Weaving a Looper Rug

I know it seems crazy for me to be starting a lot of projects, but there’s a method to my madness. First of all, the looms need to be warped so they look attractive. I find that people are always drawn to something being handwoven, and then the realtors don’t hound me to move them. Since I “work” at home, I need projects to keep me busy when waiting for the house to sell. And then when the looms are warped, I can pack up the weaving supplies. First warp is going on my big Macomber loom.

I can’t remember when I might have discovered loopers, but I have had a big box of them for years. Can you guess what they are?

Sock ends!!! Take off your tube socks, turn them inside out and look at the toes. Imagine that end being sewn together and then for a neat edge, a machine or a person cuts off the excess – and there’s the loop. When you were a child at camp, you used smaller, probably nylon ones to weave on the potholder looms. Mine are cotton so that I can dye them. Here is the looper rug which we use by the shower. I’m thinking I wove it before we moved to Asia, which would have been about 1992. You can see it’s quite faded, and flattened, but it still feels nice underfoot.

I did a little research and it turns out that you can still buy loopers! I have no idea where mine might have come from, but here are two sources. Great Northern Weaving has loopers and is an actual B&M store in Kalamazoo MI, that looks quite interesting. Cotton Clouds carries loopers too. They have been in business for many years and I used to buy lots of fibers from them. They are a great resource for cotton and I was interested to see that they have loopers. Should you want a completed rug, there are also weavers on Etsy who sell woven rugs in very pretty designs.

I dug around in a box of carpet warp looking for colors for the rugs. Here are some choices certainly influenced by the dark and dreary weather we’ve been having.

Surprise – {not if you read my blog a lot} – I decided to use all of those colors. Does this warp look too bright? I’ll let you decide as I show you the progress. I wound a warp for two 24″x 36″ rugs, I hope. There is a lot of take up when you weave with loopers. What that means is that the loopers are fat and fuzzy and very irregular sizes, so they take up a lot of room as you weave them.

Another reason for the large amount of take up is the way that the loopers are joined. If you look at the wound ball as well as the woven section below, you can see that I join the loops by knotting them together. This creates a large bump, which takes up a lot of room going under the warp. {The bumps feel really nice on your bare feet!} The knots and irregular sizes of the loopers also make it difficult to get a nice selvedge, or edge. Looper rugs are always look handmade and a bit rough and shaggy, but that’s their charm. It will be great to have a new one in the bathroom.

When I get the other loom warped, fabrics dyed and quilting projects re-started, then I can seriously pack up and thin the overwhelming studio. Pictures of all this to follow…

Home Again &amp Some Finishes!

I always find it refreshing to be away from home! Ten days away is long enough to have lots of fun and get tired of hotel rooms. Then, when I return, I have all sorts of new ideas and energy and I see everything here with “fresh eyes”. Usually I run around cleaning, but Peter left the house sparkling, so I attacked several projects waiting to be completed.

Because we were to bring completed hooked pieces to display at the Midwest fiber and Folk Fest show, I decided that I should get the braided edge completed on Welcome Tulips. The off white and green are off the bolt fabrics and I tinted a beige stripe with fuchsia dye. This is the first project I have braided since class and with the help of Kris Mc Dermott’s directions, it went fairly well.

As I hooked this next piece, I thought it would be a pillow. When I was done hooking it I went to a nearby home deco store and found the wonderful trim you see Jasmine lying on. I basted it close to the hooking and then tried to sew it all together – several times. It finally went in the to-be-finished pile. In looking at it when I got home, I decided to finish it as a mat and frame it. If you read rug hooking blogs then you know that making hooked pieces into pillows is a challenge.

Here it is in an Ikea frame. I glued some Japanese paper onto the masonite backing. Then I attached the mat using sticky hook and eye fasteners. Of course the sticky tabs do not stay on the burlap backing, so I will have to sew them on. Finishing is never easy…

I can’t quite remember when I started this little Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt. I made it using the very fun Paper Pieces and just so you get the scale, they are 1/2 inch on a side. There was a partial seam to finish, so it was quickly completed. Here’s the back of the quilt  - I just love this look. Perhaps I should make an “art” quilt showing the backside of English Paper Piecing!

