How to Translate a Rigid Heddle Draft into Slot, Hole, and Pickup-Stick Instructions
To translate a rigid heddle draft, identify which warp ends must be above the weft on each pick, map the threading groups to holes and slots, and then match each required shed to a heddle-and-stick operation. Keep the draft’s reading direction, repeats, and symbol meanings throughout the conversion.
This guide is for a weaver who can already thread and weave plain weave on a single rigid heddle and wants to turn a compatible draft into written loom instructions. The worked example uses one pickup stick behind the heddle and follows the translation through threading, stick placement, and a complete six-pick repeat.
1. Establish what the draft’s marks mean
Before assigning holes or slots, record the draft’s threading direction, first weaving row, shaft numbering, and tie-up convention. Follow its arrows and written key. Schacht explains that treadling commonly reads from top to bottom but also publishes drafts that start at the bottom; the individual draft determines the direction. What is a weaving draft and how do I use it?
For this translation, rewrite each pick as the groups that must be above the weft. In a rising-shed tie-up, these are the indicated lifted groups. In a sinking-shed tie-up, the indicated groups go below the weft, so use their complement among all groups in the draft. Schacht demonstrates this relationship between rising- and sinking-shed tie-ups. Schacht’s explanation of tie-ups
Keep three kinds of marks separate: threading marks assign warp ends to groups; treadling marks select an operation through the tie-up; drawdown marks describe individual warp–weft crossings. A treadle number is therefore not automatically a shaft number or a heddle position.
Also copy any instructions outside the grids. For example, “use tabby” can require alternating plain-weave picks between the displayed pattern picks. Those extra picks belong in your final written sequence. Schacht’s draft-reading guide
2. Map the threading to holes, slots, and selected slot ends
For a conventional single-heddle pickup setup, use three working labels:
- H: all hole ends.
- P: slot ends selected onto the pickup stick.
- Q: slot ends left unselected.
Place the heddle down when installing the stick behind it. This separates the slot ends from the lowered hole ends. Select only the required slot ends: Liz Gipson’s instructions explain that slot ends move freely, while hole ends are restricted by their holes. Pick-up Stick weaving, by Liz Gipson
A numbered group in a draft is not a universal instruction to use a particular opening. You need a mapping supplied by the designer or a mapping that reproduces every required crossing. For the illustrative example below, we explicitly define group 1 = P, group 2 = H, and group 3 = Q. This mapping belongs to this example; do not apply it automatically to another draft.
Read this example’s eight-end threading from left to right as viewed from the weaving position:
| Warp end | Draft group | Final opening | Pickup-stick selection |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Slot | Selected |
| 2 | 2 | Hole | — |
| 3 | 3 | Slot | Unselected |
| 4 | 2 | Hole | — |
| 5 | 1 | Slot | Selected |
| 6 | 2 | Hole | — |
| 7 | 3 | Slot | Unselected |
| 8 | 2 | Hole | — |
The resulting threading is slot, hole, slot, hole, slot, hole, slot, hole. The group sequence is 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 2. Keep any warp-color sequence alongside these instructions so that changing the notation does not change the color order.
3. Convert the slot sequence into an unambiguous pickup instruction
Remove the hole ends from your counting sequence when writing the pickup instruction. In the example, the slot ends are warp ends 1, 3, 5, and 7. Their selection sequence is selected, unselected, selected, unselected.
The complete instruction is: With the heddle down, work behind the heddle from the example’s left edge. Place the stick under slot end 1, pass over slot end 2, and repeat across the four slot ends. Leave the selected ends resting above the stick. In whole-warp numbering, those selected ends are 1 and 5.
This distinction prevents a common counting error. “Select one, skip one” here counts only slot ends. Counting every warp end would include the intervening hole ends and produce a different selection.
