Rags, rags, lots and lots of rags

So, yeah, a lot of rags.

The sewing workshop has recently bagged up a great deal of fabric waste, which I have taken, in order that my rug loom may never go hungry.

I am currently sorting these rags by colour. I am less than a quarter of the way through what i have the now, which is less than a tenth of what is available and i have a whole sack of black and a whole sack of beige, and half a sack of white and multiple bags of other colours.

It may seem a little mad for me to be filling me itny house with all this scrap, but the idea is that at some point in the future I'll be either partially or wholly unemployed (who knows what the future holds?) and this is my bank. When money is rare and time plentiful there'll be plenty time spare to weave rag rugs. Rag rugs from this kinda material are relatively time-consuming to make, but on the other hand you can be a bit more arty with them as you're only working with little bits so you can be a bitty tapestry-like with it and make all sorts of lovely patterns and that. Happy days.

It's probably worth mentioning that I also aquired three massive sacks of leather scraps and a half sack of sheepskinny scraps, from which I can expect to be making wallets and purses and the like for a long time to come.

Besides that I have had multiple recent enquiries about selvedge-rugs so I need to acquire some more loom-waste for weaving those things. And some 2-ply cotton while I'm at it, for warps. I also have two massive bolts of single jersey cotton fabric that need to be ripped down to rags for weaving too, who knows when I'll find time to do that.

It's nice to have something to work with.

Andrew

Comments

Laura Fry said…

Wow! That's a *lot* of rags! :D

Happy rug weaving,
Laura

24 February 2013 at 00:28

Andrew Kieran said…

It certainly is, isn't it? There's plenty more where they came from too. Scary amounts to be had, I'll probably get another car load tomorrow, then sort them in the evenings.

I like to stock up on supplies in times of plenty, things always go round in cycles and if I can get a decent stock of rugs built up then it'll be worth my time and money advertising and things.

If only winter wasn't such a busy time it'd be perfect for building up stock

24 February 2013 at 18:39

Michelle said…

Awww, look at the little puppy in amongst the rags!!

24 February 2013 at 21:57

Screw print 1.1

First in a series of screw tests. I'm designing a 3D printed loom and am documenting the design process. I have already come up with the preliminary shape of the thing, but shall keep that under wraps until I'm ready to launch. I am currently attempting to make a 3D printed screw for operating the hinge. Currently the loom is designed with a 20mm wide screw and screw hole so I am working from this for the time being. The parameters I shall initially be varying are the thread size and the clearance (push). I have had good results printing a slot-together joint with a push of 0.125 so shall start from there. Standard dimensions will remain the same throughout all variations of 1.x, specific dimensions will be changed according to the results. Print setting will most likely stay the same, at least until I start narrowing down on Specific Parameters and feel perhaps the printing quality needs to be improved. Standard dimensions thread size 20 x 20mm Spec...

Tablet Weaving Lesson #1: Backstrap weaving a simple diamond motif

This is the first in a series of video and photo tutorials showing basic to advanced tablet-weaving concepts. These lessons shall each build on the last and hopefully take the viewer from simple diamond patterns up to more complicated double face pattern weaving with finer yarns and eventually onto the heady heights of brocading and other fancy techniques (just as soon as I learn how to do them myself). In this first lesson we'll learn the basic weaving steps involved in weaving a diamond pattern in the backstrap style. This lesson is meant for someone who has purchased a ready-made warp from me. The next lesson shall detail how to design and make this warp oneself. And we begin This is the basic pattern we are making. The woven band is tied to my waist with another strap. I am holding a small stick shuttle in my right hand which contains the weft. In front of me are the cards, each card has 4 warp threads going through it. The gap that you can see is called the ...

3D printed folding loom Version 1

Hey there! Been wanting to talk about this for aaaaaaaages. But by god does designing medium scale 3D printed objects take a long time. Anyhow, I've been designing this thing since maybe August and been printing since late October. Here's a couple of pictures of it open. I'm just freehanding that pattern. I kind of fluffed up the last two switchovers. And it was meant to be a knotwork but it clearly isn't. I really need to learn to draft things out before weaving them, I'm not good enough at sketching. Same thing on paper actually, I can draw stuff in front of me (to an extent) but I can't sketch from my head. Anyhow, here's a couple of pictures of the thing closed up. Boom! So, that's nice. I'm quite happy with the progress so far. Now, onto the issues. The big circles that form the hinge get in the way of my hands when i'm weaving and I'm always bumping my knuckles off them. Would probably work better for rigi...

weave4fun

Search This Blog