Get in touch with usWeaving is the process of making fabric by interlacing two sets of threads—warp (vertical) and weft (horizontal)—at right angles on a loom. It’s one of the oldest textile techniques in the world, used to create everything from towels and garments to rugs and tapestries.
But while this definition may sound simple, weaving is an intensely skilled, physically demanding craft that requires precision, patience, and deep knowledge.
Weaving dates back over 12,000 years. Archaeologists have uncovered woven textiles from ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Anatolia—regions that include parts of modern-day Türkiye. These fabrics weren’t just practical objects; they were status symbols, trade goods, and sacred items.
In the Ottoman Empire, weaving flourished through guilds and artisan collectives. Over centuries, regional designs, techniques, and loom innovations shaped the weaving traditions still alive in Türkiye today.
For those interested in weaving’s connection to another everyday object, read A Brief History of Towels to discover how Türkiye played a leading role in their creation.
Looms vary in complexity—but all require skilled coordination of hands, feet, and rhythm.
Simpler looms where the weaver lifts the warp threads manually and passes the shuttle by hand—suitable for narrow or small-scale projects.
Here, treadles (foot pedals) are connected to heddles. By pressing different combinations of pedals, the weaver lifts various warp threads to create intricate patterns. Hands control the shuttle and beater while feet manage the warp shifts.
These looms, still fully manual and used in Türkiye today, demand exceptional physical skill:
This method dramatically increases speed while requiring fine control. The entire process remains human-powered, with no motors or mechanization. The weaver must constantly synchronize hands, feet, and rhythm while also maintaining awareness of pattern alignment and fabric tension.
In the early 17th century, Ottoman weavers developed an ingenious technique for creating looped pile fabrics—the ancestors of modern towels. By adding a second warp beam at the back of the loom, they could selectively raise extra warp threads to create loops on the fabric surface, combining beauty and absorbency.
This entirely manual method is still used in traditional Turkish towel weaving today.
Here’s a simplified overview of the complex weaving process:
Before any threads touch the loom, the weaving journey begins with creating the warp roll—a foundation crucial to the final design. This is far from simple:
For readers curious about this step in more detail, we dive deeper into it on our Our Weavers page.
Threads from the warp roll are measured and carefully stretched onto the loom under high tension.
Each warp thread—depending on the loom’s width and the tightness of the weave—can number from just tens to thousands. Every thread must be passed through the heddles in a precise order to produce the intended pattern. This step is meticulous and essential to the final result.
Threads are guided through the reed to space them evenly and align them properly.
The shuttle carries the weft thread through the opened shed, either thrown by hand or guided along the wooden shuttle race and shot across when the weaver pulls the pulley.
Throwing the shuttle by hand is far more laborious—but it gives the weaver precise control. With this technique, they can carefully guide the shuttle through specific warp threads, sometimes using multiple shuttles with different coloured bobbins to create pictorial designs.
By contrast, shuttle race pulleys—while faster—allow only one weft colour per pass across the loom’s width. They also require exceptional coordination: the weaver must pull the pulley consistently, ensuring that the weft threads along the fabric’s edges are neither too loose nor too tight, maintaining clean edges throughout.
The weaver pulls the beater bar to pack each new row of weft firmly into place. This is one of the hardest skills to master—many weavers spend up to three months learning how to achieve consistent, perfect tension across an entire piece.
As the woven fabric grows, the weaver turns a crank to roll the finished fabric onto a beam beneath the loom, exposing new warp for weaving.
The weaver repeats this highly physical, rhythmic process—changing treadles, pulling pulleys, beating, and advancing the fabric.
For striped designs along the weft, weavers often use clever tricks for precision. In Türkiye, weavers at Jennifer’s Hamam and Jennifer’s Collection frequently use a piece of string as a measuring tool. When the string reaches its end, they know it’s time to switch to another shuttle with a different bobbin colour.
Weaving requires strength, dexterity, and intense focus. Every pass of the shuttle affects the pattern’s precision and the fabric’s structure.
Many people assume weaving is repetitive or simple—but the reality is far more demanding.
A weaver must:
It’s physically exhausting and mentally taxing—but that’s also what makes it so meaningful.
For a deeper look into weaving’s cultural significance, artistry, and preservation today, we recommend:
At Jennifer’s Hamam and Jennifer’s Collection, weaving is not just a craft—it’s the heartbeat of everything we do.
We collaborate exclusively with Türkiye’s last remaining master weavers who use these traditional shuttle looms, preserving every thread of heritage, artistry, and human connection.