Dobby

A dobby is a shedding mechanism that lifts whole shafts of heddles in a pre-set order, so the cloth carries a small, repeating geometric pattern. The word names the mechanism, the loom fitted with it and the fabric it weaves.

How does a dobby work?

Pegs are set into a chain of lattices, called lags, and each peg tells a shaft to lift for that row of weft; springs pull the shafts down again, according to a 1917 trade manual. The Getty vocabulary separates it from a Jacquard loom: a dobby lifts shafts or sets of shafts at once, while a Jacquard lifts individual warp threads. Thomas Roberts wrote in 1912 that dobbies were built for up to 48 shafts, with 16, 24 and 36 the usual sizes, against two to twelve for the tappet looms he describes.

What does dobby cloth look like?

Getty describes dobby weave as an all-over figured fabric of simple, small geometric figures, repeated often and fairly inexpensive to produce. Proper Cloth, a custom shirtmaker, describes dobby shirtings as often having colored threads woven into stripes and grids, or a tonal white-on-white grid. Compared with plain weave, where every heddle shaft simply alternates, a dobby can follow any sequence its pegs record, within the limits of its shafts.

Where does the word come from?

Merriam-Webster dates the weaving sense to 1878 and gives the origin as "perhaps from Dobby, nickname for Robert."

Sources

1. Art & Architecture Thesaurus: dobby looms (300423550) and dobby weave (300417868). Getty Research Institute
2. Tappet and Dobby Looms (1912), chapter I. Thomas Roberts, via Internet Archive
3. Piece Goods Manual (1917), 'Dobbie, or Dobby'. A. E. Blanco, via Project Gutenberg
4. dobby. Merriam-Webster
5. Dobby Dress Shirt Fabrics. Proper Cloth

See also

• Jacquard loom
• Heddle
• Plain weave

Read more

• Dobby, Jacquard, Plain: How a Pattern Gets Woven In

Last updated October 18, 2026 · Markdown