I spent one evening in front of the TV popping out the paper pieces. Then I appliquéd it on a backing fabric. When I was working on it I really debated how to finish the edge of the quilt. In my real quilts, which we use, I fill in the spaces with partial hexagons and trim them. I thought I might do that but it seemed too fussy and un-necessary. Here it is in another Ikea shadowbox frame.

This is Katie’s Leaves, the last pattern I designed for my rug hooking class at Pieceful Gathering. I decided to finish it as a pillow. As with the hooked piece above, it was not as easy as I thought it would be, but here it is. This time I sewed wool fabric to the mat to enlarge it and then had to hook a row of loops as you just can’t sew close enough to the hooking. It’s on a 12″ pillow form. Next time I want to make a pillow I have a new idea to try.

So! I think these are my first finishes of the year; better late than never!

P.S. Don’t forget to leave a comment if you would like to win a big, beautiful bunch of floral fabrics on Wednesday!

Focused on Shibori

On Friday, Eloise, Yolanda and Eula came for a class in shibori dyeing. What a day we had! They made some incredibly beautiful fabrics and were so intent on wrapping, clamping and tying that I could hardly get them to stop so that we could put the fabrics in the dyepots and eat lunch.

Yolanda used lots of marbles to make a beautiful piece of fabric which you can see further down the post.

Eloise brought some commercially dyed fabrics and got great results.

Like this – this fabric was a gold and was dyed with in the red violet  bucket – wow! Isn’t it amazing?

Eula wrapped and wrapped what I call spider webs…

…and look how lovely they are.

This is the front and back of a white on white print. Yolanda got a “two fer”. The white on white looks very Japanese to me.

Clamping always looks so dramatic.

And here’s the clean up at the end of the day. Isn’t this an interesting assortment of stuff?

Arashi Shibori Quilts

When preparing for my class the other day, I dug out some of the quilts I made when I was last dyeing these lovely fabrics. I don’t think my students will have trouble coming up with ways to use the fabrics, but many do. I find when people take dyeing classes, they feel very “precious” about their work. It’s even worse with any sort of shibori fabrics because you have taken a good bit of time to make a truly one of a kind fabric. I do not save tiny bits of commercial fabrics, but believe me, I save all my shibori bits!!! When thinking about quilts to make, what came to mind was plain Amish style quilts which would showcase the fabric. I wouldn’t do – say – a drunkard’s path or something with weird shapes which would waste my fabrics.

One difficulty I have is thinking of how to quilt them, as quilting is not my strong suit. For “New Age Nine Patch I”, I had to think of something to do in the plain blocks. I finally did a flower shape using a straight stitch, so a lot of rotating under the needle was involved.

It’s always nice to see your work after some time; you get a different perspective on it. And it makes me want to make some more! I really got caught up with the oranges for a time. I dyed using a magenta and a fuchsia with the same yellow and came up with a myriad of yellow and red oranges. I keep trying to do something very abstract, but it doesn’t seem to be in me. Perhaps I can move from these simple quilts to one that are more abstract; this is as close as I have come.

Many years ago when I started dyeing cotton and became a quilter, I wanted to make a progressive quilt where the color moves. I never did it as I thought it would be too dull in plain hand dyes, but when I dyed the arashi shibori I knew that this was the fabric I needed! The center color is pure fuchsia and it moves out to the edge which is a pure blue. This one gave me fits – I didn’t know how much fabric I would need as I moved out and I spent a lot of time dyeing to match. A color would look “close enough” but jump out when I sewed it in place…..

This is my take on Chinese Coin quilts, made wonky, and was made to use up “bits”. The inspiration for the applique design came from the back of a woman’s blue jean jacket at a craft show! I whipped out my pad and did a quick drawing. You never know when you will see something interesting!

I hope this gives you some ideas for quilts and helps you make yourself cut up beautiful fabrics that you have. If you’d like to see some close-ups, I have added a page to my website.

Arashi Shibori Class – the Reveal

Fall definitely seems to be here, but I had hoped that it would be warm enough last Thursday for us to sit outside to do the messy job of adding dyes and chemicals to the buckets…. Instead, I put lots of sheets of plastic, covered with old towels on the kitchen floor. Dyes were mixed at the kitchen table. As you can see, there were lots of different colors and I had everyone using their smart phones to time the various buckets!

