How to read the cloth

A short key to the pieces. Nothing here is needed to read them, but it helps to know which way the threads run.

Warp and weft

On a loom the warp threads are strung first, lengthwise, and held still under tension; the weft is drawn across through them, over and under. Here the warp text runs down the cloth, one column per thread, and the weft text runs across it, one row per pick. When a text runs out it is wound round again, as yarn is.

Above, in plain weave, the warp is indigo and the weft is weld. Every crossing shows one letter, from whichever thread is on top.

Lifting a thread

Point at a crossing (or tap it) and the thread on top there is lifted out of the cloth: the reading line under the cloth gives every character it carries, the hidden ones dimmed and ringed. On a phone, tap the lifted thread again to set it down.

Structures

A structure is the rule for which thread is on top at each crossing. Plain weave goes over one, under one. Twill goes over two, under two, and steps along each pick, which draws diagonals.

Satin lets one set of threads float over several of the other (seven, here) before it is bound down, so one text covers nearly the whole face: a warp satin reads down, a weft satin reads across.

Damask uses both satins in one cloth: warp-faced in the figure and weft-faced in the ground, so a large shape appears made of the two texts' contrast. It is reversible; on the back the figure is still there, in negative.

The back

Wherever the front shows the warp, the back shows the weft, and the other way round. Front and back together carry both texts complete. The back is drawn as if seen in a mirror, so its letters read left to right.

Dyes

Each piece is dyed in two colours named for historical dyestuffs: indigo, woad, weld, madder, logwood, walnut, and undyed cloth. The screen colours are approximations, not measurements of dyed fibre.

Sources for the weaving terms: Wikipedia, Warp and weft, Satin weave and Damask (CC BY-SA 4.0), read October 2026. Type: Spline Sans and Spline Sans Mono by the Spline Sans Project Authors, SIL Open Font License 1.1 (licence, licence).