A Week in Rugs

I’ve been busy, busy, busy making a variety of rag rugs and a weaving over the past week. I thought I’d just post some photos of my creations.

 

Weaving the Woven - WIP

I have been busy working on a hand woven wall hanging using purely recycled fabrics hence the name weaving the woven. This is a home made frame loom which is really easy and quick to make. I will post more photographs as soon as the hanging is complete.

Circular Crochet Rag Rug – Instructions

Circular Crochet Rag Rug Tutorial

This pattern is for a circular rag rug to illustrate the process of crocheting a rag rug in the round. Once you understand this concept you can then choose a variety of patterns to work with - ovals, squares, rectangles or even a hexagon.
A rag rug crochets up fairly quickly but the time consuming aspect is in the preparation. You will need to gather a variety of fabrics to cut and turn into your yarn. Think about the properties of any particular fabric you choose - is it stretchy, flexible, coarse, closely woven. Is it likely to fray? Although most fabrics do initially shed some fibres some materials are worse than others.
You will need a fairly large hook I always use 10mm but anything between 10mm and 15mm would be suitable. I find a 15mm hook a tad unwieldy in the hand.
Your next job is going to be to cut the yarn into strips with as few joins as possible. To avoid too many knots cut in a zigzag style from side to side or cut from out edge in a spiral manner to the centre. The fabric should be approximately 2cms wide or 1”. This measurement is not cast in stone and there will be slight variations in the width which is a natural property of any handmade crocheted rag rug. Roll the yarn into balls. It is difficult to estimate the amount of fabric required but I always find it is more than you might initially anticipate. If you prepare approx 5 different colours/patterns to begin with you should then be able to estimate how much more is required to complete the project.
If you are not used to using your hands intensively you may end up with aching hands during the cutting up stage - I think in my eagerness I even ended up with a blister or two. It is worth preparing the yarn in advance as it can become frustrating to have to stop crocheting to do more cutting up. It will also take a while to get used to working with such a large hook and fabric as it it is a very different experience to crocheting with yarn.
As you become more familiar with the process you will learn to assess which fabrics work best for you and your design. You will also learn when you need to make additional increases etc to stop the rug curling. The structure of a crocheted rag rug is synergistic each separate stitch is dependant upon all other stitches and the properties of the fabrics used.
1. Chain 3
 
2. Join the ring with a sl st, ch 1 and then sc x 5 into the ring, join the circle with a sl st.

3. ch 1, (It may be useful at this stage to start marking the beginning of your round with a safety pin). sc x2 into each st,then join with a sl st.
4. ch 1, *sc twice into next st, sc 1 in next st* ** rep to end, join with sl st.

5. ch 1, *sc twice into next st, sc 1 in next st* ** rep to end, join with sl st.

6. Now begin working in the round (no more ch at beg of row and no more sl st) *sc twice into next st, sc 1 in next st* ** rep to end.
7. Continue to use pin to mark your rounds. 1 sc into each st. 

8. 1 sc into next 3 st, sc x2 into next st and every 4th st to end of round.
 
9. 1 sc into next 4 st, sc x2 into next st and every 5th st to end of round.

10. Complete 1 round 1 sc in each st to end.
11. sc x 2 into 1 st, sc for next 3 st, sc next st and every 4th st to end of round.
12. Complete 1 round 1 sc in each st to end.
13. sc x 2 into 1 st, sc for next 3 st, sc next st and every 4th st to end of round.
14. Complete 1 round 1 sc in each st to end.
Continue with these rounds (13 & 14) until work measures required diameter.
At this point my rug measures 19” diameter.

You can keep going here for as long as you like – but be warned they can become difficult to work with after a 4-5ft diameter.
Here is one of my earlier rugs and this reached approx 6ft.
Note: If your rug begins to wrinkle you are increasing too often – reduce amount of increase for 1 round.
If your rug begins to curl upwards, like a bowl you are not increasing enough. 
Happy Rug Making.

Thing-a-day Day 19 – Vintage Sewing Chest Roses Decoupage

 
Not fibre but I thought I should post this anyway!
A long time ago I acquired this wonderful vintage sewing and crafts treasure chest. It came complete with all contents lots of lovely vintage trinkets and boxes. A plethora of vintage buttons, zips, threads, needles etc and a full manicure set. Anyway long story short I think it looked hideous.
Thing-a-day gave me the impetus to make it somehow pretty and I hope that I’ve achieved that. I prepared the chest by washing it all down. Then I applied some ivory satinwood paint mixed with crimson water colour to give it a pink tinge. I then enlisted the mister to cut out many many roses from the english rose wrapping paper I had.
The chest required two coats of satinwoood. I then applied PVA glue and my roses, waited for it to dry and then varnished it with floor varnish voila job done. I think it is much prettier than it’s previous dark brown drab.
 

Exploring Fibre With Innovation 2010

Just a quick blog to let you know that I have been awarded funding from the Scottish Arts Council in partnership with Fife Council to undertake the above project in the new year.
I will of course share my project, research and findings with you all and hopefully provide some innovative findings which may be inspirational to some of you.
This project will allow me to research new ways of producing work. By researching the different types of fibres available and their inherent properties it will allow my creativity to expand in new directions.
The relationship between fibre and the final object or outcome is an interdependent relationship and I would welcome exploring and documenting these relationships in terms of construction, aesthetic appeal, sustainability and functionality.



Scottish Arts Council
Fife Contemporary Arts & Crafts

The ‘howies’ Project – detail #5

 

The ‘howies’ Project – detail #4