This next month I will be set up at a Tractor Show March 18. The tractor show will be in Sublette Illinois. There web site is http://www.subletteweb.com/ The way it looks to me there will be things all over town going on. The starved rock bus will be trasporting people from one place to another. There is a tractor show, toy show, craft show, doll show and more. There will be no kiddy tractor pull and No horse pulls. I already asked for my special people in my life. Oh another thing the 4H will be serving lunch somewhere.
I will be demonstraiting there with the other crafters. The hours are 9:AM to 2:PM.
I will also be set up at Countryside Banquet Hall in Washinton, Illinois. This is a craft show, antique and vendor fair. I will not be demontraiting at this one. The date for this one is March 24, 2012. The hours are 9:Am- 2:Pm. There is a raffle to benefit the Relay For Life team: "Gary's Gang" Gary Wilson from East Peoria lost his life to Lung Cancer on March 18, 2009. I think this is there 2nd year.
I Dont think I have any shows in April If I do I will post them too.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Friday, February 3, 2012
A little bit of February
I'm focused on RED and Black Warp. I have been cutting rags in the morning, weaving in between, and sewing at night. Macy and I have been watching Little House on the Prairie episodes at night. Here is some of my red and black warped rugs. I will have allot more to come this month too.
These two rugs were made out of table clothes. The funny thing is the tan one use to be my tablecloth for craft shows.
These two were blankets that I recycled into rag rugs. Let me tell you the blue blanket has seen its fair share of use. The other one my mother-in-law picked up at a garage sale.
This month I have no tractor shows or craft shows. I will list them the 1st of the month. I no some are in March, June, July, September and yes October. We will not be having our big Halloween party this year if you come. Well I'm telling you now so you don't decide on costumes. We decided between fainting goats, horses, and shows. We are very busy and I just want to take a year off too.
These are all made out of denim.
The one (top left) is made out of patterned denim
Then the (top right) is has a little red flannel
The bottom one is just dark denim
This poor little guy is only 16" long
but people like this size for there shoes, or pet dishes
Friday, January 27, 2012
Things I have made in January
Some new things I have made for the month of January. The loom is now loaded with natural, red and black warp. LOOKING SHARP. Love the denim cant wait to post some of them next.
They are left over balls from my coaster/doll house rugs. That I mixed together.
All of my tablerunners and placemats are 12" wide.
Some new things I have made for the month of January. The loom is now loaded with natural, red and black warp. LOOKING SHARP. Love the denim cant wait to post some of them next.
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| one is 17" and the other one is 22" |
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| These are a set of 4 placemats |
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| A variety of different tablerunners Ok I have no clue why my photo is so big mmmmm. I guess enjoy the big pic and check out my work closer. LOL |
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| This is a set of 5 placemats |
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Price on Rugs
On my Letter in the mail post. I called the the lady in Washington, IL
I was asked the question "What do I charge an inch?" I told her "if you cut the rags and sew them together I charge .25 an inch. I wont tye the knots on the end you have to do that yourself.
She asked "How much do you charge if I bring you the rags and you do all the work?" I said " .55 an Inch"
Then she said "I have a rug weaver if I need one I will call." I think she just wanted to no what I charged and I get that question alot. She said "She will write me down in her book" I told her "Thank You"
My rugs at shows are .55 an inch for rugs A rug that is 36" long is $19.75
Tablerunners and placemats are .30 an inch so a placemat that is 18" long comes out to 5.50 (I no I add .10 to it I did my math same on the rug I took of .5)
I was asked the question "What do I charge an inch?" I told her "if you cut the rags and sew them together I charge .25 an inch. I wont tye the knots on the end you have to do that yourself.
She asked "How much do you charge if I bring you the rags and you do all the work?" I said " .55 an Inch"
Then she said "I have a rug weaver if I need one I will call." I think she just wanted to no what I charged and I get that question alot. She said "She will write me down in her book" I told her "Thank You"
My rugs at shows are .55 an inch for rugs A rug that is 36" long is $19.75
Tablerunners and placemats are .30 an inch so a placemat that is 18" long comes out to 5.50 (I no I add .10 to it I did my math same on the rug I took of .5)
Letter in the Mail
On the phone one of my things I love to do. With my Aunt Jane we were working on my business cards. I said well I want my Address on them for applications for craft shows and tractor shows. She says well "someone could mail you a letter and want a rug or a certain request." I said to her "oh no one will mail me a letter like that they will call me on the phone." Well What did I get?
My husband Nick comes home with the mail and I'm waiting on a application for a tractor show. He hands me a letter from Washington, IL. I thought Darn it is not from Sublette, IL. So I open it. It was what my Aunt Jane said. The lady use husband use to be a rug weaver. He had to quit because of his health. She sold his loom but she has another one. She said "she wants to no if I plan on weaving for other people?" Well there is Aunt Jane's certain request. That I thought I would never get in the mail.
So I'm going to call her today.
