Batts are made from fibres using carders (hand or drums). The fibres are then ready to spin having been organised in to one direction by the carding. This lovely example is from spin tutor extrodinare Amanda Hannaford

Louise and I have been playing weaving bingo all year. Did you join in – and how did you get on!

A Biscornu (French translation: odd or bizarre) is a pincushion made by sewing the corners of a piece of cloth to the centres of anotherpiece of cloth the same size and stuffing it to create a puffy decorative item that can then be embroidered.  (Or embroidered before you join them).  You can find more details here 

Block weaves are structures where groups of warp and weft threads create at least 2 different interlacements -Pattern and Background. Overshot is a good example of a block weave as groups of warp ends are left down so a pattern weft floats over them (this is the pattern block)  and groups of ends are raised so a pattern weft passes under them (this is the background). A ground weft weaves a plain-weave cloth.

Boat shuttles are used to pass the weft across the loom by the weaver. Boat shuttles are more common as they can be ‘thrown’ when the loom is fitted with a race on the beater, Boat shuttles are also used in flying shuttles. An alternative to stick shuttles that need to be passed from hand to hand to release the weft

Bobbins carries the weft in the boat shuttle that is passed by the weaver across the shed of the loom to create cloth

Is not narrow cloth! It is woven at a yard and a half wide (140cm) rather than a yard wide ((90cm). It is then heavily fulled to create the required dense cloth to the correct width.  Originally woven on the in Flanders, it was being woven in England from 1500.

Of course our alphabet has to start with textile artist Anni Albers ,June 12, 1899 – May 9, 1994. Wallhanging (woven by Gunta Stölzl in 1965 to replace Anni’s 1927 original that was destroyed in the 2nd world war) Anni was a printmaker, artist, designer, teacher and author. Born in Germany in 1899, and a member of the radical Bauhaus school. Here she studied weaving, having had her first option barred because of her gender. The rise of fascism saw her move to America in 1933 with her husband Josef, and taught at the new Black Mountain college and subsequently at Yale university. She was the first textile artist to have a solo show at The Museum of Modern Art, New York in 1949. During the 1950’s her first book ‘On Design’ was published, followed by the essential weaving library classic ‘On Weaving’ in 1965. By the late 1960’s Anni had stopped handweaving and focussed on printmaking. Anni continues to be a huge influence for artists and designer today. Read more here

Dyers Alkanet ( Alkanna tinctoria) is a herbaceous plant from the borage family and the root is used to provides a red dye under acidic conditions, in alkaline conditions the dye is blue. You can read more here

Alpaca yarn is a soft, warm, and durable yarn that comes from the undercoat of alpacas. (Alpacas are members of the camel family, domesticated by the people of the Peruvian Andes 6,000 years ago for food, fuel, and fibre. Alpaca yarn is very soft and warmer than wool, also without the itch factor! You can read more here

Viento 2  – 2014 linen,gesso, acrylic, Japanese paper, gold leaf

Olga de Amaral (1932-) is a Colombian visual and textile artist known for large scale abstract works made from fibre, and then covered in gold and/or silver leaf. Louise and I were lucky enough to see this piece of her work at Arnolfini in Bristol during their ‘Threads: Breathing Stories into Materials’ exhibition in 2023. https://olgadeamaral.art/

Angora wool is from the downy coats of Angora rabbits, and like cashmere, mohair, and Alpaca is considered a luxury fibre. It’s known for being soft, thin, and silky, and is warmer and lighter than wool. However, the process of collecting Angora wool from rabbits is considered cruel, and some recommend avoiding angora wool and shopping for animal-free alternatives. The coat of Turkish angora goats produces mohair.

This one is such a great shout. We have a 16 shaft mechanical dobby production AVL in the shed and it is a wonderful loom, we love encouraging weavers to weave a warp on it. The size and dobby mechanism can be a little daunting, but everyone who weaves on ‘the beast’ really does love it! AVL were also the creators of compu dobbies, the first ones running on cassette tapes  You can read the full history of AVL here

Avocado stones and skin are used to create dyes that range from pinks through to browns.  The stones contain tannin so that the yarn or fabric doesn’t need to be mordanted first, but the dye itself is fugitive and ss isn’t guaranteed to last in the same way other pink dyes will.