Tapestry (Gobelin)

Tapestry is one of the oldest forms of woven textile. The tapestry technique differs from other forms of patterned weaving in that most weft threads are not carried the full width of the fabric web, except by an occasional intention of design. Each unit of the pattern or the background is woven with a weft of the required colour according to the design. Weavers traditionally work from a design known as a cartoon. This is a paper at full scale and either attached to the loom and hung behind it or it is placed underneath the warps. Tapestry weaving is an extremely labour-intensive process. Weaving just one square metre of coarse tapestry could be months of work for one person.