#weft

[ezekiellsplayground]

WIP tablet woven band. I always find the finished band on the loom highly satisfying to look at. This is approximately 4 meters & I like to finish the cut warp by plaiting.

[xenon1962]

[winteringart]

Because I’m pathologically incapable of sticking to one thing, my first weaving on my home floor loom!

IMAGE ID: A photograph of a weaving uin progress on a floor loom. The warp is black cotton, the first section of weaving is plain weave with a brown weft and the second section is a large herringbone with an off white weft. END ID.

[fuckablewizard]

I am not responsible for what happens when I hear words I like. Words like "warp" and "weft". Suddenly I'm like 👀 YOU HAVE MY ATTENTION....

[memoriesofthingspast]

🌈🧵🪡📍🕳️

[screaling]

Do you think that in the fabric of spacetime, the space is the weft and the time is the warp, or that the space is the warp and the time is the weft?

[noosphe-re]

Weaving Warp Weft A loom For a Syncretic Superspace

Ahmed Salman

[lawrenceop]

HOMILY for the Wedding of Finlay O’Duffin & Chineze Agbu

Prov 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31; Matt 7:21, 24-25

Solomon, who wrote much of the book of Proverbs, valued a good wife beyond precious pearls, but the Nigerians, I’m told, are much more pragmatic. Pearls, after all, can’t be eaten or put to much practical use, so instead of pearls I’m told that goats are preferred for one’s Ime ego – goats, after all, can provide milk, cheese, and if necessary can be served up as a fine Isi ewu. However, it doesn’t have quite the same romantic resonance to say: “A perfect wife is far beyond the price of goats”, does it? Although… in the Song of Songs Solomon does say that his beloved’s “hair is like a flock of goats” (6:5) which has always struck me as an unusual image! 

But the image that has stood out for me today – and not just because I have recently been reading several books on the history of textiles and role of fabrics in civilisation – is that of the good wife who spins, and weaves cloth: “She is always busy with wool and with flax…. she sets her hands to the distaff, her fingers grasp the spindle.” (Prov 31:13, 19) Many of us are probably unfamiliar with the complexities of the production of cloth these days, even though the vocabulary of cloth-making still pervades our languages. To this day, the image of making cloth speaks of order, wise arrangement, and civilisation; textiles combine mathematical precision, the skilful engineering of delicate threads into something durable, and creative beauty. Each of these qualities are necessary in a marriage: both husband and wife, Finlay and Chineze will need to work together with wisdom, organization, co-ordination, co-operation, artistry, and virtue in order to weave the fabric of their marriage. 

What does one do with the fabric that one makes? Chineze told me that a quilt or a blanket was part of her dowry, found in her hope chest. And this image has stayed with me because to me the quilt speaks of warmth, cosiness, homeliness, and the fact that Chineze brings it with her into her marriage is a sign that she and Finlay hope to create a home together. And one thing I do know about O’Duffin homes is that they are places of warmth, cosy hospitality, and much love, so this hope is well founded.  

The image of textile and fabric also came to mind today because if we look at a Scots wedding, we know that that distinctive fabric, the tartan, is ubiquitous, and likewise if we look at the Nigerian side, we will see sumptuous fabric piled on the woman’s head; a gele [gay-lay], I believe it’s called. As a fabric the tartan strikingly illustrates the warp and weft that constitute all woven textiles. The warp refers to a set of threads held firm along a loom; it forms the skeleton of the cloth. The weft is the second set of threads, the skin of the cloth, that is interlaced and threaded at right-angles, over and under the warp threads. In the Gospel today, we have the image of the house built on rock which withstands all storms and floods. Christ and his authority – his words, his teaching, his example of charity – is, of course, the rock on which your household must be built, Finlay and Chineze. However, if we think of your marriage as a fabric that you weave together, then let it be woven with Christ as your loom, and with one of you becoming the warp, the firm foundation for the other; and then the other becoming the weft, the softer, more flexible pattern and arrangement that together creates a thing of beauty. Both of you, at different times and in different contexts will have to be warp or weft in your marriage, but at all times, you will depend on Christ your loom, your firm foundation on which the fabric of your marriage depends. 

Looms are essential for weaving any kind of fabric, and a loom is essentially an implement for holding the waft taut. One of the earliest kinds of looms used the weight of a person’s body to create tension. So, in every marriage there will be moments of tension and difficulty, but this is necessary in order for you to weave something stronger, more beautiful, something born of sacrifice that is essential to love. However, remember this image of the early loom, and so do not let the tension weigh down your marriage, but rather, let Christ bear that weight for you so that, with him as your loom, you can weave your marriage with virtue and love, and hope, and faith. So, let your tensions be resolved by Christ, borne by his Body. As a household of faith, therefore, go to Mass together, and receive the Body of Christ in a state of grace; pray together always, work together and speak together, listening to the other, but above all give your worries, your fears, your tensions to the Lord. For God’s grace is sufficient for you, his power is made perfect in weakness (cf 2 Cor 12:9), and so in moments when you feel weak and are at snapping point, or you feel you’re unravelling, turn to the Lord and seek his mercy, his love, his saving grace.

The image I like to evoke here is of our Mother the Church holding us together and healing us through the Sacraments. For she is the perfect wife, the spouse of Christ, who is “busy with wool and with flax”, spinning us back together when we start to unravel with the distaff and spindle of the Sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist; holding out her hand to the poor or opening her arms to the needy, that is to say, she reaches out to us and offers us the consolation and grace of the Sacraments; the Church offers us her Beloved Bridegroom, Jesus Christ himself. The aim of God’s grace is to beautify us – sanctify us, we say – by making us beautiful as Christ is beautiful. 

My friends, sitting here in this beautiful church, which is dedicated to God’s fairest creation, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and wrapped up in beautiful textiles on this fine day, we aspire to this beauty, the beauty of holiness. The world is in need of such beauty – not merely a thing of superficial splendour or ostentatious finery but true beauty, the kind that is the product of sacrifice and hard work, the kind that is fabricated and woven by love. So, today, Chineze and Finlay, you undertake to create a textile of genuine and authentic beauty: your married life, with, I hope and pray, many children. A Christian marriage weaves together a brave witness to lifelong mutual fidelity; loving sacrifice as you daily give yourself to each other; trust in God’s providence to sustain your union; and a friendship with Christ into which you will lead your children. These are the warp and the weft of your marriage, and with Christ as your loom, your rock, your foundation on whom you depend, I know that you will weave together something beautiful for yourself, for God, indeed, for the common good. 

We who are gathered here today pledge ourselves to support you in this work. For weaving and sewing and cloth-making has always been communal affair. So, we are here today, not merely to enjoy your hospitality nor only to celebrate with you, but we promise to support you and pray for you both in your married life: may it be as enduring and sturdy and storm-proof as Scots tartan, and may it be as beautiful and lovingly woven as Nigerian Aso-Oke (top cloth)!