Betsy's Rag Rugs

Betsy is off to Music Camp in Mendocino this week.  She has been very busy weaving rag rugs to take with her, hoping for a few side sales from people attending the music camp.  Betsy uses a rosepath threading and treadling in her rugs and I believe they are all woven on four shafts.  These rugs just eat up the cloth strips that Betsy cuts.  A great recycling idea for old clothing or sheets, but I think that Betsy may have used yardage for these rugs.

 

The rosepath pattern shows up clearly on this brilliant rug. A nice choice to dress up the music camp cabin or a bright spot to welcome guests to your tent.

 

 

 

 

Handwoven Table Cloth and More

 Sue Habegger has been working on this table cloth for several months.  She did a lot of careful calculations before she started the project and decided to weave it in three panels.  The colored stripes were warped using a warping paddle and there are several different yarns in the white stripes, giving it a wonderful texture.

The photo above is shown with the end piece of the table cloth folded back on itself.  The stripe (running from the bottom to top of photo) was cut from some of the yardage and sewed to the end.  The idea is that the table cloth can be used at its full length, or for a shorter table, the ends can be folded back as shown in the photo.


The pottery plate shown with the table cloth was responsible for the color scheme.  Sue says that the plates aren't exactly the same, but all have similar colors in their glazes.

 Sue did an almost invisible join when she assembled the three panels.  You can see the white stitching in the bottom photo which blends in so perfectly with the rest of the piece that you don't realize that the table cloth is in panels.  Talk about a stash busting project.

Sue also brought placemats that she had woven for her daughter and son-in-law.  Her daughter has a set of Fiesta ware and picked the color scheme she wanted for the place mats.  Sue sett them at 32 epi and used mop yarn for the weft.  She had two different sets; some woven with white cotton mop yarn and some woven with a rayon gold mop yarn.   I believe Sue said she put a cross at each end of a long warp, and then cut the warp in half and set the stripes side by side. 

 
 When Sue was selling her work, she used a technique in which she wove placemats on a dense warp (in this case 32epi) and then wove napkins in two layers on the same warp.  Want to try it?  Here is link to a PDF file about weaving double weave on four shafts.  Go to page 4 in the file for the written instructions and diagrams showing what is happening.  The draft for the separate layers is below.    Note that you are depressing two treadles on every other pick and using two shuttles. Also  double weave drafts never look like the cloth that they are weaving. The placemats are just woven in plain weave.