Profile Drafts: Unlocking Geometric Design

Have you dreamed of weaving confidently from profile drafts, translating endless geometric patterns into easy-to-design block weaves? Then Deb Essen's new video, Unlocking Profile Drafts, is for you! Here's Deb herself to explain what she loves so much about profile drafts, and to give you a sense of what you can expect in her video. ~Andrea

Designing with a profile draft versus a thread-by-thread draft is kind of like driving a sports car versus driving a scooter. Both will get you to your destination, but a sports car is faster, and, may I argue, allows more opportunities for fun. A profile draft allows you to explore many different design possibilities much more quickly than writing out a thread-by-thread draft.

My “moment of Zen” is not found in creating thread-by-thread drawdowns by hand on graph paper (which is why I have a computer drafting program). However, with a profile draft I can design and redesign a textile quickly—on graph paper, on my computer, or even on the fly at the loom!

Whoever originally created profile drafting was brilliant (and perhaps, like me, a little impatient). Or maybe it was more of a practical necessity. Writing materials were once difficult to obtain. With a profile draft, a little scrap of paper could hold the design (profile) of a textile. It’s like drafting in shorthand!

In a nutshell, the colored-in squares on a profile draft (as you can see at right) represent groups (blocks) of warp and weft threads that interlace in the same way to weave pattern. You only need 4 shafts on your loom to start creating fun designs. With 20 different block weave structures to choose from and the ability to add more pattern blocks with more shafts, the design possibilities are almost limitless.

Want to learn more about how to weave, read, and translatefrom profile drafts, greatly improving your ability to design with summer and winter, rep, taquete, and twill blocks? Please join me in unlocking the creative potential of profile drafts.

—Deb

Deb Essen is the instructor in the video Unlocking Profile Draftsand the author of A Supplemental Warp Weaving Collection. In addition to running her handwovens business, Deb teaches at national and international conferences and guilds.