Thursday, September 22, 2011

Some of my weaving

Since I have been discussing my weaving, I thought I would share a few pictures of some rugs I have made in the last couple years.  I like to use different types of fabric as you will see.
This is my little table top loom that I learned on.  I had it set up in my book store for a year or so.

This rug was made from some favorite old cotton sweaters that I wore for years, I had 3 just alike, but different colors, peach, cream, and pale green.  I love the texture of the sweaters.  Easy to do by cutting them in strips vertically, I sew strips together randomly to make a ball then weave from that.  So there is no pattern to it. I added a couple of 3 inch strips of cream selvage material to add a different texture.

This one became a favorite that I can't part with either.  It is made from sweaters also in bright green and black with some lighter colors thrown in.  My method of choosing colors is to look at all the "stuff" I have cut in strips and look for colors that I think go well together then sit at the sewing machine with strips laid across my legs and pick up strips randomly and sew together.  (very scientific huh?)

The runners in front are made from old denim strips.  They are messy to work up but I love the denim.  My FAVS.  You start at the bottom of the pant leg and make cuts about 1/2 in from each other or a smidgen less for this little loom. Then start ripping to the waist band.  When there is a pile I start pulling off the excess strings.  It is best to do this outside!  I have a favorite denim rug that I made from a pair of my Dad's old bib overhauls that I had stored in a trunk for many years. So now it is used as a rug to drape over my old trunk.
In the basket you can see some fatter rugs that are made from selvage that I purchased in a 65# box.  It will come in assorted colors and does weave thicker rugs and as a friend mentioned that they might look like the old shag rugs, well sorta, kinda.  Actually not quite that stringy.  Some of the selvage is softer and finer.  It is fun to try to match up some of the colors.  These were a mossy green and cream.   The shorter ones in front were just made from curtains with a blue warp.
So the imagination makes options unlimited.
So my next stage is to work with this older floor loom that I acquired recently.  I will add some pictures and document my progress with it as I go.


1 comment:

  1. Very cool post! And all of these from a "TABLE LOOM"!
    I think it is great that you can have the book shop and also have the loom in it to work on when time allows. Will you set up your new floor loom at the shop or at your home?

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