Weaving Wonders: A beginner’s guide to weaving

It’s a beautiful Saturday morning and the house is buzzing, your older sister is getting married today, you see your mum standing in front of the mirror, meticulously adjusting her gele, while your dad is struggling with the stiff, prestigious weight of his agbada, you touch the fabric and realize it quite different from your regular clothes. While you are in a rush to put on your own Danshiki, you the voice of your mum roar through the room, be careful, ASO YEN O GBODO YA O, its ASO OKE ( THAT CLOTH MUST NOT TEAR) its ASO OKE (hand woven fabric) and you wonder what is this ASO OKE.

different types of ASO OKE

As Nigerians we are everyday surrounded by the wonders of weaving, we see them at weddings, funerals. But have you stopped to wonder how a simple set of threads transforms into a masterpiece. It’s not magic, it’s a craft and you too can learn

The Fundamentals: What is weaving?

Put simply, weaving is the interlacing of two different set of yarns (warp and weft) to create a fabric, we have different types of weaving techniques, plain weave, twill weave, satin weave. Do you remember art and craft class in primary school, where you made paper weaving with different colored cardboards, exactly, just now you will get a much cooler result

The WARP: these are the vertical threads held under tension on the loom, they are the backbone of your fabric.

The WEFT: this is the horizontal thread that you weave over and under the warp. The weft goes from left to right

Types of loom

There are different types of looms, but we are not looking at the very expensive, industry standard ones just yet. We are going to be examining the most common looms out there.

Frame loom: this is a very simple type of loom, that can be done with just a rectangular frame and nails

Heddle looms: these are looms that use heddle to move threads up and down quickly, e.g a 4 shaft table loom

Vertical loom: this is traditionally used in Nigeria and is very common among Akwete weavers

Horizontal (Narrow) loom: this is a very common loom among ASO OKE weavers

The 3 primary motions of weaving: the heartbeat of weaving

These three steps must happen in a very specific sequence for every single row of fabric.

Shedding (the opening): this is the very first step, the loom lift some warp threads while others stay down, creating a tunnel or gap called the SHED,

Picking (the picking): once the shed is open, the weft is passed through it, the single passing of the thread is called a PICK, this is usually done with a shuttle, which is usually a wooden boat shaped tool

Beating (the tightening): after the weft is passed, its loose, the weaver uses a comb or reed to beat the new thread against the previously woven fabric. This is what makes the fabric tight.