Warp and Weft in Fabric

All that you need to know about warp and weft is explained in this article.

Warp and Weft:

Warp and weft terms are used in woven fabric construction. You might know that woven fabrics are made of two set of yarns. The lengthwise (longitudinal) or vertical set of yarns are called as warp yarns (simply warp) and horizontal or transverse set of yarns in a fabric are known as weft yarns (simply Weft). See the below image for identifying warp and weft yarns.

Warp yarns in a loom

In the above image white longitudinal yarns/threads are warp (before weaving). In the cloth colored yarns are inserted to form the fabric are weft yarns.

In woven fabric manufacturing, warp yarns are wrapped in a beam. Warp thread are drawn through the heald for weaving. Later on the loom weft yarns are inserted to the one by one to form a cloth in weaving process. And cloth is rolled in the cloth roll. Weft yarns/threads are come out from a shuttle during weaving.

In a piece of cloth while you don’t know length and width of the and you need to find warp yarns and weft yarns, read this post (How to determine warp and weft in a woven fabric?) to learn the techniques.

Fabric length  and width identification in handmade fabric

Warp and weft count in woven fabric:

Why do you need to know warp and weft count? Fabric properties and weight of fabric depend on the density of the yarns (warp and wefts) in fabric. There are many fabrics that are made with a number of warp per inch and weft per inch.

EPI and PPI: 

As part of fabric testing or to know fabric construction, EPI and PPI are measured. Here EPI stands for End per inch and PPI stand for Picks per inch. Read this article to know about EPI and PPI.

End and Pick: 

A single warp yarn in the woven fabric is known a End and a single yarn of weft is called pick.