Where Do Jeans Go When They Die?

Day 134: A week or two ago, I took a sorting fit and after cleaning out my t-shirt drawer of all the shirts with frayed necklines and small holes, I cut the usable fabric into 1" strips for rag rugs. However, when I opened the box labelled "rug strips," I discovered it was almost full. A full box is unforgiveable. It was time to recycle some of the material into rugs.

Now I like a heavy, stay-in-place rug in front of my kitchen sink or as a bath mat. Handwoven rag rugs are ideal for the purpose (the store-bought ones are limp and wrinkle up under foot). The rug strip box contained several gallon Zip-locs of prepared strips, including two bags of denim bits, more than enough for a couple of rugs. There was only one problem: nowhere to set up the table loom, which is my preferred loom for rug weaving. After serious consideration of the options, I moved my sewing machine back out to the kitchen where it can live under the table until called upon, and set up the table loom on the desk in the Loom Room, which now truly lives up to its name, occupied as it is by the floor loom, the table loom and two rigid heddle looms currently not in service. I threw all the denim strips into a big heap, mixed them up good, and now I'm drawing them out one by one to weave into rugs. I warped for three, two of which will be denim. The third will probably use up some of those cut-up t-shirts. This is where old jeans and t-shirts go when they die, folks!

Jack Loom

Day 301: The rag rug project is proving to be a bit more labour-intensive than I'd anticipated, but that's not actually a Bad Thing. It keeps me entertained. The floor loom is currently occupied by a summer-and-winter piece (halfway done!), so I brought my small Schacht loom out of hiding and set it up on a card table. Due to issues with a repaired shoulder, I find it easiest to operate the jacks while standing at the table rather than sitting, not that I'd get much "sitting" done for as frequently as the weaving space is taken up by the heavy twisted weft. At most, I can squeeze in eight throws before I have to advance the warp, but this is also a Good Thing because the rag rope is so thick that it is almost impossible to pass a shuttle through the shed. Instead, I twist 8-12 feet, weave it, wind it onto the front roller, and then settle into my chair to twist another dozen feet or so. The weft must be packed tightly, and in lieu of the traditional wooden beater, I'm using a 4" afro pick, working my way across the weft after each pass. Suffice to say I'm getting a variety of physical exercise out of this weaving, and the quilting leftovers make for a bright and cheery rug.