The Rug.. Final Product

I am so pleased with how this turned out.  It took me about 7 hours to complete the weaving.

Now to finish the hem and the fringe and it's complete!

Be Bold in your Designs.

peace&love

Rebecca

The Rug.. Beaming the Warp.. Starting the Weave

Beaming the warp.

Love seeing the pattern roll by.

And the weaving begins.  

As stated earlier.. this rug is warp faced.  Warp faced is where the warp yarns doubled, so there is twice the amount of warp to weft.  Since I had such an intricate dye pattern on the warp, that was the only thing I wanted to show.

A plain weave was all I needed to show off this beautiful chevron Ikat pattern.  

Ikat occurs when there is a pattern on the warp yarns and when they are wound up, the warp yarns shift slightly.  A unique, random, beautiful pattern occurs right before your eyes.

Stay tuned for the completion of the rug.. hopefully later this week!

Be Bold in your Designs.

peace&love

Rebecca

The Rug.. A Touch of Blue

With the final color added, the yarns are ready for the loom.

So close.. It's the start of the end.  All the measurements, calculation and preparations have paid off.  I will pick up speed on Wednesday and in no time the rug will be complete.

peace&love

Rebecca

The Rug.. Chevron Dyeing

Yesterday I dyed the warp yarns.  All my preparations paid off and everything went very smoothly, but since I had about 5 dye lots, it still took a good 6 hours.  Here is the process.

I started off with 3 dyes.. taupe, old ivory and dark gray.  When I ordered these dyes they did not have color samples so I just hoped for the best.

The recipe called for white vinegar to act as a mordant, what attaches the dye to the yarn.

For the dye to work best, the dye needed to be simmering.  I used this large aluminum, old camping pot (worked great).

After choosing and tying off each section that needed to be dyed, I dipped each end in the simmering dye.  

It only stayed in for a couple of minutes.  I could see the yarns soaking up the dye.

The first batch.  The last yarns added to the dye bath ended up lighter since the earlier yarns had soaked up all the dye.

The first dye lot.. taupe, all laid out.. everything is going to plan.

Re tying for the the next color.

The second color is a less concentrated taupe.

Re tying for the third color.

Third color, Old Ivory.. all laid out.

I had one more color, a dark grey, that tied everything together.  Stay tuned for the start of the weaving process.

Be Bold in your Designs.

peace&love

Rebecca

The Rug.. Pre Dye Preparations

Organization and preparation is key in weaving.  It took a lot of planning ahead of time so that when I start dyeing, everything will go smoothly.  Here is how I prepare myself for the dyeing process.

Measure and tie off all the yarns.

Stretch out all the yarns.

Each bundle represents an inch (15 epi).  This will be a warp faced rug.

Now I can tie off the pattern to prepare myself for dyeing.  I have color coded the sections so I know which dye goes where.  I will be making a chevron pattern that will be done in an ikat manner. (Ikat will be further discussed later on in the weaving process.)

I numbered each grouping of yarns so after dyeing I can put them back in the appropriate order and it will be all ready for the loom.

Now I'm ready for dyeing!

peace&love

Rebecca

The Card of the Weaving

Card weaving is a simple and fun form of weaving that allows you to weave anytime, anywhere.  It's an early form of weaving that has been practiced for hundreds of years.  I love it for the fact that since I don't have a loom, yet, I can get my weaving fix when I'm not in class.

First I planned out my pattern.  There are four rows, A, B, C, and D and the columns relate to how many cards you use.  I then counted, measured and cut the yarns.

Here are the cards and the shuttle, each yarn need to go through each hole.

Reading the pattern I know which color yarn goes in which hole.  Repeat until all cards and yarns are used.  

Too many yarns.. I like to use a comb to untangle all the yarns.

Stay tuned for the next step.. weaving.

Be Bold in your Designs.

peace&love

Rebecca

Placemats

The final placemats, all rolled out..

Cut into pieces..

Very happy with how these placemats turned out.  I can't wait to play around with new patterns and colors.

Be Bold in your Designs.

peace&love

Rebecca

Weaving.. The Rug

And it begins again..

For my next project I am going bigger.  I will be creating an ikat wool rug.  I will be hand dying the wool yarns by hand in an ikat pattern.  To start off I've calculated all the warp yarns I need and now to measure and cut.  Stay tuned for the dyeing of the warp and then the fun part.. weaving. 

Be bold in your Designs.

peace&love

Rebecca

Cochineal.. the dyed yarn

After a lot of rinsing, washing and laying out to dry for days, here is the final result of the natural cochineal dye.  The wool and cotton fibers took the dye differently but they both make for some beautiful light rustic red colors.

 The wool yarns.

 The cotton yarn.

Now to decide what to make with this yarn beautiful yarn.  

Lets see if I remember how to knit!

Be Bold in your Designs

peace&love

Rebecca

Placemat Production.. the Hem

When weaving placemats, all the placemats are woven on the same warp threads.  So no need to set up the loom for each mat.  To separate the mats, when you have reached the appropriate length, do a couple of tabby weaves then hem the edge.  It's easier to hem when the mats are still on the loom because of the tension.

Then weave in some spacers, the same thin strips of fabric I used when first starting weaving.  This spaces out each mat.  This would also act as the tassels when removed from the loom.  My placemat will not have tassels so the spacing is small.  I then start the next mat, hemming the first edge after a few rows are completed.

A look through to see the completed mat beneath.

The production line.. very productive.  

Once I get in the groove, my tempo picks up and the mats roll out.  My goal is to maximize my efficiency.

Be Bold in your Designs

peace&love

Rebecca