There is always room for more cushions and pillows. What better way to use handwoven fabric? Making cushions puts the fabric to use where it can be seen and touched. The very first project on my first floor loom was fabric for a throw pillow, with a cottolin warp and 16/2 linen weft. Unsightly selvedges are nowhere to be seen!
First project on the Glimåkra Standard floor loom.
From the all-linen blue and brown dice weave cushions to the wild and hairy pillows with rya knots, each one makes a statement. Each one says, in its own way, “Welcome to our home.”
Linen Dice Weave Cushions
Enjoy this little slide show video I made for you.
My two-treadle Glimåkra band loom is called into action. I don’t have to add hanging tabs for the towels that I am weaving on the Ideal loom. But I want to. A little band weaving here and there, and I will have this special detail ready for the towels when they come off the loom. (Watch me weave on the band loom in the video below.)
Put the end loop of the warp on the warp beamtie-on bar. Insert lease sticks in the cross. Tie the sticks together; or tape them together with masking tape.
Remove tie around lease cross. Hold the warp taut with the left hand while winding on with the right hand. Insert warping slats around the beam the first time around, and then every other time around after that.
Wind on until the beginning of the warp is a few inches in front of the heddles.
Tie or tape the lease sticks to the back beam. Cut the loops at the front end of the warp.
Thread the heddles, alternating between the heddles on the right and on the left.
Hold the warp taut and depress each treadle to check for any crossed threads.
Tie the warp onto the front tie-on bar.
Tighten the tension; wind your shuttle; and weave to your heart’s content! (A short cardboard quill can be used as a shuttle.)
May you go the extra mile to add special little details.
Hemming a rag rug may be easier than you think. I have used my classic Bernina sewing machine to hem rag rugs; but now, I hem many of them by hand. It’s easier and faster than I once thought. I plan the rug’s hem into the weaving, using half-width fabric strips for the hem area, and end it off with 1 cm of a warp thread heading. After cutting off the rug, I secure and trim the warp ends. There’s only one thing left to do. Hem the rug! (Start with Tools Day: Rag Rug Finishing Videoif you haven’t seen it yet.)
Hem is woven with fabric strips, doubled, cut 1 cm wide. This rug has a 6 cm hem, plus the warp thread heading, that will be folded under and stitched.
Tools and supplies
Steam iron
Long straight pins
Rug warp to match the rug (mine is Bockens 12/6 cotton seine twine)
Blunt tapestry needle
Kitchen mat is embellished with woven thin stripes that give the impression of rickrack. It makes me think of rickrack-trimmed dresses my mother made for me when I was a little girl. (See Simplest Rag Rug Stripe to learn how the rickrack stripes are made.)
Do you know how easy it is to finish the ends of a rag rug that you plan to hem? You cannot trust a sewing machine to do the job. Neither a zig-zag stitch nor a serged edge adequately catches all the ends, as they do for other handwoven items. Hand-tied knots will ensure that your rug endures the test of time.
Rag rug is cut off the Glimåkra Standard loom. A warp thread header (1 cm) is woven at both ends of the rug, and about 5 cm of scrap header (scrap fabric strips) is woven outside of that. The scrap header helps keep the rug from unravelling when it is removed from the loom.
The following video details the few simple steps needed to prepare your rag rug for hemming.
What can compare to the thrill of unrolling freshly-woven cloth? Pulling, and pulling, and pulling until you get to the very beginning of the warp. As every towel unwinds, I do a micro evaluation, knowing that complete scrutiny comes later. I could not be happier with these towels! They are every bit as sensational off the loom as they were to weave. What a joy to be a weaver!
Back to the beginning! Cottolin thick and thin handtowels are coming off the loom.
It wasn’t that long ago that I was winding lopsided quills, dropping the shuttle more than occasionally, and struggling to understand weaving drafts. Desire and a willingness to learn have pushed me through these and other barriers.
Ready for hemming.Black and white and a little red, ready for hemming.Getting set up for a photo shoot. Photos are used in Etsy listings.
Willingness is more important than capability. Being willing sets the stage for learning. We all start incapable. God doesn’t expect us to be capable. He does expect us to be willing. God weaves His purposes on earth, not through the capable people, but through the willing. In weaving, and in life overall, I want to embrace and preserve the willingness factor that keeps me learning.
Thick and thin structure is a playground for a handweaver to imagine and develop designs. Cottolin handtowels and table runner. Designer kitchen, anyone?
And as we yield our will to our Creator, what joy is ours as we learn how to truly live!
