Friday, May 28, 2021

Spiral Braided Rag Rug

I've wanted to make another spiral braid rag rug since finishing my last one! I learned to make a Braided Rag Rug in a two-part workshop with Ilka White who lives near Melbourne, Australia. It was definitely worth two late evenings (until 11 pm my time) at the computer to learn from her. She's a superior instructor! One of the best I've ever learned from. 

Braiding a rug another one of those things, like kawandi, that I've found somewhat addictive. The reason I didn't start a rug sooner is that I was waiting (during pandemic days) to go to Goodwill to shop for old clothes or home dec items that could be made into a rug. But then, I began to do a little closet cleaning. I'm repurposing our own clothes! 

I spent an afternoon cutting strips from:
  • two of hub's shirts (those bright yellow strips!);
  • my own fleece pajamas, and three knit shirts; 
  • and leftover fabrics from making seven articles of clothing

I've happily realized it's an advantage to be a sewist! Small, unusable pieces left from cutting out tops, shorts, and even home dec weight purses/bags, can be entirely used-up in a rug! So much strip-cutting helped reduce my stuffed-full bin of "what's left from making clothes." 

In this pictures, I've just start a braid with two strips clamped onto a clipboard.

Since the first rug I made was round, I wanted to make this one oval. The crochet hook is used for pulling the weaver strand through a loop.

Ilka taught us how to increase the number of braids being used. At this point I was braiding with eight strands. When making my round rug, at one point I was braiding with 14 strands. 

It's just so intriguing to watch the spiral pattern emerge! 

For now, I'm taking a pause with it because I want to see what other things I can strip-cut to make the rug larger than the 25" X 33" it is at this point.

For something to do on late Sunday morning, we golf-carted to Starbucks. It was a gorgeous day. All the bedding flowers are looking really pretty, though we could sure use some rain. 

Book Recommendation
Why the Sky is Blue
 by Susan Meissner is a book about something I have never considered. What does a mother of two do when she discovers she's pregnant as a result of a physical attack of which she has no memory? That's the situation Claire Holland finds herself in. With emotional support from her pastor and his wife, Claire and her husband Dan make an extremely difficult decision - not to terminate the pregnancy, because Claire's history of miscarriages and risky pregnancies will certainly come into play in the days ahead. When the moment comes for the final decision, the heartbreak of the situation makes continuing to go on almost unbearable. Yet, love prevails, and shines through when it's most needed. 

Linda's score 4.0/5.0

Did you catch the lunar eclipse/blood moon early Wednesday morning? Apparently it wasn't as visible here as it was in Western skies, but my little Canon point-and-shoot caught the gist of it at 5:57 am.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend, everyone! Linda

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10 comments:

  1. The rug is lovely, and what a great way to use scraps. Nice to be able to be out and about. We did see a little of the eclipse and enjoyed it. We found a lovely park about an hour north of us to stargaze. Excited for that. Thanks for sharing your wonderful talents.

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  2. Your rug is coming along nicely. I didn't realize you could mix so many different types of fabric into one of those rugs. Makes for good use of those scraps and old clothes.

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  3. Your spiral braids are so interesting and they make a beautiful rug. How large were you thinking of making it when you find more suitable fabric additions? Cold and rainy here today and tomorrow until it finally begins to warm up again next week. Have a great weekend!

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  4. I love the way the swirls of color radiate outwards. I can definitely see how making the rugs could become addictive.

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  5. Great design! Love the colors and it’s beautiful! Thanks for the eclipse picture I thought we weren’t able to see it on the east coast so I didn’t even look!

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  6. Love your braided rug. Does this lady still offer virtual classes? Would love to learn how she increases and adds more strips than 3 to braid. I've made a braided rug, but it was not continuous nor in a beautiful spiral pattern. Would love to try one of these. Dar in Mo

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  7. Wow your rug is great. I've always admired these but I haven't tried one yet. The spiral design is so pretty and different from the oval rugs I'm more familiar.
    neat eclipse photo.
    Thanks for the book recommendation

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  8. The spiral rug is coming along beautifully, Linda! Nice job on capturing the lunar eclipse, too.

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  9. Wow, that seems like a lot of strands to braid with! But the spiral effect is so worth it :)

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  10. The spiral pattern that's developing as the rug grows is really lovely. I like the way the colours in the rug are so similar to the colours in your photo of the flower beds around the little clock tower!

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