Hi, I'm a new weaver and need some help with patterns. I am learning to weave from a old " Warp and Weave" book, and from online.

I have a 4 harness loom, threaded 4321 the tie up is1-3,1-2,2-3,3-4,1-4,2-4.

The first few rugs went well. I was just  using treadles 1 and 6 for a plain tabby weave.

Now I want to try some different patterns.My book said I could do many patterns on this same conventional tie up

but when I try them I have long floating threads and just doesnt seem to be good for rugs.

Any help would be appriciated.

Also whats a good beginner rug book with lots of patterns ?

 

 

Comments

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 01:13

laurafry

You should not have long floats using the threading and tie up as given. You have described a standard 2:2 twill so floats should be two threads only. Can you post a photo so we can see what exactly is happening? Cheers Laura
Fri, 01/10/2014 - 02:22

BrendaBoo

I already unweaved what I had done.

The one pattern I tried was a saw dent twill, it worked fine in the rug header but when I used the material I got the long threads. The same for the vertical herringbone pattern.

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 06:21

laurafry

Without seeing what was happening it is hard to diagnose the problem. If you are using really thick material the warp will have to travel over and under the thick picks. Perhaps the problem is fabric strips that should be cut narrower? Just speculating.... Cheers Laura
Fri, 01/10/2014 - 15:35

BrendaBoo

Thanks for your comment I'll keep that in mind.

Can anyone suggest any good patterns for rugs or books on making rugs ?

Thanks

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 16:23

tommye scanlin

One of my questions is about your warp and the sett.  How many ends per inch are you using?  For plain weave, since every-other thread is either up or down, the density of the cloth will be greater.  When you're weaving with the twill combinations (1-2, etc.) then there are going to be longer spaces that the weft will travel over -- two warps, side by side, will be up or down as you progress through the treadles.  The float of weft will be longer if the warp sett is wider.

Are you weaving with fabric strips?  Laura mentions that the strips might need to be cut thinner to pack down better.

About books--the Rag Rug Handbook is quite good for info about rag rugs.  There's another book called Rug Weavers' Source Book that has information about several rug techniques, including rag weaving, rya, and weft-faced weaves like pick and pick.  For the most complete information about rug weaving there's Peter Collingwood's Techniques of Rug Weaving.  It's available online at the On-Line Digital Archive of Documents on Weaving and Related Topics.  

Good luck with your rug weaving!

Tommye