Another reason I like to dye outdoors is emptying the buckets. This size bucket, with lots of water in it is very, very heavy to lift up and try to accurately pour into the sink. However, Peter was working at home and I asked him to help carry the buckets outside where we dumped them in the sewer grate in the backyard. The hose was on as well, so that the bucket could be sprayed to get the excess dye out, as could the pipes with the drippy dyes. And here we are indoors again as the reveal begins.

It’s amazing how much dental floss is used to wind around the fabric. And look how pretty! Unwrapping arashi shibori fabric is so much fun!!!

This is Debbie, impersonating a tree trunk! No really, she brought a new brown dye to try - isn’t it a great color? Earlier, when they were dumping buckets outside, I did see her photographing the trunk of our gorgeous burr oak. Perhaps a project is in the making.

Barb is washing a nice piece of red-orange.

And here is one of the pieces of fabric that Bev overdyed. She creates art quilts and these fabrics could be the inspiration for a new series – I hope!

I really enjoy teaching shibori and surface design classes. Helping students learn a new technique and be inspired, inspires me as well. I asked them to send pictures and a write up when they use these lovely fabrics in a new project, so look for a guest post coming soon. Barb took me seriously and this morning I found this picture of all the fabric she dyed on Thursday – thanks Barb! (And sorry, I can’t get the picture to turn….)

Arashi Shibori Class!

I haven’t taught arashi shibori for some time and have been really looking forward to it. On Thursday some of the “Ladies Who Dye” as I call them, came for what I had planned to be a morning of wrapping. Turns out I underestimated the amount of time it would take to – catch up, demonstrate some techniques, wrap, prepare the dye buckets, etc! Luckily there is a sandwich place nearby so the ladies did not starve.

Arashi shibori is so lovely! For years I had admired it and “knew” how to do it from reading books and articles, but just never tried it. When I was able to take classes with Akemi Nakano Cohn, I jumped at the chance. She studied with many fiber artists in Japan and went to Cranbrook, so she is an expert.

The technique is not all that difficult and there are many variations. Frankly, each strip you dye is a one of a kind piece, never to be duplicated even if you wanted to. Strips of fabric are wrapped around a PVC pipe, so that they look like candy canes. Then thread, twine or dental floss is wrapped around the fabric and it is compressed. Two variations are: pushing the fabric straight down the pole or pushing with a twist. We used cotton, though the results are even more amazing with silks.

It’s fun to experiment with a variety of wrapping fibers, though the twine made Debbie sneeze so much she had to stop using it!

You need many hands when wrapping; it’s quite awkward when you are first learning. Barb has run out of hands….

And here is Beverly, overdyeing a surface design experiment that she didn’t like. When you are a dyer, anything that doesn’t please you can be overdyed, until you have a result you like!

Here are some pipes ready to put into the buckets and let the magic happen… Check in a few days for “the reveal”!

Such a fun class !

I haven’t taught Hand Dyeing I for quite awhile, but some ladies found my dye class info and gave me a call. They had seen hand dyed fabric at quilt shows and balked at the price. Evidently they are game to try new quilt related classes, so they spent yesterday dyeing with me. It was dreadfully hot for this time of year and splashing in the cool water was a pleasant indoor activity for all of us.

I love teaching beginners of any sort. Learning something new can be so exciting and Eula and Eloise were pretty excited with their brightly dyed fabrics. We talked during lunch about what class they might take next. Dyeing can be addictive.

I’ve had students say “These colors are too bright, they’re garish”….

After the ladies left, I wandered around the yard checking for new blossoms and look what I found. Some might say garish; I say gorgeous!

Unexciting Quilt Idea…

…and a new plan?

Huh. I did a little mock-up of my workout quilt idea of a few weeks ago which centered around my desire to use some of my growing collection of hand dyed cotton. I roughly cut out some hearts in an elongated shape and pinned them on black fabric. Nope. Drowns them out.

