Introduction

Chinese gauze and leno weaving technique is one of the unique characteristics of ancient Chinese silk weaving techniques, with a long history and brilliant achievements. Its product called Hang-luo has been approved by UNESCO on September 30, 2009 to be inscribed on the “World Intangible Cultural Heritage List”1,2. According to the fabric structure, it can be categorized into non-fixed twisted leno fabric and fixed twisted leno fabric3. The non-fixed twisted leno fabric is also called chainlike leno fabric because of its unique chain structure. In the Han and Song Dynasty, the development of Chinese non-fixed twisted leno fabric was extremely prominent. Although the intermediate dynasties were still developed, it’s difficult to find its trace to the end of the Ming and early Qing dynasties4,5.

At present, the research and modern application of non-fixed twisted leno fabric is far less than that of fixed twisted leno fabric, which may be caused by the difficult weaving techniques of non-fixed twisted leno fabric or the lack of systematic research due to its history of interrupted generations6. With regard to the research on the non-fixed twisted leno fabric, the archeological excavation reports, the systematic research of the predecessors and the records of various dynasties provide an important basis for carding non-fixed twisted leno fabric. As for the study of Chinese loom structure of ancient twisted warp fabrics, ancient technique books, murals, archeological reports are the first-hand materials. The research of Chinese scholars on the weaving tools and looms of various dynasties and the research of scholars from other countries on Chinese weaving techniques which including warp-tying fabric form, production technique, jacquard mechanism have provided a wealth of literature for the study of non-fixed twisted leno loom7,8,9. The research on the weaving techniques of non-fixed twisted leno fabric is mainly based on the unearthed non-fixed twisted leno fabrics, rather than the current available weaving techniques. And the emphasis of the weaving techniques is on the threading heald technique.

Based on the above reality, through the study of the loom structure and weaving techniques of non-fixed twisted leno fabric, this paper improves the study of Chinese non-fixed twisted leno fabric combined with practical operation. It further promotes the development of weaving techniques and the innovation of the fabric structure of the non-fixed twisted leno fabric, and promotes the sustainable development, inheritance and innovation of non-fixed twisted leno fabric.

This paper mainly includes the research and analysis of the loom structure and weaving techniques of the non-fixed twisted leno fabric. On this basis, the restoration of the non-fixed twisted leno loom and the imitation of the fabric were completed, the research can be divided into the following 4 parts.

  1. 1.

    According to the development sequence of the non-fixed twisted leno fabric, the non-fixed twisted leno fabrics are listed and classified.

  2. 2.

    The loom structure of Luojizi in the ancient literature Zi Ren Yi Zhi is studied.

  3. 3.

    The weaving techniques of the non-fixed twisted leno fabric is analyzed. Taking two-warps non-fixed twisted leno fabric as an example, the threading heald techniques is emphatically analyzed.

  4. 4.

    On the basis of the theoretical research on the loom structure and weaving techniques of the non-fixed twisted leno fabric, the loom structure design and construction based on the prototype of Luojizi in the ancient literature Zi Ren Yi Zhi are carried out, and the imitation of non-fixed twisted leno fabric is completed on account of the restoration of the loom.

