Detour (recent rug making hobby)

 Wisdom gained: Slow down, check twice!

After the dress form drama (see previous post), I won't be posting a completed dress form project this week as I had hoped... thanks to all the kind people at pattern review for weighing in on my disaster. I have to think about whether to unstitch and resew, or do as many suggest start again, using a plainer fabric.

First twined rug - denim

In the meantime, I have committed to a post every Tuesday, and in case Sunday night's desperate post doesn't count I thought I would post about my rugs. 

What does one do with one's leftover scraps? Not all can be quilts (though I have done that too). I came across a youtube channel called DIY on the house in the summer of 2020, when I was looking for a way to stop my cardboard loom rugs from becoming hourglass shaped. 

I learned her technique for making a loom, and have had the joy of turning piles of scraps into a total of five rugs now! I have two more planned, one for beside the bed, and one for under my sewing machine chair.

Here is the site for making the loom, you will find links to instructions for weaving the rugs there, too. Check them out to get tips on the rugs. Kara is so kind; even when people are a bit snide (or superior), she is so generous with her thanks for teaching her something new.  Kara's solution to the edge problem (NOT for cardboard looms, incidentally) is to have a metal dowel or rod down each edge, around which you wrap the weft each row. I had also been just doing a plain up and down weave, but this is called twining, and it hides the warp completely. It is like braiding around the warp

the loom with the string warp

My first iteration was the denim rug. I decided to use cotton string for the warp, since the denim was so heavy.

The plan was to bring it to school to put my winter boots on, but when we got back to school after the first wave of the pandemic we had to set things up differently, so the rug has stayed just inside our patio-door.

close up of the rug in progress

Second iteration (I don't have a full photo of it) was a housewarming gift for Montreal daughter. I chose scraps of my finer fabrics, for a finer rug.

 

balls of fabric

Many of these are silks, and it did indeed make a fine rug!

Compare the warp showing below the woven part - and you can't see it at all in the woven part - it is so cool to watch it come together!

This summer I decided (as summer birthday gifts for the nieces) to use up the abundant leftover flannelette from last Christmas' 'work-at-home pants' Christmas presents that I had made for the younger generation (two daughters and three nieces). To my surprise there was only enough for one rug, so I had to search elsewhere for materials. I used some knits, which created a bit of wonkiness in the shaping. (If you use knit, don't pull it tight!) I used worn out Roots sweatpants, merino wool long underwear (also worn), t-shirts, and other odds and ends from my scrap-stash (too big to throw away, too small to do something with!).

Rug from leftover PJ fabric

The PJ leftover fabric rug lived under my sewing machine chair for a while; it fits perfectly, and I could slide in and out easily! So I need to make one to replace it, now that I have washed it and given it away!