The tapestry was woven by several weavers using a loom, which is a hand operated apparatus designed for weaving fabrics. They could either be woven horizontally (low warp) or vertically (high warp). These different looms can be seen in the images. It is often assumed that tapestries were woven by women; however in the 16th century this was men’s work. Weavers were trained from a young age and were highly skilled.
Tapestries were woven sideways. This meant that the image had a set height but an infinite width allowing for more scope with design. The height of the tapestry would determine how many weavers would be able to sit comfortably at the loom. For a skilled weaver a square metre of coarsely woven tapestry would take a month to create. The tapestries at Hampton Court Palace are finely woven and would have taken longer.
The quality of the tapestry was determined by three things: the artistic quality of the cartoon, the skill of the weavers and the density of the weave. The Abraham tapestries have a very high weave count of 18-20 warp threads per inch and are among the most lavish sets produced in Brussels at the time, with a high percentage of silk and much gold and silver metallic thread.
To find out more about metal threads click here.
