It's finished!
Very colorful, slightly wonky but functional rag runner rug. As you can see, we have a concrete floor and it is cold during the winter, this rug helps a lot.
My big mistake, which is probably common for new weavers, was I pulled the t-shirt weft material too tightly. The side bars on the loom helped but didn't solve the problem. What should have been a 3' x 6' rug turned out to be 2.5' x 6', which is ok. Now I know better how to handle the material. Another issue was some of the fabric was polyester rather than cotton and thinner so I doubled the thickness to make it even out. I won't be using the polyester stuff even if it is free again.
I am glad this rug is not too heavy, it will also fit in the washer nicely.
As for the loom, I will be adding more screw eyes to hold the side bars to keep it from bowing, but not pulling my fabric too tight should also help. I will also add another screw to each side on top & bottom so I don't have as wide a piece with no warp on each side.
All in all it was a great learning experience and I'll be making more rugs as I have time.
4 comments:
Love how it turned out. how did you connect the strips together?
I need a rug like that by the side of my bed.
Cut a slit like a buttonhole in each end of each piece. Slip one end of the next piece thru the hole of the previous piece. Then run the other end of that next piece thru the hole in the other end of the same next piece, like a snake biting its own tail. When you pull thru and tighten, it becomes one continuous piece. Much faster than stitching and the slight slubs you get are not detracting or lumpy. Here a short video that might make it easier https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_44jQ-wwrk
Ah. that makes sense. Good way to do it and without getting a huge knot as well.
Nice work! In sorting my stash recently, I discovered a long ago purchase: a tool for making rag rugs! So it was fun to see your finished product!
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