Museum - Education
Under, Over to Weave!
Activity to be used with Growing up on the Frontier; Hard Work and Plain Fun, a school program of the Museum at Southwestern Michigan College.
| Introduction: |
This activity introduces the technique of plain weaving. Students work individually to weave a mat of paper strips.
The same “under one, over one” pattern that characterizes plain weaving was used by frontier families to weave cloth. Families unable to buy ready made cloth had to make their own. They used a spinning wheel to twist sheep’s wool into yarn, then tied lengths of the yarn onto a loom. The loom held these “warp” threads in place while a “weaver” or “weft” thread was woven up and down between them, one row at a time.
Many looms had a device that lifted every other warp thread at once, so that the person weaving did not have to laboriously pass the weaver thread over and under each warp thread by hand.
This activity addresses these Michigan school curriculum benchmarks: Social Studies 4.1.1 and Fine Arts 4.5.1. |
| Supplies Needed: |
- Handout master, “Warp” Strips for Paper Weaving
- Handout master, Woman making cloth at a loom"
- Two colors of 8 1/2 X 11 paper, standard or construction weight
- Scissors for students
- Glue
- Scotch tape for students
- One piece 8 1/2” X 11” card stock per student
- Samples of loosely woven “plain weave” fabric (i.e., burlap)
- Sample yard or two of store-bought fabric
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| Preparation: |
- Using one color paper, make one copy “Warp” handout per student.
- Using other color paper, make two copies “Weaver” handout per every
three students.
- If you wish, cut apart weaver strips, enough for seven per student.
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| Procedure |
| Step 1: |
Ask students what their clothing is made of. Talk about cloth, where it
can be purchased and how many people today use cloth to make their own
clothing, rather than buy clothes ready made.
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| Step 2: |
Ask students what and how cloth is made. Give a small square of burlap
to each pair of students and help them identify threads that run in one
direction and those crossing them. These threads are the components of cloth.
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| Step 3: |
Now encourage student pairs to find a thread and trace it in order to see the “under one, over one” pattern it follows with relation to other threads. |
| Step 4: |
Pass out a copy of the “warp” handout to each student. |
| Step 5: |
Students will trim edges, then cut on dashed lines to make an 8” x 8” set of eight joined warp strips. Place the joined edge of the paper at the bottom. |
| Step 6: |
Have students cut out weaver strips, or give student seven precut strips. |
| Step 7: |
Students begin weaving. Work with one weaver strip at a time. Lay end of first weaver over the first warp strip on the right, then slip end under the next strip, and so on. |
| Step 8: |
To start the second weaver strip, place its end under the first warp strip, then continue alternating over, under. When complete, the visible parts of weavers in the two rows should form a checkerboard pattern. Continue with weavers 3-7, being sure that the warp strip that one weaver goes over, the next weaver will go under. |
| Step 9: |
After each weaver is woven, its edges should be lined up with the sides of the square and it should be pushed all the way down to the bottom of the square, next to the last weaver strip woven. |
| Step 10: |
Once all strips are woven the square can be taped along its edges on the front and back to hold weavers in place. |
| Step 11: |
To finish, glue woven mat onto card stock sheet to support it. These can be
laminated to make place mats or wall hangings. |
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