Methods

Recovery object analysis

The non-fixed twisted leno fabric has more than six thousand years of history in China. Before the Qin and Han Dynasties (The 21st Century BC–221 BC), it was in the development period, the fabric structure was basically stable and allowing for post-processing operations such as embroidery. For example, the No. 1 Chu Tomb of Mashan in Hubei Province unearthed an embroidery treasures of the Warring States period called dragons, phoenixes and tigers pattern embroidery leno fabric10. It is a woven and embroidered product with four-warps non-fixed twisted leno fabric as the embroidery ground, as shown in Fig. 1. During the Qin and Han Dynasties (221 BC–AD 220), the production of non-fixed twisted leno fabric was further expanded, and the weaving techniques reached a historical peak. A large number of dark floral diamond pattern non-fixed twisted leno fabrics that consisting of four-warps non-fixed twisted leno fabric for the ground weaves and two-warps non-fixed twisted leno fabric for the floral weaves have been discovered in tombs such as the Chu Tomb in Wufu Village, Anji, Zhejiang Province, the Western Han Tomb in Fenghuangshan, Jiangling, Hubei Province, and the No. 1 Han Tomb of Mawangdui in Changsha (Fig. 2)11. In the Tang Dynasty (618–907), printing, tie-dye and other techniques were widely used in the processing of leno fabrics while continuing the tradition of using non-fixed twisted leno fabrics for embroidery ground12. The production scale of non-fixed twisted leno fabric reached its peak in the Song Dynasty (960–1279). In terms of fabric structure, there was a trend of complexity of non-fixed twisted leno fabric structure during the Liao and Song dynasties (907–1125). And the twisted warp yarns of non-fixed twisted leno fabrics which were unearthed in No. 6 Liao Tomb of Haoqianying in Inner Mongolia even has reached as many as ten warp yarns and twelve warp yarns. In the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368), on the basis of inheriting embroidery and printing, decorative processing techniques such as gold printing, gold weaving, gold needlework, beads and jade needlework were widely used in non-fixed twisted leno fabrics. By the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), the production of leno fabrics were significant, but its main production were fixed twisted leno fabrics13. The development of Zhuanghua techniques gave new fabric characteristics to the non-fixed twisted leno fabric, forming a large number of Zhuanghua non-fixed twisted leno fabric products, as shown in Fig. 3. However, the non-fixed twisted leno fabrics rarely appeared by the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911).

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
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The dragons, phoenixes and tigers pattern embroidery leno fabric unearthed in the No. 1 Chu Tomb of Mashan in Hubei Province and its fabric structure of the embroidered fabric.

Fig. 2
Fig. 2
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The cup-shaped diamond pattern leno fabric unearthed in the No. 1 Han Tomb of Mawangdui in Changsha and its fabric structure.

Fig. 3
Fig. 3
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The turquoise-ground clouds and dragons pattern Zhuanghua leno fabric hidden in the China Palace Museum.

Through listing, extracting and summarizing the non-fixed twisted leno fabrics unearthed in the past generations, the non-fixed twisted leno fabrics can be divided into: two-warps non-fixed twisted leno fabric, four-warps non-fixed twisted leno fabric and non-fixed twisted floral leno fabric. There is a leno set including a crossing ends and a ground ends in the two-warps non-fixed twisted leno fabric. The crossing ends in the leno set will be twisted with the ground ends adjacent to the left and right, but not limited to the ground ends within the leno set, and then interwoven with the weft threads to form a mesh structure. The fabric structure is shown in Fig. 4. In the fabric structure of four-warps non-fixed twisted leno fabric, the ground ends and crossing ends of a leno set will be twisted with the crossing ends of left adjacent set and the ground ends of right adjacent set, and then interwoven with the weft threads to form a unique pepper hole structure on the surface of the fabric, as shown in Fig. 5. Broadly, the non-fixed twisted floral leno fabric includes not only the floral leno fabric formed by the combination of the non-fixed twisted leno fabric and the three-elementary weaves fabric, but also the floral leno fabric formed by the two-warps non-fixed twisted leno fabric and the four-warps non-fixed twisted leno fabric as the floral weaves and ground weaves for each other (Fig. 6)14,15.

Fig. 4
Fig. 4
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The fabric structure of the two-warps non-fixed twisted leno fabric.

Fig. 5
Fig. 5
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The fabric structure of the four-warps non-fixed twisted leno fabric.

Fig. 6
Fig. 6
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The fabric structure of the non-fixed twisted floral leno fabric.

Loom structure analysis of Luojizi In Zi Ren Yi Zhi

Due to the stagnation and even disappearance of the weaving of non-fixed twisted leno fabric in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, it is still difficult to provide a complete and accurate description of the specific mechanism of the ancient loom structure in nowadays. Luojizi is a loom for weaving non-fixed twisted leno fabric in ancient China. The ancient literature Zi Ren Yi Zhi which is written by Xue Jingshi in the Yuan Dynasty has become almost the only literature on non-fixed twisted leno loom at present. It has a general record of loom structure, but doesn’t elaborate the specific weaving mechanism of Luojizi16. The portrait of Luojizi in the book is shown in Fig. 7.

Fig. 7
Fig. 7
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The Luojizi in Zi Ren Yi Zhi.

