Friday, November 17, 2017

No Fringe for You!

I dislike cotton fringe on most anything but especially on rugs.  I know that that before long, that cotton fringe will start to look shabby and it will eventually disintegrate. ( I have a carpet in my living room that reminds me of that fact every time I go in there.)

I recently finished a couple of fleece rugs, and I made sure to pack the fringe between the rugs with several rows of fabric to keep everything in place while I chose my hem treatment.  The warp on these rugs is set at 4 EPI so that the fleece weft is made more visible, but it also makes  a normal woven hem less appealing.

I turned to my newly acquired, "The Techniques of Rug Weaving"  by Peter Collingwood.  Peter has a chapter dedicated to rug finishing.  Among the hem treatments, I found one that I really liked, it is simply called a "woven edge"  I added a little interest to the edge by starting with a 2 strand overhand knot to hold the weft in place as I learned how to do the woven edge.



I started on the left side of the rug with the first 8 ends, the first 2 ends are the weavers and they weave thru the next 6 ends.  Once that is accomplished the ends go through the little knot that I added and then through the 4 shots of doubled carpet warp that was the start and end of the rug.  Then you weave the next 2 end through the following 6 ends, burying the ends into the knots and hems as you go.





The first rug I did, I had just barely enough length on the fringe to do the weaving, but I managed it and luckily the first edge I did was the shortest. (8 inches of fringe are not too much) I was weaving it with my fingers only and I  felt like I was constantly fumbling with the threads trying to keep them tight because I was not weaving into the knot and hem as I was going, it was difficult to do.  Once I was done with that one, I put my thinking cap on and changed my approach a little bit.

The first thing I did was thread the "weaver" through a tapestry needle, and I wove the ends all the way through the knot and hem as I went.  That did 2 things, it anchored those loose ends so I didn't feel like I was fumbling, and it speeded up the whole process.





 Next I took a simple wooden clothes pin and clipped it around the ends I was weaving thru.  This small change made all the difference.  I then knew that I could and would finish those hems in time for show this weekend.  When I had started the first rug I wasn't so sure!








Then eventually you come to the end of the row, when you have to do something with the final 6 ends.  So far, this is what I have come up with,  still a tiny bit of fringe, but not nearly as much!

I have a few ideas that I would like to try on the next few rugs, and if I come up with  something interesting, I will be sure to post about it.


Until next time, Happy Weaving, Tina

4 comments:

Theresa said...

I'm with you Tina, I am not a fringe person at all. My Dad would have liked that rug finish. He did a braided thing similar he learned from a Collingwood class but it isn't as lovely as yours!

Hilary said...

Oh, for crying out loud, now I have to try that!!!!!

LA said...

This technique gives such a clean finish to the rug! Great job!

Cindie said...

I love that rug finish.