Jacquard loom

So imagine you are making a really special blanket that has a cool pattern on it, like stripes or flowers. Instead of making that pattern by hand, you can use a special machine called a jacquard loom to help you.

The jacquard loom has a bunch of strings called threads that go up and down. These threads are held in a big frame called a harness. When you want to make a certain pattern, you program the loom by putting little cards with holes in them. Each card tells the loom which threads to lift up or lower down.

Then, the machine starts working and the harness starts moving the threads up and down in a certain order. As the threads move, they make a pattern in the fabric. It's kind of like when you make a friendship bracelet with different colored strings - by weaving them in a certain order, you can make a pretty design.

When you're done with all the programming, the loom can keep making the same pattern over and over again really quickly, so you can make a lot of blankets or clothes with the same design. Hooray for the jacquard loom!