The structure of the Luojizi is similar to the ordinary loom, and the main structures are fuselage, Huosimu, Yaer, Da-fan-chun-zi, Xiao-fan-shan-zi, reel, Tengzi, bamboo foots. Among them, the length of fuselage is “seven chi to eight chi”. The frame in the middle is called Lijia and the height of it is “three chi and six cun”. The Lijia is used to set up the hoisting heald tower. The Yaer is used to lift the heald and control the heald lift while the loom is running. The transverse wood shaft that penetrates into the Yaer is the Niaozuomu, which is the fulcrum of the lever. There are planks called Henghuang on the front of the loom to reinforce the fuselage. The Tengzi is warp beam, and there are ears on it to hold the width of the fabric in place. The Gaoliangmu is a device for fixing warp yarns. In addition, there are a shuttle called Zhuodao for picking and beating picks and a shuttle called Wengan for cross-stitch work. The Da-fan-chun-zi is the pillar of ground heald while the Xiao-fan-shan-zi is the pillar of doup mounting17,18,19. The size of the main loom components and structures of the Luojizi in Zi Ren Yi Zhi are shown in Table 1. Although the corresponding parts of some loom components in the current weaving machine have been gradually clarified, the research on the operation of the entire mechanism is still not very clear.

Table 1 The size of the main loom components of the Luojizi in Zi Ren Yi Zhi
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Weaving techniques analysis of non-fixed twisted leno fabric

The two-warps non-fixed twisted leno fabric plays a fundamental role in the non-fixed twisted leno fabric, so this section takes the two-warps non-fixed twisted leno fabric as an example to analyze its weaving techniques. There are three heald frames in the loom structure of two-warps non-fixed twisted leno fabric, including doup mounting A, doup mounting B and ground heald C. In the process of threading the heald, crossing ends SX first penetrates into the ground heald C, then penetrates into the half-heald ring of skeleton heald B, and finally penetrates into the half-heald ring of skeleton heald A and then hauls it to the front of the machine. The ground ends GX first passes through the heddle gap of ground heald C, then passes over the right side of the half-heald ring passed through by SX in skeleton heald B, and finally passes over the left side of the half-heald ring passed through by SX in skeleton heald A and hauls it to the front of the machine, as shown in Fig. 8.

Fig. 8
Fig. 8
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Loom structure for weaving two-warps non-fixed twisted leno fabric.

Under the design of the above mentioned loom structure and heald threading mode, the simplest weaving repeat unit of two-warps non-fixed twisted leno fabric is two weft yarns. Among them, skeleton heald A and skeleton heald B are lifted, and the opening structure formed is shown in Figs. 9 and 10. The opening form of A refers to the skeleton heald A lifting, the crossing ends are lifted below the ground ends from the left side of the ground ends to the right side of the ground ends. SX and GX form a twisted shed, and the weft yarns are woven into the opening form, as shown in Fig. 9. The opening form of B refers to the skeleton heald B lifting, the crossing ends are lifted below the ground ends from the right side of the ground ends to the left side of the ground ends. GX-1 and SX form a twisted shed, and the weft yarns are woven into the opening form, as shown in Fig. 10.

Fig. 9
Fig. 9
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The opening form of skeleton heald A lifting.

Fig. 10
Fig. 10
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The opening form of skeleton heald B lifting.

On this basis, the weaving of two-warps non-fixed twisted leno fabric is carried out by the heald frame lifting rule of first lifting skeleton heald A and then lifting skeleton heald B. The fabric formation process can be divided into two parts. The first part is that when skeleton heald B is lifted, the crossing ends will be lifted after bypassing two ground ends. In the second part, the crossing ends will be lifted around the same two ground ends and return to the original position. Accordingly, redrawing draft plan, as shown in Fig. 11. The threading heald way of doup mounting is responsible for the first part of the warp yarns movement of lifting while the threading heald way of ground heald is responsible for the second part of the warp yarns movement of lifting and restore the crossing ends to its original position. The threading mode of two-warps non-fixed twisted leno fabric is the basis of all the threading heald techniques of non-fixed twisted leno fabric. The threading mode of two-warps non-fixed twisted leno fabric can be changed according to the fabric structure changes of different non-fixed twisted leno fabric, so as to get different threading mode of non-fixed twisted leno fabric.

Fig. 11
Fig. 11
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The draft plan after improved.

