Weft

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Weft

In weaving

Weaving

Weaving is the textile arts in which two distinct sets of yarn, called the Warp and the filling or weft , are interlaced with each other to form a textile....
, weft or woof is the yarn

Yarn

Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibers, suitable for use in the production of textiles, sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery and ropemaking....
which is drawn under and over parallel

Parallel

From Greek language: pa???????? Parallel may refer to:...
warp

Warp (weaving)

In weaving, the warp is the set of lengthwise yarns through which the weft is woven. Each individual warp thread in a fabric is called a warp end....
yarns to create a fabric

Textile

A textile is a flexible material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by Spinning raw wool fibres, linen, cotton, or other material on a spinning wheel to produce long strands known as yarn....
. In North America

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
, it is sometimes referred to as the "fill" or the "filling yarn", and in India

India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
, it is referred to as "baana". " Baana" word has been derived from another hindi word "bun na" or "bunai" which means making with threads or strings, as done in cane weaving and other forms of primitive weaving techniques.

The weft is a thread or yarn of spun fibre

Fiber

Fiber or fibre is a class of materials that are continuous filaments or are in discrete elongated pieces, similar to lengths of yarn. They are very important in the biology of both plants and animals, for holding tissue s together....
.

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Encyclopedia

In weaving

Weaving

Weaving is the textile arts in which two distinct sets of yarn, called the Warp and the filling or weft , are interlaced with each other to form a textile....
, weft or woof is the yarn

Yarn

Parallel

From Greek language: pa???????? Parallel may refer to:...
warp

Warp (weaving)

In weaving, the warp is the set of lengthwise yarns through which the weft is woven. Each individual warp thread in a fabric is called a warp end....
yarns to create a fabric

Textile

North America

India

Fiber

Wool

Wool is the fiber derived from the specialized skin cells, called follicles, of animals in the Caprinae family, principally domestic sheep, but the hair of certain species of other Mammalia such as cashmere goat, llamas, rabbits and keeshonds may also be called wool....
, flax

Flax

Flax is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. It is native to the region extending from the eastern Mediterranean region to India and was probably first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent....
or cotton

Cotton

Cotton is a soft, staple fiber that grows in a form known as a boll around the seeds of the cotton plant a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, India and Africa....
. Nowadays, many synthetic fiber

Synthetic fiber

Synthetic fibers are the result of extensive research by scientists to improve upon naturally occurring animal and plant. In general, synthetic fibers are created by forcing, usually through extrusion, fiber forming materials through holes into the air, forming a thread....
s 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

Shuttle (weaving)

A shuttle is a tool designed to neatly and compactly store weft yarn while weaving. Shuttles are thrown or passed back and forth through the shed , between the yarn threads of the warp in order to weave in the weft....
. Hand loom

Loom

A loom is a machine or device for weaving thread or yarn into textiles. Looms can range from very small hand-held frames, to large free-standing hand looms, to huge automatic mechanical devices....
s were the original weaver's tool, with the shuttle being threaded through alternately raised warps by hand. Invention

Invention

An invention is the creation of a new configuration, composition of matter, device, or process. Some inventions are based on pre-existing models or ideas....
s during the 18th century spurred the Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, production, and transportation had a profound effect on the socioeconomics and cultural conditions in United Kingdom....
, and the hand loom became the more robust spinning frame

Spinning frame

The spinning frame was an invention developed during the 18th century Great Britain Industrial Revolution. It was later developed into the water frame , and was used to increase production of textiles in factory....
with the flying shuttle

Flying shuttle

The flying shuttle was one of the key developments in weaving that helped fuel the Industrial Revolution. It was patented by John Kay in 1733....
speeding up production of cloth, and then the water frame

Water frame

The water frame is the name given to the spinning frame, when water power was used to drive it. Both are credited to Richard Arkwright who patented and exploited the technology in 1762....
using water power to automate the weaving process. The power loom

Power loom

File:Strickmaschine im Museum.JPGThe first power loom, a mechanized loom powered by a drive shaft, was designed in 1784 by Edmund Cartwright and first built in 1785, it was refined over the next 47 years till a design by Kenworthy and Bullough, made the operation completely automatic....
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.

Etymology

The words woof and weft derive ultimately from the Old English

Old English language

Old English is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written in parts of what are now England and south-eastern Scotland between the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century....
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 threads—the woof—are woven). The expression is used as a metaphor

Metaphor

Metaphor is language that directly compares seemingly unrelated subjects. It is a figure of speech that compares two or more things without using the words "like" or "as." More generally, a metaphor describes a first subject as being or equal to a second object in some way....
for the underlying structure on which something is built.

Metaphorical use

The expression "woof and warp" (or "warp and woof") is sometimes used metaphorically as one might similarly use "fabric"; e.g., "the warp and woof of a student's life" = "the fabric of a student's life."