High Point Market.. part two.. everything rugs

On day two we found ourselves in a sea of fabulous rugs.  I was amazed with the huge variety of color, pattern and texture.  All these fibers got me excited to start designing my own textiles and rugs.

Our first stop, and my favorite, was Chandra.  It is handcrafted and hand knotted in India. 100 % New Zealand wool. The quality was amazing and luxurious, at a reasonable price.

We saw a lot of shag rugs, some 100% wool, some 100% polyester, all very groovy.

Jaipur was our next stop.  They had a huge selection with beautiful patterns and colors.

Surya blew us away with their inventory. Anything you imagined, they had.  From hand woven wool rugs to hand knotted oriental to recycled tshirts there was something new to see around every corner.

More to come. Be inspired. Be bold. 

peace&love

Rebecca

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.. 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

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