Results

Restoration of the non-fixed twisted Leno Loom

According to the original description of “the length of fuselage is seven chi to eight chi” in Zi Ren Yi Zhi, and referring to the viewpoints in Zi Ren Yi Zhi Drawing System, each chi is converted as 31.4 cm, and the total length of the Luojizi fuselage is 231.69 cm, and the dimensions of the main loom components and structures are converted in accordance with Table 120,21,22. On the basis of the above data, the design of the loom structure of the Luojizi is shown in Fig. 12, which is based on the structure proportion of the loom and the physical information collected in museums and non-genetic inheritance sites in the previous period. The name of the main components of the loom are shown in Table 2.

Fig. 12
Fig. 12
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The structure diagram of the restored Luojizi according to Zi Ren Yi Zhi.

Table 2 The name of the main components of the loom
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The entity fabrication of the loom is carried out according to the components and dimensions of the loom designed after conversion. Based on the design of the fabric pattern, four pieces of pattern heald are added, that is to say four Yaer are added and there are nine Yaer in total. What’s more, due to the lack of power devices connecting the Yaer, the connecting rod and the foot rod in Zi Ren Yi Zhi, they are installed according to the connection method in the multi-heald and multi-Toe loom. The side view, front view, front top view and back top view of the restored loom are respectively shown in Fig. 1323,24.

Fig. 13: Four views of the restored loom.
Fig. 13: Four views of the restored loom.
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a The side view of the restored loom; b The front view of the restored loom; c The front top view of the restored loom; d The back top view of the restored loom.

Loom imitation of multi-warps jacquard non-fixed twisted leno fabric based on restored loom

In this experiment, the diamond pattern is taken as the pattern. Combined with the maximum number of heald that can be carried by the restored loom, the design of the pattern is shown in Fig. 14. The white part is the ground part, and the fabric structure is four-warps non-fixed twisted leno. The yellow part is the floral part, and the fabric structure is two-warps non-fixed twisted leno. The design of the fabric warp density is shown in Table 3, and the ground ends and the crossing ends are arranged in the order of 1:125,26,27.

Fig. 14
Fig. 14
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The design of sample fabric pattern.

Table 3 Fabric specification
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According to the design of fabric pattern, the point diagram is shown in Fig. 15. Each vertical grid represents a crossing ends, a horizontal grid represents a piece of pattern heald, so it needs six pattern heald to weave the diamond pattern leno. The loom assembly can be divided into three parts according to its role: doup mounting part, ground heald part and pattern heald part. Among them, doup mounting and ground heald are used to control the crossing ends to form the ground weaves. With regard to the floral weaves, the doup mounting and the ground heald lifting order is consistent with the ground weaves, but it need to lift the matching pattern heald according to the pattern when the ground heald lifting. It needs a doup mounting frame, two ground heald frames and six pattern heald frames to weave this diamond pattern leno, totaling nine heald frames. The draft plan is shown in Fig. 1628.

Fig. 15
Fig. 15
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The point diagram of diamond pattern leno.

Fig. 16
Fig. 16
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The draft plan of diamond pattern leno.

