CRAFTSMANSHIP and SARDINIAN WEAVING TECHNIQUES

Samugheo as alwais been marked by a natural vocation for craftsmanship, whit special reference to the textile manifacture. Skilled in textile art since ancient times, womn used to produce more than their families needed, as they  actively traded their own works. This was the decisive factor that made Samugheo famous beyond Sardinian boundaries.

Countless firms are focused on the production and working of iron, wood, glass and other materials; yet, weaving  prevails on the other artisan activitie, being particulary widespread. Still today, textile manufacturing is the leading sector of local economy and handicrafts are made using traditional looms , tecniques and motifs

For a better understanding of traditional fabrics and an ever-wider
dialogue between old and contemporary productions, we propose a
synthesis of the weaving techniques used in sardinia on the vertical
and horizontal loom.

Balanced plain weave
tela, pann’e carri | horizontal loom
The warp and weft are aligned so they form a simple criss-cross
pattern and both are visible. if they have the same weight (size),
flexibility and colour, the right and the reverse side are almost
identical.

Twill
arvazze, furesi, ispina, obraci, uresi | horizontal or vertical loom
This technique is characterized by a pattern of parallel and thin ribs
to create a diagonal pattern. The most common is the 2:2 twill, used
to make the orbace fabric for traditional clothing.

Warp-faced weave
all’antiga, fressada, un’in dente | horizontal or vertical loom
in warp-faced fabrics there are so many more warp threads that the
weft is all but covered by the warp. The colour order of the threads
in the warp determines the pattern.

Slit weave
a travos, a traucu | vertical loom
Plain weave with exposed weft and characterised by vertical splits
at longitudinal colour changes. Usually decorative motifs have a slit
length limit so as not to over-weaken the fabric.

Clasped weft
a manu tenta, puntu a traccu | vertical loom
Clasped weft is really interlocking two threads in an open shed to
produce two colours or textures in the one row of weaving. The
special point is where the threads hold to each other: here you can
direct the design, placing the changing colour line wherever you
like. The reverse of the design is characterized by a thin cord.

Dovetail weave
a punteddu | vertical loom
Plain weave with visible texture. at each colour change in the
longitudinal direction, every weft line “enters” into the adjacent
colour line by wrapping the first warp cord already affected by
another colour. in this way the fabric is compact and perfectly
double-straight.

Weft inserts | Curved twill weave
ambisue, a abbuccadura, sambisue | horizontal or vertical loom
Coloured wefts are introduced in a non-perpendicular or
balanced manner with respect to the warp. Using different width
and different colour yarns, the weft is pushed down
and out of line, forming a more or less
accentuated angle.

Techniques for patterned fabrics | Overshot weave
a briali, a littos, a preali, a most’e pei / tauledda, tintura |
horizontal loomFabrics with solid or multicoloured decorations, which require
complex machining, can be summarized as follows:
a) Textured fabrics with decorative structural wefts running from
selvedge to selvedge. They can be in solid colour, and in this case
the ornamental pattern on the right side corresponds to the
fabric’s side in which the weft threads are more exposed; on the
other side, the drawing is exactly opposite but almost equally
clear with respect to the right side. in multicoloured fabrics,
the right side is more emphasized. in this case the motifs are
made with threads of different colour and thickness to
accentuate the decorative effect.
b) Fabrics that are woven with non-structural but complementary
decorative weft threads. The same threads, though they
cross the cloth from selvedge to selvedge, appear on the right
side only when they form the drawing; when they do not
appear on the right side, they fall on the reverse side of the fabric.
a peculiar variant is called “tauledda”
or “dyeing”.

Overlapped or added weft
a bagas, a punt’e acu, a lauru | horizontal loom
The decorative patterns of composite fabric can be made by
inserting additional weft threads while weaving the bottom
structure. With extra wefts it is possible to decorate a simple fabric
and create isolated motifs that are very similar to embroidery, or
wider going from selvedge to selvedge.

Wrapped yarn
a trizzitta | horizontal or vertical loom
This technique is used to make in-relief decorative lines to cut off
and highlight some sections of the decorations made with other
techniques.

Coil weave
a beltighitta, a busa, a pibiones, a ranu, a ricciu | horizontal loom
Through this technique you can obtain a particular effect inserting
a structural texture thicker than the bottom. This weave is wrapped
around a special iron placed on the front of the fabric. at the next
step, the thinner weft is thrown and locked onto the previous one,
so that it is blocked. The irons are then extracted leaving the ring
curls formed by thicker wefts on the right side of the fabric. The set
of weft courses made in this way creates the ornamental motif.

Gauze or Leno weave
a garza, rezza | horizontal loom
it is an open weave made by twisting adjacent warps together. The
weaving of the bottom tammy network required a specific
preparation of the horizontal loom using linen and cotton threads.
Through this technique you can get a mesh fabric that you can
embroider later.

Some techniques have been used sporadically, such as the
knotted or the bow ones, used to obtain ornamental effects on
blankets and chest covers. in order to make and garnish particular
articles, the filet and tammy techniques are also used (filè, randa
osinca), as well as the embroidery (recamos, brodaos), the lace
(randas), the macramè (macramè, prendidura), to cite the most
common.