I can certainly do my best! Just keep in mind, some places have different names for these types of weaves and may use terms differently. This is how I understand them and how I use them in my posts.
So there's a few ways that weaving is categorized: warp-to-weft ratio, what loom you use, and pattern structure.
The easiest category to understand is the warp-to-weft ratio. What it boils down to is how much of your vertical (warp) thread your see vs how much of your horizontal (weft) thread you see.
- Warp-faced weaving - you see only your warp threads
- Balanced or standard weave - you see roughly the same amount of warp and weft
- Weft-faced weaving - you see only the weft threads
Pretty self explanatory, and a good place to start.
Next, the loom or equipment you use:
- Inkle weaving - uses an inkle loom, like the one I usually have in my posts. These looms are narrow and are characterized by the simple design with wooden pegs creating the maximum warp length
- standard weaving - usually done with a floor loom or some tabletop looms (note: I used standard twice, and i am aware of that. Typically work done on a floor loom is balanced in nature by design, so it doesn't need that extra modifier. That's the default weaving type, if you will. That doesn't mean you can't have balanced weaves on other loom types, or other ratios on a floor loom, but usually a floor loom is best at making balanced weaves)
- Rigid heddle weaving - this is done on a type of loom called a rigid heddle loom, which is characterized by having a solid, plastic heddle that uses varying slit-lengths to hold the thread and make the pattern. They're often balanced weaves as well, and are often more restricted in options because of how the heddle is set up.
- Tapestry weaving - typically weft-faced, and done on a Tapestry loom, which is a wooden frame-like loom. It’s a simple loom design that gives a lot of freedom for designing and color experiments
- Backstrap weaving - no loom required, you literally just need a heddle or tablet setup and a way to keep your tension. Some common ones may be tying one end of the warp to a chair or doorknob and the other end to a belt on yourself.
- Tablet weaving - this can be done on an inkle loom or backstrap weaving setup, but it's characterized by using tablet cards (for example, square cards with holes in each corner for thread to go through) to create the pattern, not a standard heddle. The finished weave is best identified by the slant or twist in the warp threads.
That's all a bit more nuanced, but it works. There's a lot of variations within each of those as well.
That ends what I'm the most comfortable defining, but there is one more category: pattern structure.
- Plain weave - the most basic weave structure that boils down to a binary 1 then 2 pattern. In a warp-faced setting, that's what my bands tend to be: you have one row of warp threads on top, then a second distinct row, then rinse and repeat until you get your desired length. For balanced, it creates almost a checkerboard pattern when you look close enough; your warp threads still alternate being raised/lowered, but you see your weft so you can directly see which warp threads are under it and which are over
- Pickup weaving - patterns that involve manually raising and lowering individual warp threads to intentionally make patterns on top of an existing weave structure (usually plain weave). I haven't done much pickup myself, but it's gorgeous!
- Band weaving - any narrow weaving (typically less than 2-3 inches wide), typically warp-faced, but can include pickup, tablet weaving, and plain weave
- Double weave - weaving two interlaced layers of fabric at the same time. I am admittedly not familiar with the ins and outs of it, but I'd encourage you to find more on it!
- Shadow weave - involves some fun color trickery where both warp and weft alternate with a light and dark color, creating the illusion of shading within the weave structure.
Those I think are the major ones I'll talk about here. There are other structures like twills, m's and o's, summer and winter, etc... but I'm not as comfortable with explaining those. Don't want to give you the wrong information! But I hope this helps at least. Feel free to ask more if you have specific questions.
