To Weave a Rug

Sometimes after years of exploring the complexities of one's craft, it's good to return to the basics. To examine the simple elements carefully and see new possibilities.

That is how I felt after attending a three day Plain Weave Rug workshop taught by Jason Collingwood at the Yarn Barn in Lawrence, Kansas. Like many weavers, I started my weaving journey with plain weave, but over the years, I gradually added more shafts to my loom capabilities in order to weave all those intriguing and complicated patterns. Plain weave was no longer on my list of structures to use, except for hems or weaving in header. I signed up for the rug class because I'd heard good things about Jason's workshops and because I admired his beautiful rugs. I wasn't so sure about the plain weave thing though, and hoped I wouldn't regret my decision.

I have absolutely no regrets. By lunchtime of the first day, I had learned some valuable tips. Jason covered all aspects of weaving a good rug: appropriate looms, materials, warping techniques, getting off to a good start, several types of twining to use at the beginning and end of a rug, how to tie a snug knot with the thick 8/5 linen rug warp, how to begin and end the multiple strands of wool weft invisibly, finishing treatments, and much more. And there was, of course, the plain weave. He described and demonstrated many techniques, starting with the basic horizontal and vertical stripes, then moving on to various types of crossed wefts, clasped wefts, compensated inlay, and more. He also discussed techniques to eliminate long weft floats at the selvedges.

There were 17 participants in this class with a wide range of weaving experience. I think all of us found something to challenge us and to expand our weaving horizons. At the end of each day, I felt like I'd worked hard but also had gained some new and useful information. Jason was an excellent teacher, answering questions and helping individuals to understand the concepts and methods. He learned his skills from his father, Peter Collingwood, and is most certainly an accomplished weaver/teacher in his own right.

Here's my finished sampler. It was woven from the bottom up. The warp is 8/5 linen set at 3 doubled/working ends per inch. For most of the techniques we used three strands of rug wool on the shuttles. The finished dimensions are 11" x 30", excluding fringes.



In the close-up you can see some of the decorative (countered) twining, which I greatly enjoyed working, as well as a bit of compensated inlay, staggered dots, and a lovely knotted treatment for the warp ends. (Click on the photo to enlarge for a better look.)

Back home in Missouri now, I'm setting up a loom for more exploration of the workshop techniques while they are still fresh. I hope to post pictures and more information in the coming weeks. I must admit that I had a great time getting reacquainted with good old plain weave and now have a fresh appreciation for its simple and not-so-simple aspects.

Before I end this post, I'd like to add how much fun it was to visit the Yarn Barn and to browse all the fiber goodies before and after class. And yes, some of those goodies came home in our car: a nice supply of linen rug warp and a Toika temple for all the rugs I'll be weaving, some lustrous perle cottons for other weaving projects, and even a couple of skeins of Cascade 220 for knitting. Good thing it was only a three day workshop!