My husband Nick comes home with the mail and I'm waiting on a application for a tractor show. He hands me a letter from Washington, IL. I thought Darn it is not from Sublette, IL. So I open it. It was what my Aunt Jane said. The lady use husband use to be a rug weaver. He had to quit because of his health. She sold his loom but she has another one. She said "she wants to no if I plan on weaving for other people?" Well there is Aunt Jane's certain request. That I thought I would never get in the mail.
So I'm going to call her today.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Make a Rag Ball
1st things 1st you need rags. I like to use old clothes, towels, socks, curtains (no rubber backing to them), old fabric, and ANYTHING ELSE I GET MY HAND ON. I love to take fabric and recycle them into Rag Rugs. My favorite fabric is polyester. I'm a Polyester NUT. The fabric don't fray and wont fade. They make nice rag rugs. Cotton sheets can sometimes be a mess. But I will do it. I don't like jeans I find them boring. Just a plain rug. I like color in my life. If you ever come see me at a craft show or tractor show I will be colorful.
OK lets get to business on making a rag ball and talk about fabric some other day.
My husband hands me his jeans and says "Here you can put this in a rug." So I gut them. As you can see in the pic below that the beside the pocket of the jeans is ripped. So they will be recycled into a rug instead of going to your local landfill. I always think oh all the clothes that get thrown away and fill the landfill up. I could just make into rugs.
I have cut out the pockets and I always just think oh How much am I getting from those pockets. Some people do gut out the pockets. They are a pain to take the pockets off. Lazyness out of me.
This is what goes into the rug. Then you have to get the cutter or cut them by hand I cut them around 3/4" wide. I use a cutter. I cut everything else by hand and rip the cotton sheets up. It all depends on how thick you want you rug to be. Cut a strip and twist the fabric if its pencil size. That is what I go off of. I usually cut polyester 1 1/2" wide, sheets around 2" to 2 1/2" wide and blankets depends on the thickness of the blanket.
This is more then you get from a pair of jeans
Next step is Sew all those strips. I usually have a 20 gallon plastic container full of denim.
There is allot of different ways to sew your strips. I will show the the other way I sew blankets later. I sew those differnt then this way.
Lay two strips out like this.
Over lap them about 1 1/2"
Then fold them in 1/2
Then start at the beging where the fabric is on top. Kind of see
Then I sew a U shape from both ends. Your 1 1/2" lap
This a pic of some of my rag balls
OK lets get to business on making a rag ball and talk about fabric some other day.
My husband hands me his jeans and says "Here you can put this in a rug." So I gut them. As you can see in the pic below that the beside the pocket of the jeans is ripped. So they will be recycled into a rug instead of going to your local landfill. I always think oh all the clothes that get thrown away and fill the landfill up. I could just make into rugs.
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| Cutting the seams out |
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| This goes to the landfill |
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| This is some denim strips |
Next step is Sew all those strips. I usually have a 20 gallon plastic container full of denim.
There is allot of different ways to sew your strips. I will show the the other way I sew blankets later. I sew those differnt then this way.
Over lap them about 1 1/2"
Then I just keep adding more denim and keep on sewing till you run out of rags. then at the end I will cut in between them and wrap them all up into a ball. Sometimes I will just stop and start making a ball then keep sewing on it. I like to make my balls big. Bigger ball more matching rugs.
This a pic of some of my rag balls
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Lets Load That Union 36 LOOM
Next Step is to wrap the warp on the warp beam of the loom.
You need to make sure you go the correct direction on the loom. The Union 36 is clockwise. One of my other looms is counter clockwise. SO you have to pay attention well you have to pay alot of attention when you load your loom. Because if you mess up in the process it is a mess. You are going to want to scream and cry. I haven't did that but I have freaked out and call the lady that has taught me everything I need to no about rug weaving. Bless her heart I have made my fair share of phone calls from the start of my weaving days. That is her line she always says. It take 5 hours to load your loom. 2 hours in putting warp on the warp beam. Then 3 hours tying all those square knots.
In my photos I'm loading the loom up for place mats and table runners. So you need 6 (2") sections that add up to 12". There is 24 threads per section. Take 24 threads X 6 sections = 144. WOW alot. Well then lets figure out how many pieces of thread is in a rug 24 threads X 14 SECTIONS = 336 WOW NOW THAT IS ALOT of warp. You get around 25 rugs putting warp on 100 time around each section. My Newcomb has a bigger warping beam so you can double that and your warp will double to in price. But on the bright side you don't have to load it as much.
OK lets add some warp on to that loom.
Make sure the Brake is away from the warp beam. You might have to Tye it to the beater. Tye a knot of all the warp together that is coming off of you comb. Then hook it to the nail or a peg. Make sure that it lines up to the 1st section of warp that is gathered up at your heddles. Then start wrapping the warp on start out SLOW make sure it does not go over to the other sections or you TENSION will be off. What fun! You can wrap it around up to 100 times oh you could go alittle more if you would like. Each section has to be done one at a time that is why it takes 2 hours. Then when you get your 1st section done then cut the warp. Tye a knot to the comb. Then tape the 1st layer of warp together. Then tape the top down.
