Spinning and Weaving Glossary: The Words, Explained
Nobody is born knowing what a maiden bar is. Here are the words spinners and weavers use most, in plain language, so you can read any pattern or manual and get on with making. Keep this page handy and come back to it.
Fiber and how it’s prepared
Joy of Handspinning’s glossary and guide to fiber preparations define these.
- Fleece. The entire coat of wool off a sheep.
- Staple. The length of a lock of fleece or of a single fiber.
- Carders. A pair of brushes used to smooth and straighten fibers for spinning.
- Rolag. A small roll of fiber made on hand carders.
- Batt. A large, soft rectangle of wool from a drum carder.
- Sliver. A ready-to-spin strip of fiber.
- Roving. A long strand of carded wool, much like sliver but a little smaller.
- Top. Fiber combed to remove the short lengths and keep the long ones.
- Woolen and worsted. Woolen yarn comes from short-stapled wool and has a soft finish. Worsted comes from long-stapled wool with the fibers combed lengthwise, and has a firm finish.
For more on three of these, Spin Off has Spinning Tips: What Are Roving, Top, and Sliver?
Making yarn
Joy of Handspinning’s glossary names the tools. Ashford’s Learn to Spin booklet shows how the steps fit together.
- Draft. To pull out fibers so that only a certain amount takes the twist.
- Drop spindle. A stick with a weighted whorl, used to twist fibers into thread.
- Whorl. On a spindle, the weight that helps it spin. On a wheel, the grooved pulley the drive band runs on.
- Leader. A length of yarn tied to the bobbin or spindle. You join your new fiber to it to get started.
- Singles. One spun strand.
- Ply. To twist two or more yarns together, in the opposite direction to the spinning.
- Lazy kate. The holder for full bobbins while you ply.
- Niddy noddy. A double-headed tool used to skein spun yarn.
- Hank and skein. In Ashford’s booklet, the hank is the tied loop you take off the niddy noddy, and you twist it into a skein. Joy of Handspinning also gives hank as a measure: a 560-yard skein of wool.
The parts of a spinning wheel
Joy of Handspinning’s glossary defines most of these, and Ashford’s booklet shows them at work.
- Treadle. The foot pedal that turns the large wheel.
- Drive band. The cord that carries power from the large wheel to the flyer or bobbin.
- Flyer. The U-shaped part that twists the yarn. Ashford’s booklet explains that the drive band turns the flyer, and the yarn pulls the bobbin around.
- Bobbin. The spool that the spun yarn winds onto.
- Orifice. The small opening your yarn passes through on its way to the bobbin.
- Brake band. On Ashford’s wheels, the band that slows the bobbin slightly, so the yarn draws in.
- Maiden. One of the two uprights that hold the flyer and bobbin in place. Ashford calls them maid uprights.
- Maiden bar. On Ashford’s Traditional wheel, the bar the maid uprights fit into. Turning the adjusting knob raises it to adjust the tension on the drive band.
- Mother-of-all. Usually the whole spinning mechanism together: maidens, flyer and bobbin.
Weaving words
Ashford’s rigid heddle booklet and Liz Gipson’s Terms to Know at Yarnworker cover most of these.
- Warp. The threads put on the loom first and held under tension.
- Weft. The thread that passes over and under the warp to form cloth.
- Shed. The opening in the warp that the shuttle passes through.
- Shuttle. The tool that carries the weft yarn through the shed.
- Beat. To press the weft into place.
- Reed. A slotted piece that spaces the warp threads and beats the weft. A dent is one space in it.
- Heddle. This one has two meanings. Ashford says its slotted, eyed reed “can also be called a heddle.” On a shaft loom, each warp thread has its own heddle.
- Shaft. A frame holding heddles, also called a harness. Schacht says more shafts mean more possible weave structures.
- Sett. How closely the warp threads are spaced, often given in ends per inch, or epi. Ashford’s suggested setts put its DK yarn at 7.5 epi for a loose plain weave and 10 epi for a firm one, and recommend weaving a sample first.
- Selvedge. The edge of woven cloth.
Keep reading
For rigid heddle weaving, Little Looms has Common Rigid-Heddle Weaving Terms.
Your next step
Now put the words to work. Read what is spinning or what is weaving, then choose your craft with spinning or weaving: where to start.