THREE STRIPES – Rag rug

 

A rug with three different colour blocks side by side

Weave all the colours into to the rug following the style of Kirsi’s rag rug or use only one colour but different shades of it, as in this Shades of blue rug .

It is easy to get rid of all carpet rag leftovers, including the shortest t-shirt yarns and tube yarns. And if there will be some of the warp left at the end, you can weave a soft rug with miscellaneous yarns. Combine knitting and crochet yarns into one thick weft yarn. In this warp you can recycle all kind of yarns and materials!

WEAVING INSTRUCTIONS

There are three different colour sections side by side on the rug surface, and it is woven with three shuttles: The weft thrown with shuttle 1 comes up in one section of the rug surface, the weft thrown with shuttle 2 on the second section and the weft shot with shuttle 3 on the third section of the rug surface. Throw the shuttles from opposing sides, the directions of the shuttling are in the treadling instructions. 3 shots of the weft increase the fabric as one weft row. On the opposite side the wefts interlace, and colours mix.

With this tie-up the weft thrown in the shed with the first pattern treadle on left comes up on the surface of the rug on the right edge, the weft thrown with the second treadle comes up in the middle of the rug and the weft thrown with the third treadle comes up on the left edge of the rug.

Insert the weft at an angle large enough and draw the weft into curves. The weave is inflexible, and it may cause troubles if the width of the cloth is reduced too much. If necessary, test if it is possible to adjust the length of the temple slightly narrower. Be careful, making the width of the cloth too narrow may cause broken warp ends near the fell of the cloth and damage to the reed.

NB The rug ends unravel easily if not supported! Weave few centimetres with an extra weft to support at both ends of the rug. Weave the intervals between the rugs (left for fringes) using warp sticks or heavy carboard strips.

The rug is woven with three shuttles. Each of the three adjacent pattern sections have an own shuttle, of which weft shows up in its own section but dives underneath and interlace there with other wefts of two pattern sections.

Weft colours are mixed in pattern section on the reverse side of the rug. Shuttles are thrown alternately from contrary sides same way as in the ordinary Finnish rag rugs. The shed is opened by pressing two treadles at the same time.

Kirsi’s rag rug

Finished size 78 x 186 cm

Weaving instructions

Leave around 15 cm of the warp for the fringe on the both ends. Start and finish the rug with an extra weft to support the ends. Weave the rug with rag strips and double mop yarn. Cut the cotton sheet fabric into strips width of 2 cm. Throw three different colours in a row according to the treadling order. Weave 6 cm with same three colours = 12 times 3 rows of three wefts.

Change the colours always at the end of the repeat (finish the wefts during the three last rows of the repeat and start the new wefts in new colours during the three first picks of the repeat). The throwing directions remain in the right order and the edge builds up neatly.

Weave some colour sections twice as high as normally to break regularity. Use double mop yarn here and there for the entire length of the rug.
The wefts were in shades of blue, turquoise, red and lilac in this rug.

The density of weave was approximately 6 picks/1 cm.
The woven length of the rug was 196 cm.

Finishing

As you tie the knots, undo the extra weft. Tie the warp threads 2 + 2 with tight square knot or weaver´s knot. Finish all the threads of the end. Make another row of knots approx. 2 cm away with overhand knots: Take half of the knot threads (2 threads), skip one knot and take half (2 threads) of the threads if the next knot and connect them with a overhand knot. Cross all the threads in the same way. Cut the fringe to an even length. See more instructions on page 29.

Amount of weft yarn needed

Rug strips from cotton fabrics,
width of one strip is 20 mm.
Reds / lilacs 735 g, greens, turquoises 855 g and
blues 750 g.
2,34 kg in total.

Minimop Cotton Twine
1 kg = n. 700 m, Ø 2,5 mm, Lankava
76 blue 325 g, 59 mint 375 g ja 53 reddish beige 330 g
1,03 kg in total.

The cotton sheet fabrics can be cut quickly with the help of a rotary cutter and ruler. The fabric is ironed, folded and cut into strips, except the turn point at the top. After the cutting, open and cut every other strip apart with scissors. Wind the weft in balls and weave.