Use “selected” and “unselected” in your notes if a pattern’s “up” and “down” shorthand feels ambiguous. Write which threads rest above the stick and specify the starting edge. Gipson’s published example likewise gives a separate selection sequence for slot ends and parks the stick toward the back of the loom until needed. Gipson’s pickup setup
4. Match each required group combination to an actual operation
For this conventional setup, the following four operations provide the translation key. A parked stick lies flat toward the back beam. An active stick is brought forward behind the heddle.
| Warp groups above the weft | Heddle position | Pickup-stick position | Written shorthand |
|---|---|---|---|
| H: all hole ends | Up | Flat and parked back | U |
| P + Q: all slot ends | Down | Flat and parked back | D |
| P: selected slot ends only | Neutral | Forward, turned on edge | N + P |
| H + P: hole ends plus selected slot ends | Up | Forward, kept flat | U + P |
These positions are documented in the pickup tutorial’s key: heddle up, heddle down, up with the stick forward and flat, and neutral with the stick forward on edge. How to Use a Pick Up Stick
The two active-stick operations create different combinations. For N + P, the stick raises the selected slot ends above the remaining warp. For U + P, the up heddle supplies the hole ends while the forward, flat stick adds the selected slot ends. Turning the stick on edge in both cases would erase an essential distinction in the instructions.
Check the required combination before choosing the shorthand. With our example’s mapping, groups 1 + 3 mean D; group 2 means U; group 1 means N + P; and groups 1 + 2 mean U + P. These are deductions from the stated mapping and the operation table.
5. Work through a complete six-pick translation
The following is an illustrative draft exercise, not a report of a woven sample. Its eight-end threading is the one above. Its tie-up is explicitly rising-shed, with these four operation columns:
- A: raise groups 1 and 3.
- B: raise groups 1 and 2.
- C: raise group 2.
- D: raise group 1.
Suppose the treadling, read from its indicated first row, is A, B, A, C, D, C. Resolve each letter through the tie-up before translating it into loom movements.
| Pick | Draft operation | Groups above weft | Whole-warp ends above weft | Loom instruction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | 1 + 3 | 1, 3, 5, 7 | D; stick parked |
| 2 | B | 1 + 2 | 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8 | U + P; stick forward and flat |
| 3 | A | 1 + 3 | 1, 3, 5, 7 | D; stick parked |
| 4 | C | 2 | 2, 4, 6, 8 | U; stick parked |
| 5 | D | 1 | 1, 5 | N + P; stick forward on edge |
| 6 | C | 2 | 2, 4, 6, 8 | U; stick parked |
Your finished weaving instruction is therefore D, U + P, D, U, N + P, U; repeat. Each entry means one pass of the weft through the specified shed. Lower the stick flat and park it before a plain-weave operation; bring it forward again only where specified. This explicit reset makes the sequence easier to follow.
Notice the distinction between draft operation D and loom shorthand D. The former is merely a column label in this exercise; the latter means heddle down. In your working notes, spell out “draft column D” or replace the column letters with the full movements after conversion.
6. Check whether one stick can reproduce the whole draft
Use the operation table as a compatibility test. With this mapping, one stored selection supplies H, P + Q, P, and H + P. If the next draft row requires Q alone, or H + Q, the table has no matching operation.
That conclusion follows from the selected groups: the stick stores P, while the heddle controls H. Writing a different shorthand cannot give the existing stick an independent selection of Q. Recheck the designer’s intended setup before proceeding.
A different draft may require another pickup selection, additional heddles, or a heddle rod. Yarnworker defines the warp’s “draw” as its arrangement through the heddle or heddles, pickup sticks, and/or heddle rods. Terms to Know
The useful stopping rule is precise: if any required row has no matching operation, the proposed conversion is incomplete. Record the unmatched combination and resolve its threading or equipment requirements before calling the instructions finished. A draft’s shaft count alone does not establish that your chosen mapping will work.
7. Verify crossings before weaving the full repeat
Check one threading repeat against every distinct operation. In this example, pick 5 must place only warp ends 1 and 5 above the weft. On the viewed face, the weft consequently passes over ends 2–4 and 6–8. Those three-end runs follow directly from the illustrative threading; they are a useful check on the translation.
For pick 2, the upper ends must instead be 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 8. If only 1 and 5 are raised, you have made the selected-slot shed rather than the combined hole-and-selected-slot shed. Check the written operation before changing the threading.
Check these four things before continuing:
- Thread count: every draft end has a corresponding final opening.
- Selection count: pickup instructions count slot ends and preserve any edge exceptions.
- Crossings: each row’s upper ends match the draft’s required upper groups.
- Repeat boundary: the last pick and the first pick of the next repeat retain the intended sequence.
Keep the completed threading map, slot-selection instruction, and pick table together beside the loom. They provide a traceable route from each draft mark to each movement, so you can weave the repeat and return to any uncertain pick without reconstructing the translation.