism to operate the loom and is credited as the basis of modern computer science. A textile woven on a loom with a Jacquard Machine can have very complicated patterns.

The technological innovations in cloth production made during the Industrial Revolution dramatically changed the role of the weaver. Large volumes of inexpensive cloth were now readily available. Weaving had been changed to a manufacturing industry. Textile workers were among the founders of the modern labour movements.

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 weaver

Weaving is probably as old as human civilization. One of the basic necessities of humans is to cover their bodies to protect themselves from outside effects (hot, cold) and look more "civilized" to the eye. Other reasons for development of different clothing throughout the history are social status, religious requirements, etc. Clothing trends depend on location as well.

Historical findings suggest that Egyptians made woven fabrics some 6000 years ago. Chinese made fine fabrics from silk over 4000 years ago. It is believed that the handloom has been invented many times in different civilizations Weaving started as a domestic art and stayed as a cottage industry until the invention of the fly shuttle. The fly shuttle, invented in 1733 by Kav, was hand operated. In 1745. De Vaucanson Cartwrigfat invented the power loom which could be operated from a single point, la the early 1800s, looms made of cast iron, were operated by steam power. Power loom required stronger warp yarn, resulting in devotement of the first sizing machine in 1803. In the 1830s, there were some 100,000 shuttle looms operating in England. The processing principles of these looms were pretty same as today's shuttle looms.
In earlier 20th century, developments were made in winding and warping of the yarn. The looms were improved further, including the warp drawing-in machine and warp tying-in machines. After the end of World War II, the modern textile industry began to emerge. Invention of synthetic fibres has changed the scope of textile industry drastically. In 1930 an engineer named Rossmann developed the first prototype of projectile weaving machines. In 1953 the first commercial projectile weaving machines were shipped. Production of rapier and air jet weaving machines started in 1972 and 1975, respectively. 
The fundamental principle of weaving has remained unchanged for centuries. Today, as in the past the woven fabrics have been made by crossing yarns over and under at right angles to one another. This method of producing textiles has many advantages, e.g., stability and resistance to deformation by compression and tensile stress. These are the feature that distinguishes the woven fabric from the other cheaper non-woven and knitted goods. The focus in technological progress has been on accelerating the conventional weaving process. Over a period measured in centuries the filling insertion rate, for example has increased from a few meter per minute to over 2000 meters/min. Further major increase in performance can only be achieved with new technologies such as multi-phase weaving machines.