Most of the Chinese and Japanese tapestries have both warp and weft threads of silk.
Pure silk tapestries were also made in the Middle Ages by the Byzantines and in parts of the Middle East.
The advantages of wool in the weaving of tapestries have been its availability, workability, durability, and the fact that it can be easily dyed to obtain a wide range of colours.
Wool has often been used in combination with linen, silk, or cotton threads for the weft.
The designing of sets was especially common in Henri-Georges Adam, is a triptych (three panels).
In 18th-century European tapestries, silk was increasingly used, especially at the Beauvais factory in France, to achieve subtle tonal effects.
Known for the regularity and distinctness of its tapestries, the royal French tapestry factory in Paris known as the Gobelins used 15 to 18 threads per inch (6 to 7 per centimetre) in the 17th century and 18 to 20 (7 to 8) in the 18th century.
Another royal factory of the French monarchy at Beauvais had as many as 25 or even 40 threads per inch (10 to 16 per centimetre) in the 19th century.
The Gobelins factory, for instance, used 12 or 15 threads per inch (5 or 6 per centimetre).
In many 20th-century tapestries a finer grain was contrasted with the effects of a heavier weave.