Weft
Weft or
woof is the
yarn which is shuttled back and forth across the
warp to create a
woven fabric. In
North America, it is sometimes referred to as the "
fill" or the "filling yarn".
The weft is a thread or yarn of spun
fibre. The original fibre was
wool,
flax or
cotton. Nowadays, many
manmade fibres are used in weaving. Because the weft does not have to be stretched in the way that the warp is, it can generally be less strong.
The weft is threaded through the warp using a
shuttle.
Hand looms were the original weaver's tool, with the shuttle being threaded through alternately raised warps by hand.
Inventions during the
18th century spurred the
Industrial Revolution, and the hand loom became the more robust
spinning frame with the
flying shuttle speeding up production of
cloth, and then the
water frame using
water power to automate the weaving process. The
power loom followed in the
19th century, when
steam power was harnessed.
In modern usage,
weft is a hairdressing term for temporary hair extensions which are glued into a person's hair.
The words
woof and
weft derive ultimately from the
Old English word
wefan, "to weave". It has given rise to the expression "woof and warp", meaning literally a fabric (the warp being the lengthwise threads, under and over which the side to side threadsâ€"the woofâ€"are woven). The expression is used as a
metaphor for the underlying structure on which something is built.
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Glossary of hairdressing and hairstyling terminology
