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Fabric Design and Structure

Draft and Its Construction

Draft definition:

Draft is defined as the” number of heald frames used to produce a given design
and the order in which the warp ends are threaded through the mail eyes of the
healds.

OR

Draft – indicates the number of healds used to produce a given design and the
order in which the warp ends are

Explanation:

Skill in drafting particularly useful in designing for the tappet and the dobby
shedding systems as these limit the number of different orders of interlacing to
eight healds and two twenty four healds respectively. In order to increase the
width of the repeat beyond the eight or twenty four ends, the designer must
depend upon skillful use of drafting.

The length of the design is normally limited to eight picks in tappet shedding
while this limitation doesn’t exist in dobby shedding where theoretically designs
of any length can be produced.

Methods of Indicating Drafts:

Various methods of indicating draft can be employed some of them are as

follows;

1. By Ruling lines
2. By the use of design paper
3. By numbering
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Fabric Design and Structure

Systems Of Drafting:
        Apart from straight draft there are other systems of drafting which are in vogue. Some of
the common ones are given as follows:
1.    Skip drafts

        This systems is particularly useful is weaving very densely set fabrics.
Normally a small number of heald shafts is required, but to avoid overcrowding of
heald eyes and to reduce friction and rubbing, more than minimum heald shafts are
used.
The main advantage of the system is that is allows the production of a large
number of effects with lesser number of heald shafts than those used in straight
draft.

      For example, the plain weaves indicated at A may be drawn on two heald
shafts as shown in B. But this works only when cloth is coarse. If the cloth is of
medium fineness then plain weave may be drawn on four heald shafts as shown in
C. If the cloth in very fine, the plain weave may be drawn on six heald shafts, as
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Fabric Design and Structure

indicated in D. 
SATEEN DRAFT
        The purpose of sateen draft is similar to skip draft. It is also used to reduce

friction between adjacent warp ends and to prevent overcrowding of heald eyes.
But here the number of heald shaft is not increased rather the ends are staggered
and placed randomly.
        For example the following design employs straight draft.

However, the same design can be made using sateen draft

Point draft
        Point drafts are used for weaves which are symmetrical about the centre. They
are frequently employed to produce waved or diamond effects.
        The main advantage of the system is that is allows the production of a large
number of effects with lesser number of heald shafts than those used in straight
draft.
Example – Consider a design employing pointed draft as in this figure given
below:
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Fabric Design and Structure

Lifting plan Or Peg Plan:

Lifting plans indicate how each heald shaft is lifted on each pick in the design.
Let us again take our draft and design as worked previously.

We see that (1st, 5th, 9th) ends raised on 1st and 2nd pick; as there ends are
attached to the 1st heald shaft; so 1st heald shaft should be lifted on 1st and 2nd
pick and dropped on 3rd and 4th pick.

Similarly 2nd heald shaft should be lifted in 2nd and 3rd pick, 3rd head shaft
should be lifted in 3rd and 4th pick and last heald shaft should be lifted in 4th and
1st pick.

How to Construct a Lifting Plan from a given Draft and Design

First of all we have to observe that lifting plan or peg plan is a relationship
between the heald shaft and the no of picks.
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Fabric Design and Structure

Thus we can say that

Lifting plan decides Working of heald shaft and picks.

Design decides Working of ends and picks
And draft decides working of heald shaft and ends.

Thus these three are related.

As in our design, there are 4 heald shaft and 4 picks so our lifting plan will have 4
heald shafts and 4 picks. It is indicated on the left of the design. The rows, indicate
the picks and columns the heald shafts.

Now to draw the lifting plan we proceed as follows:

From Design it is known that 1st end is up on 1st ad 2nd pick. As first end is
connected to 1st heald shaft. So heald shaft No.1 should also be up on 1st and 2nd
pick. We denote it by cross as shown in the figure below

Thus in the lifting plan it is clear that 1st heald shaft is lifted on 1st and 2nd pick.
Let us see the working of 2nd heald shaft. It is clear from draft and design that 2nd
heald shaft is lifted (“up”) on 2nd and 3rd pick. So we trace its working on the
lifting plan as:
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Fabric Design and Structure

Similarly we can trace the working of 3rd and 4th heald shaft on the lifting plane
so that our final lifting plane will look like as given below:

How  to Construct a draft from design and lifting plan.

Here we see that 1st , 4th and 10th ends are working alike. So we take them on the
first heald shaft as shown in figure (a). Similarly 3rd, 8th and 12th ends are
working alike so we take them on the second heald shaft. Going by the same
reasoning 2nd, 6th and 9th ends are taken on the third heald shaft and 4th, 7th and
11th ends are taken on the fourth heald shaft as shown in figures (c) and (d). The
combined draft is given as shown in figure (e)
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Fabric Design and Structure

How to Construct a  design from given draft and lifting plan

Here we notice from the drafting lan that the first heald shaft is connected with 1st,
5th and 10th end. Also from lifting plan, we find that this heald shaft is up on first
and second pick. So we copy the working of the first heald  shaft as shown in
figure (a). Similarly we can copy the working of the second, third and fourth heald
shafts as shown in figure (b), (c) and (d). Finally the combined design is as shown
in figure (e).
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Fabric Design and Structure