Dobby looms have a dobby system, which is used to program the harness combinations for the weave pattern. Dobby is short for ′′draw boy′′ which refers to the weaver’s helper who was used to control the warp thread by pulling on draw threads. The dobby mechanism replaces the treadle/lam combination of the traditional floor looms. The performance of a multi-harness loom is vastly improved by using a dobby mechanism, as it overcomes the major problems associated with the use of a large number of treadles.

A dobby loom allows you to select the combination of shafts for every shed opening you wish to make. The great advantage of a dobby loom is that it avoids the necessity and the labour involved in making multiple tie-ups to treadle positioned underneath a loom. An investment in a Louët Dobby ensures many years of comfortable and productive weaving.

The mechanical dobby is a program bar with pegs system. The numbered holes in the program bars correspond with shafts of the loom. If you want a shaft to be liftes, you place a peg in the corresponding hole of the program bar. The number of program bars forming the chain, can be adapted to the weave pattern. However, if the number of program bars becomes very large, you may want to consider an electronic dobby.