Then hook the bunch on the next nail and then just repeat.
Once the warp it all on 2 hours later You walk away and go OK that part is DONE!
Next step TYE ALL THOSE KNOTS You have to make sure you take the 1st heddle and go in order one thread after another 1,2,3,4,5 so on and so on. Mine has the log cabin patter so you will get a double thread I think it is 10 and 11 or 9 and 10. When you start to Tye knots you will have slip knots on each side of the harnesses. Undo the one side that faces the back beam. There is one heddle in the front and one it the back. Well one harness in front and one in back.
When you operate the peddled it lifted the one harness at a time. Brings the warp from the bottom to the top. It is called a 2 harness my other one is a 4 harness with 6 peddles. On that one one peddle lifts 2 harnesses except peddle 5 and 6 that is the plain weave. Peddles 2 and 4 is called the double weave. 1-4 is the Herring bone weave (spelled something like that) it make a V pattern.
Well after you Tye all those knots what just a 144 to 336 knots. Then you have a mess that looks like this.
Next step Pull that warp all through the harnesses and pray that you tyed those threads all where they are expose to be or you will SCREAM! Yes I have did that one before. Make sure none BREAK. After I pull it all through it takes a little time to get everything just correct then you Tye it to the apron. BUT first You cut off the extra thread all of those knots that you just sat there and tyed for 3 HOURS gets cut OFF. Because you have thread them through your harnesses. So you have a slip knot on this side that comes our the beater. You don't have to thread it though the beater.
OK now you Tye all that warp to the apron. You do a knot through the apron then a slip knot on top. Well I'm a pretty good knot Tyre I must say.
Well we are almost there to being done and Make a Rag Rug.
Next thing make sure that you did it all correct. That you went through the harnesses correct. Ok step on the peddle and see. Make sure nothing criss crossed and every thread is in it write place.
Oh good it came out correct. I use to mess it up some but I have learned. Next will be rug making.
You need to make sure you go the correct direction on the loom. The Union 36 is clockwise. One of my other looms is counter clockwise. SO you have to pay attention well you have to pay alot of attention when you load your loom. Because if you mess up in the process it is a mess. You are going to want to scream and cry. I haven't did that but I have freaked out and call the lady that has taught me everything I need to no about rug weaving. Bless her heart I have made my fair share of phone calls from the start of my weaving days. That is her line she always says. It take 5 hours to load your loom. 2 hours in putting warp on the warp beam. Then 3 hours tying all those square knots.
In my photos I'm loading the loom up for place mats and table runners. So you need 6 (2") sections that add up to 12". There is 24 threads per section. Take 24 threads X 6 sections = 144. WOW alot. Well then lets figure out how many pieces of thread is in a rug 24 threads X 14 SECTIONS = 336 WOW NOW THAT IS ALOT of warp. You get around 25 rugs putting warp on 100 time around each section. My Newcomb has a bigger warping beam so you can double that and your warp will double to in price. But on the bright side you don't have to load it as much.
OK lets add some warp on to that loom.
Make sure the Brake is away from the warp beam. You might have to Tye it to the beater. Tye a knot of all the warp together that is coming off of you comb. Then hook it to the nail or a peg. Make sure that it lines up to the 1st section of warp that is gathered up at your heddles. Then start wrapping the warp on start out SLOW make sure it does not go over to the other sections or you TENSION will be off. What fun! You can wrap it around up to 100 times oh you could go alittle more if you would like. Each section has to be done one at a time that is why it takes 2 hours. Then when you get your 1st section done then cut the warp. Tye a knot to the comb. Then tape the 1st layer of warp together. Then tape the top down.
Once the warp it all on 2 hours later You walk away and go OK that part is DONE!
Next step TYE ALL THOSE KNOTS You have to make sure you take the 1st heddle and go in order one thread after another 1,2,3,4,5 so on and so on. Mine has the log cabin patter so you will get a double thread I think it is 10 and 11 or 9 and 10. When you start to Tye knots you will have slip knots on each side of the harnesses. Undo the one side that faces the back beam. There is one heddle in the front and one it the back. Well one harness in front and one in back.
When you operate the peddled it lifted the one harness at a time. Brings the warp from the bottom to the top. It is called a 2 harness my other one is a 4 harness with 6 peddles. On that one one peddle lifts 2 harnesses except peddle 5 and 6 that is the plain weave. Peddles 2 and 4 is called the double weave. 1-4 is the Herring bone weave (spelled something like that) it make a V pattern.
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| Square Knot |
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| Oh all that warp will straighten out |
OK now you Tye all that warp to the apron. You do a knot through the apron then a slip knot on top. Well I'm a pretty good knot Tyre I must say.
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| Look at all those knots 144 of them |
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| Slip knot |
Next thing make sure that you did it all correct. That you went through the harnesses correct. Ok step on the peddle and see. Make sure nothing criss crossed and every thread is in it write place.
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| Tighten the loom and press the peddle. I stick my hand between and look. |
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