Agave
a genus of American plants with more than 300 different species. The fiber from the leaves of some agave species is used to make textiles.

Ancestral Pueblo
the archaeological term used to describe the people who lived between the eighth- and fourteenth-centuries in the four corners region, where Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah meet. Also known as Anasazi.

Apache
a collective term for several distinct societies of American Indians who speak related languages and live in several areas of the U.S. Southwest and the southern Plains.

Backstrap loom
a loom on which the warp yarn is stretched between a stationary object and the body of the weaver, usually attached to a belt that goes around the waist. The weaver controls the tension by leaning backwards.

Basketmakers
archaeological term used to describe the people who lived before the second century AD in the four corners region, where Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah meet.

Belt loom
a loom on which the warp yarn is stretched between two horizontal sticks attached to an "A"-shaped frame, similar in construction to an easel, for weaving narrow textiles.

Braiding
a way of making a textile without a loom. Yarns going in the same direction are crossed over and under other yarns in their paths. Also called interlacing.

Chimayó Style
a weaving style associated with Chimayó and nearby northern New Mexican Hispanic communities. It is characterized by striped bands framing a central motif.

Cobija
Spanish for "blanket." The term is used more specifically in reference to Mayo textiles to distinguish simple blankets from more elaborate ones, called sarapes. 

Double weave
a technique in which the same design is produced on both sides of a textile but in reverse colors.

Embroidered
decorated by ornamental needlework.

Fringe
a decorative border of hanging yarns.

Hispanic
pertaining to or having origins in Spain. The word Hispanic (or Hispanics) also refers to the descendants of Spanish people who migrated to the Americas.

Hopis
American Indians living in northern Arizona.  Their name for themselves also is Hopi.

Horizontal loom
a loom on which the warp yarns are stretched across bars horizontal to the ground.

Ikat
a hand-dyeing process in which the yarns are dyed with a pattern before the weaving begins. The term comes from the Malaysian word "mengikat" meaning to tie or bind. Sections of the yarn are bound or covered with a substance that prevents penetration of the dye. The term also refers to the finished fabric designed in this way.

Interlacing
a technique used to make textiles without a loom in which threads are passed alternately over one another. Also called braiding.

Islamic
pertaining to or having origins in the religion of Islam.

Jerga
a textile, typically coarse with twill and check designs, used for such things as covering floors and wrapping bundles.

Knotting
a technique used to make textiles without looms. Yarn is knotted together, as in a fishing net.

Loom
a mechanical device used to hold warp yarn in place so that weft yarn can be woven through at right angles.

Mayos
American Indians living in the coastal and foothills area in the Mexican states of Sonora and Sinaloa. Their name for themselves is Yoreme.

Mohaves
American Indians who live along the lower Colorado River, where the states of Arizona, Nevada, and California meet. Their name for themselves is Pipa Aha Macav.

Moors
Muslims who invaded the Iberian peninsula from North Africa in AD 711 and occupied it until AD 1492.

Navajos
American Indians today living in northwestern New Mexico and northeastern Arizona. Their name for themselves is Diné.

Parallelogram
a four-sided design motif in which both pairs of opposite sides are parallel to each other.

Pimas
American Indians living in central southern Arizona. Their name for themselves is 'Ákimel 'Ó'odham.

Plain weave technique
the simplest way of weaving in which a weft is passed over and then under adjacent warps.

Poncho
a blanket for wearing that has an opening in the middle to slip over the head.

Prehispanic Mexican
pertaining to the people who lived in the area which is now Mexico before the arrival of the Spanish in 1519.

Pueblos
Spanish for "towns." When the Spanish arrived in the southwestern United States in the 16th century, many of the American Indians lived in towns with compact structures similar to apartment buildings. The word Pueblo also generally refers to the people who built these towns and their descendants today.

Rag weave
a weaving technique that uses strips of cloth or rags for weft yarns. Rugs made in this way are called rag rugs.

Rio Grande weaving
a term created by scholars to refer to the entire tradition of Hispanic weaving in New Mexico.

Saltillo Style
a weaving style characterized by a rectangular shape with borders that frame a central motif (most often a serrated diamond) and a patterned background. It is thought to have originated around AD 1600 near Saltillo, the modern capital of the northern Mexican state of Coahuila.

Sarape
a blanket for wearing. Also spelled "serape."

Serrated diamond
a motif in the shape of a diamond with step-like edges.

Tapestry technique
a weaving technique in which an area of color is woven with the same strand of yarn. This technique is described as a discontinuous weft because a weft yarn does not necessarily go from one side of the textile to the other.

Tarahumaras
American Indians living in the mountainous region of southwestern Chihuahua in Mexico. Their name for themselves is Rarámuri.

Terrace
a motif in the shape of steps.

Treadle loom
a loom in which levers or pedals move the warps so that the wefts can be passed through. The Spanish introduced this kind of loom to the Americas.

Twill technique
a weaving technique in which wefts are passed over a certain number of warps to create a diagonal pattern.

Twining
a way of making textiles without a loom in which yarns are twisted around one another in opposite directions.

Vegetal dye
a dye made from a plant.

Vertical loom
a loom on which the warp yarns run at a right angle to the ground.

Warp
the yarns that are laid out first on a loom or frame.

Weft
the yarn that is woven under and over the warp yarns that are already stretched onto the loom.

Weft twining
a weaving technique used in making bags and baskets in which pairs of wefts are twisted around warps.

Yarn
the general term for fibers that have been spun or otherwise twisted into a continuous strand for making a textile.

Yucca
a genus of American plant. The fiber from the leaves of some yucca species is used to make textiles.

Zigzag
a line that proceeds by sharp turns in alternating directions.

Zunis
Pueblo Indians living in western New Mexico. Their name for themselves is Siwi.