A balanced fabric is one in which the ''warp'' and the ''weft'' are of the same size. In

weaving Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal ...

, these are generally called "balanced plain weaves" or just "balanced weaves", while in

embroidery Embroidery is the art of decorating Textile, fabric or other materials using a Sewing needle, needle to stitch Yarn, thread or yarn. It is one of the oldest forms of Textile arts, textile art, with origins dating back thousands of years across ...

the term "even-weave" is more common.

Balanced plain weave

A balanced plain weave is a

fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, and different types of fabric. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is no ...

in which the warp threads and the

weft In the manufacture of cloth, warp and weft are the two basic components in weaving to transform thread (yarn), thread and yarn into textile fabrics. The vertical ''warp'' yarns are held stationary in tension on a loom (frame) while the horizo ...

threads are equally spaced, and are identical or similar in size. In addition to the same sett, the yarn is the same in the warp and weft. The term can be used for a tabby weave or a basketweave. Balanced weaves have also been called "50/50 plain webs", and are a subset of

plain weave Plain weave (also called tabby weave, linen weave or taffeta weave) is the most basic of three fundamental types of textile weaving, weaves (along with satin weave and twill). It is strong and hard-wearing, and is used for fashion and furnishi ...

s. Unbalanced weaves, in which warp and weft differ in size, may be either ''warp-dominant'' or ''weft-dominant'' fabrics. The primary advantage of balanced weaves is that they are potentially stronger than other basic weaves.

Even-weave

An even-weave fabric or

canvas Canvas is an extremely durable Plain weave, plain-woven Cloth, fabric used for making sails, tents, Tent#Marquees and larger tents, marquees, backpacks, Shelter (building), shelters, as a Support (art), support for oil painting and for other ite ...

, a term mostly used in embroidery, is any textile where the warp and

threads are of the same size. Even-weave fabrics include even-weave aida cloth,

linen Linen () is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant. Linen is very strong and absorbent, and it dries faster than cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments. Lin ...

, and needlepoint canvas. These fabrics are typically required as foundations for counted-thread embroidery styles such as

blackwork Blackwork, sometimes historically termed Spanish blackwork, is a form of embroidery generally worked in black thread, although other colours are also used on occasion, as in scarletwork, where the embroidery is worked in red thread. Most strong ...

cross-stitch Cross-stitch is a form of sewing and a popular form of counted-thread embroidery in which X-shaped stitches (called cross stitches) in a tiled, raster graphics, raster-like pattern are used to form a picture. The stitcher counts the threads on a ...

, and

needlepoint Needlepoint is a type of canvas work, a form of embroidery in which yarn is stitched through a stiff open weave canvas. Traditionally needlepoint designs completely cover the canvas. Although needlepoint may be worked in a variety of stitches, ...

, so that a stitch of the same "count" (that is, crossing the same number of fabric threads) will be the same length whether it crosses warp or weft threads.

Balanced plain weave

Even-weave

References

Bibliography

External links