Warp and Weft

Every woven fabric is made from two perpendicular thread systems, and almost every weaving term in trade is a statement about one of them.

• Warp — the threads running lengthwise, held under tension on the loom beam.
• Weft (also filling, or pick) — the thread carried across by the shuttle or rapier, interlacing with the warp.

In counting terms the warp threads are ends and the weft threads are picks:

So ends per inch (EPI) describes the warp and picks per inch (PPI) the weft. Together they give thread count — see thread count — but the split matters, because the two thread systems do different jobs.

Why the warp carries the tension

The warp is the structural skeleton. It is mounted under tension before weaving starts and stays under tension for the whole fabric, which is why it typically uses a stronger, lower-elongation yarn than the weft.

This is the single fact behind a lot of practical behaviour:

The practical consequence: a fabric defect that runs with the length is a warp-side problem, and one that runs across is a weft-side problem. On an inspection table that single distinction tells you where to look.

Ends and picks on a wide loom

This is where a mill becomes worth talking to directly. Fabric width is set by how many ends the reed spaces across the working width, so a wider cloth is not a wider version of a narrow one — it is a different reed, a different end count, and a different tension profile across the span.

On a waterjet loom both systems are carried by water rather than by air, which is what allows the full width to be held consistently — and why a wide waterjet cloth is normally the practical way to get a stable wide construction.

Mill greige context

Weaving is where Weaverine's own capability is most specific. On Weaverine greige polyester programs the woven base sits roughly in the 55–120 GSM range at 160–330 cm widths, produced on 650+ waterjet looms with dual-jet insertion, and a dobby head on the existing waterjet for small woven figures and combination weaves such as satin stripe.

That last point is the one worth understanding: the dobby is an attachment on the waterjet, not a separate jacquard hall. It is what lets a small figure or a band be woven on the same machine as the plain and twill base — which is why a figured weave here is a specification question rather than a different mill.

Weaverine does not publish ends-and-picks figures on this page. They follow the construction, the yarn and the loom setting, and a generic number would describe a cloth nobody ordered. Send the ends/picks with your GSM and width and ask whether it is achievable on your construction.

For the simplest interlacing of the two systems, see plain weave.