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Weaving is an ancient craft that is still practised as a hobby by many people around the world. In recent years, it has found new life as more people have returned to hands-on making as a way to slow down, reconnect with materials and step away from screens.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, — including sewing, baking and gardening — to support their well-being. I remember trying to buy a sewing machine in 2021 and finding none available in stores.

More recently, textile crafts have become popular among Gen Z, with so-called such as crochet, knitting and quilting seeing a resurgence. These slow, tactile, screen-free pastimes have become a form of digital detox from screen burnout.

It has also become a social media trend to share handmade projects through #WIP (“work in progress”) posts as part of the cozy lifestyle aesthetic.

What most hobbyist weavers may not realize, however, is that their craft helped shape modern computing. Today, makers are once again using textiles to imagine the future of technology.

The invention of the jacquard loom

In 1804, a French weaver named that could weave intricate patterns using punch cards — paper cards with encoded holes.

Once they pass through the loom, the presence or absence of a hole tells the loom which warp thread to raise or lower, acting as the earliest form of binary code programming. Weaving that once required a master weaver and an assistant could now be done by craft hobbyists.

This same concept later influenced early computers, inspiring us on how such a craft can be a source of a technical revolution. In the 1830s, by realizing he could apply the same concept to algebric patterns, instead of textiles, to program his Analytical Engine.

beyond maths to envision programming any information represented by symbols, including musical notes or graphic designs. By doing this, she brilliantly split the logical instructions or software (punch-cards) from the hardware (physical machine) for the first time.

User interfaces in websites and mobile apps (also known as graphical user interfaces) evolved from command-line interfaces, which in turn, was a revolution over its predecessor: the punch cards.

My mother-in-law told me stories about how, as an undergrad in electrical engineering in the 1960s, she used to write programs’ code by punching stacks of cards. I teach undergraduates today the history of user interfaces, and how we went full circle to have digital looms now that create smart e-textiles.

Weaving is still shaping technology

Weaving and other textile crafts are still influencing how people build technology today, often through hobbyists and makers as well as trained engineers.

As a professor of physical computing and e-textiles, I lead a that uses a to create smart fabric using both natural and conductive yarns, in what we call . We prototype future wearables and soft furnishing that have sensing and electronic capabilities literally woven as threads within.

Some of our designs aim to using hybrid crafts and digital fabrication. Our most recent work uses computational looms and knitting machines to build fabric-based electronic breadboards . Another recent study , with a focus on women and people with physical disabilities.

When we run , people are excited to stitch their own e-textile circuits using needles and conductive thread. These experiences show how hands-on STEM outreach and maker culture can bring diverse individuals into technology and give them a role in shaping its future.

Why this matters for crafters

This kind of work is part of a wider shift. Open-source tools such as , and the have lowered the cost of entry to physical computing, while and fablabs have opened technology development to people who do not see themselves as programmers or engineers.

The same spirit that draws people to textile hobbies — experimenting with materials, learning through making and adapting designs through trial and error — is also transforming how we create technology.

Craft knowledge, open-ended experimentation and lived experiences can all become sources of innovation. This approach also gives people who are often excluded from mainstream technology a greater voice in creating it.

A Newcastle University project called is one example: two co-researchers who identify as disabled worked with the university’s Open Lab to design a set of 3D-printed handles for powered wheelchairs.

Another project at Queen’s University experimented with 3D-printing on textiles and invented to customize and personalize the medical aesthetics of finger braces and arm slings.

The same way weaving looms paved the way for modern computers, other hybrid crafts can inspire innovation and practical inventions. So the next time you pick up a weaving, crochet, knitting or sewing project, you are not just making something — you are experimenting, problem-solving and creating the possibilities for new ideas.

, Associate Professor of Human-Centered Computing,

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