On the basis of the draft plan in the looming techniques design, to weave the multi-warps non-fixed twisted diamond pattern leno fabric, the order of the heald movement is as follows: (1) lifting doup mounting A; (2) lifting ground heald 1 and pattern heald 1; (3) lifting doup mounting A; (4) lifting ground heald 2 and pattern heald 2; (5) lifting doup mounting A; (6) lifting ground heald 1 and pattern heald 3; (7) lifting doup mounting A; (8) lifting ground heald 2 and pattern heald 4; (9) lifting doup mounting A; (10) lifting ground heald 1 and pattern heald 5; (11) lifting doup mounting A; (12) lifting ground heald 2 and pattern heald 6. Because the diamond pattern is symmetrical at the top and bottom, when the twelve-shuttle weaving is completed, it is then lifted in the reverse order: (13) lifting doup mounting A; (14) lifting ground heald 1 and pattern heald 5; (15) lifting doup mounting A; (16) lifting ground heald 2 and pattern heald 4; (17) lifting doup mounting A; (18) lifting ground heald 1 and pattern heald 3; (19) lifting doup mounting A; (20) lifting ground heald 2 and pattern heald 2; (21) lifting doup mounting A; (22) lifting ground heald 1 and pattern heald 1. There are in total twenty-two weft yarns, that is a completed weft weave repeat unit. In accordance with the power mechanism design of a heald frame connected to a connecting rod as well as a pedal rod, a total of nine connecting rods and nine pedal rods are required. The relationship between the heald frame and the connecting rods shown in Fig. 17 is as follows: doup mounting A is linked to connecting rod 1; ground heald 1 is linked to connecting rod 2; ground heald 2 is linked to connecting rod 3; pattern heald 1 is linked to connecting rod 4; pattern heald 2 is linked to connecting rod 5; pattern heald 3 is linked to connecting rod 6; pattern heald 4 is linked to connecting rod 7; pattern heald 5 is linked to connecting rod 8; pattern heald 6 is linked to connecting rod 9. In conjunction with the consideration of the required lifting frequency of heald frame for weaving a pattern weave repeat unit, the pedal rod for connecting the doup mounting is placed in the middle of the 9 pedal rods, the pedal rods for connecting two ground healds are located on the left and right sides of the pedal rods for connecting the doup mounting, and the rest of the pedal rods for connecting the pattern healds are arranged in the order of the heald frames (Fig. 17). The order of treading pedal for weaving half pattern weave repeat unit is as follows: ⑤; ④+①; ⑤; ⑥+②; ⑤; ④+③; ⑤; ⑥+⑦; ⑤; ④+⑧; ⑤; ⑥+⑨. After half pattern weave repeat unit is completed, the weaving is done in reverse order, and the treading pedal sequence is as follows: ⑤; ④+⑧; ⑤; ⑥+⑦; ⑤; ④+③; ⑤; ⑥+②; ⑤; ④+①.

Fig. 17
Fig. 17
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The relationship diagram of pedal rods and connecting rods.

According to the design of threading heald and treading pedal as shown above, the restored loom is used for weaving the multi-warps non-fixed twisted leno fabric. During the weaving process, it can be observed that the fabric formation process is mainly the alternate formation of twisted shuttle and opening shuttle is shown in Fig. 18. The completed multi-warps jacquard non-fixed twisted leno fabric is shown in Fig. 19.

Fig. 18: The alternate formation process of twisted shuttle and opening shuttle.
Fig. 18: The alternate formation process of twisted shuttle and opening shuttle.
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a When the doup mounting is lifted, the twisted shuttles are formed between the warp yarns; b When the ground heald and pattern heald are lifted, the opening shuttles are formed between the warp yarns.

Fig. 19
Fig. 19
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The entity of multi-warps jacquard non-fixed twisted leno fabric.

Summary

First of all, combined with the structure and size design of the loom in the ancient literature Zi Ren Yi Zhi, the non-fixed twisted leno loom Luojizi was restored, and the power device was additionally improved to clarify its operation principle. The loom uses a total of nine heald frames, which are one doup mounting frame, two ground heald frames and six pattern heald frames, and the pedal rod for connecting the doup mounting is placed in the middle of the nine pedal rods. Thus, the process of threading heald and treading pedal is explored, and the lifting rules of the doup mounting, ground heald and pattern heald are determined. Secondly, it is determined that the repeat unit of the fabric’s warp and weft yarn by analyzing the ancient diamond pattern of the non-fixed twisted leno fabric, which are 22 warps and 22 weft yarns. In 22 weft yarns, twelve-shuttle are half weft yarns. Finally, the imitation of the multi-warps jacquard non-fixed twisted leno fabric was carried out by using restored loom, the weaving process of the diamond pattern leno was planned, and the weaving process of the non-fixed twisted leno fabric was clarified.

Discussion

Through the combination of theory and practice, the comparison of literature and objects, analysis and generalization, this paper takes the Chinese non-fixed twisted leno fabric as the main research object, and discusses the loom structure and weaving techniques of it. Combined with the structure and size design of the loom in the ancient literature Zi Ren Yi Zhi, the Luojizi was restored. Then the imitation of the multi-warps jacquard non-fixed twisted leno fabric was carried out, and its specific pattern, movement mechanism, weaving techniques were elaborated. This paper clarifies the weaving process of the non-fixed twisted leno fabric, explains the actual relationship between the fabric warp density, heald density, threading heald technique and weaving. It provides an example for Luojizi and the weaving process of the non-fixed twisted leno fabric, proving the weaving feasibility of the loom structure in Zi Ren Yi Zhi. In this paper, the recovery of the non-fixed twisted leno loom and fabric further improves the systematic study of the non-fixed twisted leno fabric.