Having made a few woven rag rugs, I knew Beam’s smooth and strong nature would be excellent for a rag rug, but I wondered about Duet, because it has a looser twist. I made three small samples on two different warps.įor my first sample, I used Beam and Duet in my warp. Rag rugs can be finished just like any other hand woven textile: twist the fringe, fold over and sew a hem, or plain tied knots.Ĭan you use Gist yarns to make rag rugs? The answer is yes! For this article I tried out three yarns: Beam, Duet, and Mallo. When it comes to joining two lengths of rag weft together, there are a few ways to do it-I prefer to cut my ends on a diagonal and overlap them manually in my shed, but other weavers prefer sewing them together. I use strips between 3/4-1” wide, but one of my favorite rugs has fabric strips closer to 1/2”. The width of the fabric strips are up to you and will have an effect on the scale of your rug. While I prefer using woven fabric to create rag rugs, you can also use knits too. My favorite place to get fabric to repurpose into rugs is at thrift stores, where an incredible amount and selection of prints and patterns can be found in the bed sheet aisle.
This element of recycling is what really excites me about weaving rag rugs. Cut or torn into strips, this cloth was then repurposed to live on a little longer as thick rugs, bedcovers, clothing, and other home goods.
As the name suggests, they were likely once made using rags-cloth that had already been woven, worn, and used past its best. Rag rug wefts are strips of already woven cloth. While a plain white cotton warp is the classic choice, a rag rug warp is an opportunity to have fun with color! Use your warp to empty bobbins, mix textures, and add stripes. For this reason, most weaving books recommend using a temple when you weave a rag rug (though you can, of course, weave without one too!). Rag rugs are usually beat very firmly so that the fabric strips are tightly packed in, and a firm beat often translates into extra strain selvedges, especially those that are thin or loosely spun. In all of the old rag rugs I’ve seen, the warp is always the part that fails first, so choosing something strong will help your finished rug stand the test of time. The warp needs to be able to travel around the thick rag weft and withstand the rigors of increased tension, weaving and beating. The key to weaving rag rugs is a strong and sturdy warp thread. The Viken Trivets use yarn, instead of rags, as the weft, but could quite easily be made using thin rag strips too. This isn’t always the case, however-the Viken Trivets are an excellent example of repp weaving, where the warp is sett very densely to completely cover the weft. This means you see more weft than you do warp.
But you don’t have to stick to plain weave-many of the prettiest rag rugs I’ve seen use twills or other structures to create pattern or texture.īecause the size difference between the warp and weft is not even (the rags being the thicker of the two), rag rugs are generally woven with a more open sett. At their most basic, a rag rug is woven in plain weave, making them easy to try on your rigid heddle loom. Rag rugs are comprised of two different parts: a yarn warp, and a rag weft. Not just a scrappy leftover, rag rugs can be practical everyday textiles or incredible works of art-and are a great way to use up yarns like Mallo and Beam in your stash. Now that I weave, I understand how that long-ago rug was made-and can create the magic for myself on the loom. When I was a kid my Oma had a rag rug in front of her kitchen sink and I remember the pleasure of looking down and wondering how all those colors and textures had been put together.
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