Plain Weave

The plain weave is the simplest of the weaves and the most common. It consists of interlacing warp and weft yarns in a pattern of over one and under one. Imagine a small hand loom with the warp yarns held firmly in place. The weft yarn moves over the first warp yarn, under the second, over the third, under the fourth, and so on. In the next row, the weft yarn goes under the first warp yarn, over the second, under the third, and so on. In the third row, the weft moves over the first warp, under the second, and so on, just as it did in the first row. Plain weave is obtained by raising all even-numbered warp ends at one pick and raising all the odd numbered ones at the other pick. It means threads interlacing in alternate order.

Main features of plain weave :

• Threads interlacing in alternate order.
• The repeat contains two ends and two picks.
• Both sides of the weave are identical.
• Each thread gives maximum amount of support to the adjacent threads.
• Texture is stronger and firmer than any other ordinary cloth.
• Made from all kind of textile raw materials and yarns i.e. cotton, linen, jute, man-made fibres, both spun and continuous filament yarns.
• It comprises a high production of the total output of woven fabrics.
• Two heald shafts are sufficient to produce plain weave, when the number of ends/inch is large (more than 50), four or six heald shafts are used with skip draft.

Advantages of plain weave fabric :

• Wears well.
• Offers appropriate background for printing, special finishes, and applied surface designs.
• It is snag-resistant.
• It has good dimensional stability if of high fabric count, i.e. high thread density.
• It is reversible if not printed or finished with special effects.

Disadvantages of plain weave fabric :

• Ravels.
• Appears uninteresting.
• Shows wrinkle.
• Has lower tear strength than some other weaves.
• Shows soil readily.