Productive Evening

After coming home from work today, I headed out to the studio and got quite a bit accomplished.  The rug I started on Fanny is now finished and ready for the next one.  And I cleaned up all my trimmed bits and pieces and fabric strips that were littering the floor.

I sat down in my rocker to give my back a rest and worked on a few draw-downs for my next rug on my Weaver's Delight.  I decided to try one of the other cam  set-ups, but wasn't sure which one I wanted to use, so I drew out the Kersey twill, the Birdseye and the Union weave structures.  With the stripes, I thought I would like the Kersey twill the best.

After settling that, I had a big chore to tackle.  While weaving my last rug on the WD, I had one cam that was hanging up and wouldn't rotate, so every fourth pick, I was having to poke at the cam to make it move.  I thought if I took the cams off and back on in a different order that it might help.  After putting on 8, 7, 9, and 10 and readjusting the key that holds them in place, I was still having the same problem.  Then I fiddled around with the cast iron part "A", scooting it a bit closer to "B".  I found a pretty loose bolt at the bottom of "B" and tightened that.  Hurrah!!  It finally worked as it should!

Once I knew that it was going to work correctly, I straightened out my warp threads and tied them back on the front rod.  I had a canister half full of heavy yarn that I used to spread the warp and get the temple adjusted.  The fly shuttle is working fine, so now it is all ready to go.  I just have to get some fabric strips cut.

This is a close-up of the Kersey twill weave structure.  The loom is threaded 1-2-3-4, with alternating navy and tan, and the rust threads are doubled to make them stand out a bit better.  They are threaded 12 ends per inch.  The color order reverses in each navy/tan stripe.

I may have to have a couple grandsons over soon to help me make a rug!

I removed two rugs off the looms today.  One was on Fanny, and the other on the Weaver's Delight.  Both were woven with the same fabrics.  I started cleaning out the old fabric stash, and found some polyester double-knit, that I already had cut into strips.  The rug on the left was woven first, on Fanny.  I had leftover strips after completing the first one, so evaluated how many strips I had left, and started designing the next rug.

The rug at right was woven on the Weaver's Delight.  I decided not to unweave and fix the two sleying errors.  I like how different the rugs can be with different colored warp and weave structure.  The above rug was threaded in a twill, and the one on the right was plain weave, threaded in a log cabin rug pattern.  I doubled the warp threads in the rust colored stripes, but the rest are threaded 12 epi.

I prepare for hemming my rugs in a couple different ways.  When I finished weaving the rug on Fanny, I spread some Tacky Glue on the last 2-3 rows of weft, and let it dry.  If you click on the photo, you can probably see it.  After the glue is dry, I can cut the rug off without worrying about it unraveling.  If I am going to immediately start weaving the next rug, I wouldn't use the glue, and would just weave a few extra rows of hem, to allow for unraveling.

I did that with the other rug, and then ran it through the serger to secure the last 2-3 weft rows.

I don't worry about the little bit of glue that gets folded into the hem.  It is water soluble, so will eventually wash out.

I fold the second part of the hem so it partially covers the first fabric pick.

I don't use sewing pins.  I have been poked too many times, so I switched to clothes pins.  Avoid buying them from the dollar store, because the spring isn't strong enough.  I found mine in my local grocery store.

Five clothes pins on each hem is plenty.  I start my hem by closing up the end, turn and stitch the hem, then close the other end.  It helps to stretch the hem while stitching.  I don't use a home machine for the hems, because I own an industrial upholstery machine.  If you have to use a home sewing machine, follow my tips to avoid breaking needles while sewing heavy fabric.  It was published on my blog on 10-20-11.

I took a little time last night and this morning to fix the sleying errors, using one of my current favorite tools.  It is a slick little sleying hook that I picked up this past spring while on my trip to go get my Weaver's Delight loom.  The blade is super thin, but strong.  I have caught myself with the hook a few times, when I wasn't being careful, and it can draw blood!

The reed hook is available from The Woolgatherers, in Wisconsin.  I'm glad that Sara, the owner, suggested it.