Technique

Supplementary weft brocade

زری‌بافی

Extra patterning wefts float across a ground weave to build the dense repeating bands characteristic of termeh.

Process, step by step

  1. Dress the loom with a fine warp.
  2. Weave the ground cloth.
  3. Introduce supplementary wefts on the patterned picks.
  4. Cut and finish the reverse floats.

Variations

Historic drawloom work carries more colours per repeat than most current production.

Conservation

Store rolled rather than folded; floats abrade quickly along a fold.

Used in these crafts

Termeh

A patterned Iranian brocade woven with supplementary wefts, historically in silk and wool, associated above all with Yazd and Kerman.

Jajim

A narrow-strip flatwoven textile, usually made in warp-faced bands on a portable loom and then sewn together into a wider cloth, traditionally used as bedding cover, floor spread or door hanging by village and pastoral households.