Rag Rug Weaving Tips

I was reading a weaving friend's blog today, and she was having some trouble with weaving her rag rug.  I thought I could put a few tips on here, that I have learned from other weavers.

I just started weaving a rag rug yesterday, so I will use it as an example.

First of all, my usual rag rugs are warped with rug warp or a similar weight sturdy yarn.  They are spaced  12 epi in a 12 dent reed and threaded 1-2-3-4 or 4-3-2-1.  (click a photo to enlarge)

Each warp yarn gets its own heddle.  As you can see in the above photo, the warp is threaded 4-3-2-1 until the last 4 threads.  Instead of threading them 4-3-2-1, I thread them 4-4-3-3.  You will see why in a minute.

The last 4 warp threads are threaded 2 per dent through the last 2 dents in the reed for a sturdy selvedge.

 Weaving for a hem can cause some problems, because the yarn used for the hem is so much thinner than the rags used for the body of the rug.  There are a couple things that can be done to minimize the draw-in that can happen.  If I'm using rug warp for my hem, I will double it.  I quite often use a thicker yarn, such as Sugar and Cream yarn used to knit dishrags, and I usually use a single strand of that size yarn.  I weave my hems with a standard tabby (harnesses 1 - 3 alternating with harnesses 2 - 4).

As shown in the above photo, I use my paperclip temple, which I have described in an earlier post.  Anchor the hem weft and angle in the shed.  Change sheds but don't beat yet.

(Sorry, this weft is angled in the other direction, but you get the idea)

With the shed changed, pull the weft into an arch, down to the opposite fell line and beat.  Do this for each pick of your hem.  It creates a bit of flex in the hem that doesn't happen with an angled weft.  A bit of practice will help you decide how big of an arch you need.

I use different treadles from the tabby hems to weave the rags.

I raise harness 1-2 together, and 3-4 together.  That gives me doubled warp threads sett at 6 epi.

I think it helps make a sturdier rug.

Here is the start of my latest rag rug that I'm weaving from a knit I found in my stash.  I showed the fabric in my previous post.  This fabric is the thickness of that icky old polyester double knit everyone sewed with years and years ago.  I cut the strips 1 1/4" wide and it was just right.

I sew my strips together with the following method:

Place two strips at right angles, right sides together.  For illustration purposes, I have marked my stitching line.  I don't really mark my strips.  That's what eyeballing is for!

Stitch from the top corner to the corner of the underneath strip.  I like to backstitch a couple stitches at each end of the seam, but a small stitch length without the backstitch would also work.  Add another strip to the end of the second strip and continue sewing ends together without cutting the threads.  To avoid tangling your strips, wait to cut the threads until you are ready to wind them on your shuttle.  When winding onto the shuttle, trim the seam allowance to 1/4", removing a small triangle. If I am folding my strips so only one side shows, I finger press the seam open to reduce bulk in one spot.  If I'm not folding my strips, I don't do anything to the seam except trim it to 1/4".

Thick hems can be hard on sewing machines if proper technique isn't used.  I will show my method of sewing hems on a home sewing machine in a future post, so stay tuned!