Looks great on paper, but...

Row 53 of knotting on the rug is done and a lesson learned:  the medium comes before the design, not the other way around.

When I needed a small image for the center of the rug, the two little trees I hurriedly graphed seemed about right. That is, when viewing the graph-paper "cartoon." Once woven, they "read" as a blurry area due to the coarse weave, thick yarn, and long pile of the rug.

With so few knots-per-square-inch (about 25 in this case), broader areas of color are needed to make an unambiguous image. Time to design the next little carpet!

"Trees" are woven -- on to the next orange star

On the right, my working graph of trees. On the left, graph of knots for a clearer tree image.

Close-up of trees knotted at 25 knots per square inch

The front of the rug at row 53

Detail of back of rug

Row 32 of Knots

The knotted pile weaving has grown to the edge of the design I initially sketched. It is time to add a new image above the central star motif. A tree? Some dogs?

Also, it strikes me that this little weaving is destined to be a carrying bag of some sort, rather than a miniature carpet. The back and the strap can be done in flat weave, which will go more quickly than one hour per row!

Front view of knotted pile weaving -- pile is 1/2" deep.

Enough warp remains to make a fairly deep bag. Yellow linen loops at the top are "string heddles."

When the pile is 1/2" long, it is easier to see the design from the back of the weaving.

Row 14 of Carpet

The bottom border of the small knotted pile carpet shown in the previous post is done.

Timing the weaving was informative: One row of 53 knots takes 30 - 40 minutes. The plain weaving to hold the knots in place, plus making the argatch (protective edging) takes an additional 10 - 15 minutes per row.

Front side of knotted pile carpet, showing the bottom border

Back side of carpet, showing the knots rather than the pile

Detail of knotted pile carpet

Knotted Pile, Row 1

Weaving began this week on a tiny knotted pile carpet. (Only 106 warp "ends," which will probably yield a rug measuring 14" x18" or so, when done)

Warped and Twined (5/15/12) and Three Projects (3/1/12) showed loom-dressing and selection of yarn for the pile. Now that hooking and knitting projects are done, the weaving can get the attention it deserves.

Yarns for the carpet were all hand-spun from Border Leicester fleeces I purchased and dyed.

Ever wondered what it might be like to weave an oriental rug? Here's the start of a beginner's efforts.

First shed for weaving being held open by string heddles (in yellow, on right)

Second shed being opened using shed stick. Notice yellow heddles have dropped down to make room.

Bottom half of rug will follow the above cartoon. Each square stands for one knot, or two warp strands.

DIY Plans

The old shirts mentioned last week provided an hour's enjoyment at the fabric store -- after trying dozens of bolts of fabric, five emerged as good matches for repurposing the cast-off garments.

That hour of playing with color will lead to 20 or 30 hours at the sewing machine before I can wear the newly constructed shirts.

This is how a house acquires clutter! Dreaming up a project is delightful and takes only a few minutes. Executing it involves hours of effort which may have to be scheduled for a later season. Pretty soon one realizes the "eyes bigger than stomach" bug has re-filled the recently de-cluttered sewing room.

In spite of their tendency to proliferate, textiles are such a fine source of entertainment -- one simply must learn and try out as many of their uses as possible. This decade's DIY movement is a delightful manifestation of textile art.

This month's sewing projects with their newly-purchased fabric complements

Some ideas for shaping shirt collars and yokes.

Textiles can be fascinating...

Shirt and proposed yoke

The fabric on the left is called "ombre," because it is printed in five or six background shades.

This Month's Threads

Projects begun in the Spring are practically complete (see crows and blanket pics, below).

Some sewing projects are in the works, similar to those shown below. A couple of relatively plain shirts will end up with contrasting embellishments.

First, a delicious trip to the fabric store! (For the sake of efficiency, I may skip the Bins this trip. See post of 4/12/12, "Reclaiming Wool.")

Only a couple of hours to go...

Still a dozen hours of work, but decision-making part is done.

All six fabrics for this jacket and blouse were salvaged from cast-off Bins garments.

Bins and ends-of-bolts purchases kept fabric costs low for these shirts.

The four antique fabrics for these blouses are Bins salvage. Batik (lower left) was purchased.