Next I dug around for a hand dyed (commercial) fabric that I love. When I found it, I bought lots of it and have used it in several projects. I don’t know if you can see (click to enlarge) but the fabric has been drizzled with different colored dyes and it’s so pretty. Better, but still not ringing any bells.

I am sure that when the hearts were appliqued nicely and there were lots and lots of them with gorgeous quilting, it would be better, but when I am hand appliqueing, I really need to have lots of enthusiasm for the project.

Though I do not need any more projects, I became obsessed with coming up with a good idea!!! I looked through my folders of quilt design ideas and the few books that I have. I combined several ideas and did this computer rendering. It is completely different from the hand appliqued idea, but I like it. It’s a simple plan but should look interesting. So I sewed lots of strips of dyed fabric strips together – pretty!

Now the decision is, which background? I very much like the paper bag color, but I think I may have to dye a darker value or edit the colors I use in the strips. The purple is really juicy, but perhaps too much so. Is the blue just right?

Clamped Shibori

Class updates and some “atta girls” too!

Last Thursday morning I taught a shibori class that has been postponed twice – once because of the weather and once because I was sick. Third time is the charm…

In looking over my other shibori class postings, I realized there is a really fun technique that I didn’t photograph – clamping. I asked the ladies to rip some 12″ squares of fabrics. The blocks of wood are cut into 3″ squares and 3″ half triangles. For the square piece of wood, I have them fold the fabric in a fan shape one way and then the other. For the triangle, they fold a fan shape and then a flag fold. You can tie everything together, but for these small sizes, I like clamps.

Isn’t the result just amazing? There is something about all the white space and the crispness of the lines that makes it special. This is the flag fold. Variations come from how you fold the fabric, and how you clamp it. You can, of course, fold it again and re-dye it. If you soak the fabric in a soda ash solution, you can dip the sides in different dyes and then batch it (let it sit) in a baggie. Clamping is a pretty simple technique for the Japanese, who do such ornate shibori, and I read that they use it for kimono linings and diapers. There’s something you can make for the next baby shower you’re invited to!

And here are the “atta girls”. Last Wednesday night was the finish up class for Primitive Rug Hooking. Karen finished her rug and worked on binding the edge. I particularly like her tulip and leaves – they make me think of an old piece of fabric.. Her hooking was very well done and so even. Impressive job for a new hooker.

I invited Laura, who was in the Fall class and lives close to the store. She seems to have caught the “hooking bug” and here she’s working on another project. She is without a cutter, so she uses a rotary cutter to cut  the wool into 1/2″ pieces and then scissors to cut them 1/4″. She is a lover of primitives, so this suits her and looks wonderful.

I am working on some new ideas for a Fall rug hooking class. I have been using the tulip and heart for some years and am ready for a new pattern, or maybe two. I am thinking of drawing some quilt applique sort of patterns, wreaths, bouquets of flowers, something fairly simple for beginners. Since I am teaching in a quilt store, I hope that will lure new people.

Perhaps I will work on that today, to cheer me up! It’s rainy and 52 degrees, and rain is predicted for the rest of the week…. There are lots of daffodils out today so I will need to make a dash between the raindrops to pick them.

Midwest Fiber & Folk Art Fair-

- Registration is Open!

This is the fair’s 5th anniversary and it will be held June 24 – 26 at the Lake County Fairgrounds in Illinois. This will be the second year at this location and I am sure will be better than ever.

I have been teaching there since the beginning and over the years I have taught some fun classes and enjoyed great students. One year I was crazy and taught an all day shibori class. The students were exhausted by the end of the day and I was too! In the morning we did folding and clamping and a bit of sewing,

and in the afternoon, it was on to arashi shibori. I often wonder if any of them still dye…

Last year I offered wool applique.

I think the ladies chose some pretty combinations.

This will be the third year I have taught Primitive Rug Hooking. Here are some of the colors I’ve dyed for class.

And here are a group of ladies happily hooking! Doesn’t it look like fun?

As well as rug hooking, I will also have several hour class/demos on English Paper Piecing. There’s yummy food, music, many, many vendors and lots of interesting artsy people to chat with. There are loads of interesting classes with some “big” name teachers this year, and as I said, registration is open, so I hope you will check out the Midwest Fiber & Folk Art Fair.