Often, when new rigid heddle weavers visit handweaving.net for the first time, they are excited by the wide range of 2-shaft drafts they find. But the excitement fades when they learn that many of these drafts aren’t for weaving; they are actually profile drafts, like the sample below. This two-block profile cannot be woven as is; the float length would make for an unstable cloth, or it would not resemble the draft once it was wet finished.

Profile drafts are an ingenious shorthand system that shaft-loom weavers can use to make a cloth design that call be woven with different structures (covered in much more detail in Janet’s course Profile Drafting- the basics for members). One might think rigid heddle weavers can’t use profile drafts unless diving into four-shaft weaving on three heddles. But then I had a light bulb moment with a simple question : Are there elements of cloth design besides structure and threadings that can be symbolized by profile draft blocks? Can rigid heddle weavers use the profile draft system to design cloth on our looms? Read ahead and find out!

Profile drafts and plain weave cloth design

First, you need to design or find a draft of a profile. When using a profile draft for a single-heddle rigid heddle design, work with drafts that have only two blocks, such as our sample profile draft. You can tell it’s a two-block draft because there are only two rows of squares in the top (the “shaft” threading) and the side of the draft (the “treadling”)

Since we are only using our profile for plain weave, we don’t need to apply any additional structures to our blocks like you do with a shaft loom, but we need to decide how many warp ends each block represents. In the following examples, I determined that each square would be equal to two warp ends, one in the slot and one in the eye.

For the treadling, each block will represent two picks, the heddle up or down.

As mentioned earlier, both blocks have the same structure; however, there are additional design elements that can be assigned to Block 1 and Block 2.

The easiest of these is color. Let’s see what happens if we assign Block 1 two ends or picks of Color A, and Block 2 two warp ends or picks of Color B.

The resulting design maintains the balance and symmetry of the profile draft, incorporating areas where the colors blend.

Two-block profile drafts work effectively for creating color and weave effects, such as log cabin. Instead of assigning one block a single color, use two colors- threading Yarn A in the eyes of Block 1 and the Slots of Block 2 with Yarn B in the slots of Block 1 and the eyes of Block 2.

Now our light and dark areas on the profile draft translate to horizontal or vertical stripes in the cloth.

Color is one option we can change, but we can also use texture by using thick and thin threads or using double or single threads in our warp and weft. For the following sample, Block 1 has a thin thread in the eye, and a doubled thread in the slot, and Block 2 is the reverse, so the thin thread is in the slot and the doubled thread in the eye.

When woven with a contrasting thick and thin yarn in the weft, a pattern emerges that appears more complex than a two-shaft plain weave.

We can take it a step further, this time incorporating log cabin color and weave effects, as well as thick and thin yarns. In this example, the thin yarn is Color A and the thick yarn is Color B.

BUT THERE IS MORE! We can reverse the colors of thick and thin yarns in the warp and weft…

These are just a few ways we can utilize profile drafts in our rigid heddle work. What about using blocks to represent pick-up work?
Let’s change the formula so each square is four warp ends (so we have two slot threads per block when the heddle is lowered) and four picks (heddle up, heddle down, heddle up + Pick Up Stick A or B) and create a warp float structures using pick up sticks to go over and under the pair of slots threads represented by each block.

Translating the formula above to weaving software, this is how it will look on the cloth. Using profile drafts we can design pick-up laces with as many blocks as we like (as long as we don’t mind using and changing multiple pick-up sticks!)

Designing projects with profile drafts

Maybe it’s just me, but as a rigid heddle weaver, I really struggle following and writing out warping and weaving instructions that are lists of numbers and colors without an image. For me, a picture is really worth a thousand words.

Learning how to use profile drafts for my designs with a draft editor set at two shafts and two treadles, I can spend hours exploring symmetry, asymmetry, and the proportion of an entire project before I even start deciding on color, sett or structure. Then, I can print the final profile draft design and record the total number of warp ends, heddle size, yarns, and calculate the final measurements of the project right on the page.

Instead of a list of numbers indicating when to change warp or weft colors on a post-it note or scrap paper, I can take this to the loom as a threading and weaving guide, just following my translations. If the project goes well, I have the notes to make it again. If I want to change the size, I can expand the number of warp ends or picks per square. I can weave this same design in different setts, colors, and fibers, making dozens of new projects from a single guide.

Although there is joy in designing on the fly or in my head, I think having a system to explore new concepts is worth trying. The profile draft system allows rigid heddle weavers to explore an entire project’s proportion and rhythm without needing to learn everything about drafting and structures. It’s quick and efficient, just like the looms we love.

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From the Course Catalog: