| ======================== Rug End Treatment / Headers ======================== > I have never seen a "real" rolled hem so I'm wondering > if anyone has some ideas ref what/how to do. **************************** I'll jump in here with my standard fare suggestion for a "non-fringed / non hemmed" rug. Pack in your header really well, leaving a total of about 10 inches (including tie-on) before beginning your rug. Twine across with a doubled strand of your linen warp - as in Peter Collingwood's book. Weave your rug. Repeat on the other end of your woven rug in reverse. Cut the rug from the loom, leaving headers in. Roll it up & set it on a table you can sit at comfortably, with one end of the rug at the edge of the table - warp ends hanging over the edge. Pull the packed header away from the right end for a few inches, freeing up the warp ends to hang loose. Proceed to work a damascus edge all the way across, removing header a little at a time as you go. Return to the right edge and repeat another row of damascus edge. Again, continue for 3 or 4 or 5 rows - all in the same direction - and you will see that your "hem" begins to curl naturally. When you can see you have enough rows to "curl" under and snug against the fell in the appropriate thickness by your judgement, clip the ends off - about 1/2" - & add a tiny dab of common white glue to each final "knot". Roll this "hem" tightly, tucking in the cut ends completely, and whip stitch this rolled hem snug and well, including the tiny open "pocket" at each end. (You can use a strand of warp, or heavy duty upholstery thread, doubled) I have found this to be a very secure, neat, tidy, *unobscure* finish which will secure and protect your warp ends, and will not create any visual "competition" from your rug's beautiful design. Kris in Alaska =============== I have done a flat folded hem. Fold once, then again, and run a machine stitch across the end. I have also woven the ends back up into the body of the rug, and run a stitch across that. I really like that look best. Very neat. Upon occasion, I have added fringe like you do when you knit or crochet, after the fact. That is my favorite. No shrinking, no worrying about it disappearing. Cathy in West Tennessee ================= Headers ================= > What do you all use for your headers? It seems that no matter > how I do it, when I take my rug off of the loom, the header pulls > in and doesn't go as wide as the rug. I think you may be addressing the wrong issue.....it may not be what was used as the header weft, but rather how it is woven. Usually the body of the rug does not draw in as much as the header, so you must address the way the header is woven with careful attention to the properties of the woven rug. Most rag rugs do not draw in very much, if anything they actually get wider than the warp in the reed when woven. Weaving a plain weave header in almost any rag rug will result in more draw-in in the hem than the body of the weaving. A rug needs a header which will draw in with an equivalent (or near) number of intersections as the body of the weaving. Using a basket weave with 2 up/2 down will help reduce the number of intersections per inch and give a more pleasing result. Works quite well if a doubled, pre-shrunk warp is used for the weft. What works even more successfully is to weave the header in very thinly cut rag strips.....1/4" or less. That way the body of the rug and the header are more alike and therefore will draw in more equally. Su Butler :-) ------------------- I seem to have, finally, learned to make headers that don't pull in. This is what has been working for me. - Use a temple. - If I'm using strands of warp, I usually use 4 or more strands. - Pull the weft neatly to the edge on the entrance side, make a 9" peak in the middle and bring the weft down to the web on the exit side. This leaves enough weft to spread the full width of the rug without pulling in. This makes a weft faced hem that coordinates very well with the rag rugs. It can be folded over and stitched down and won't look flimsy. It looks nice with multiple colors, too. Robin Murphy ------------------- |
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| (It seems that no matter how I do it, when I take my rug off of the loom, the header pulls in and doesn't go as wide as the rug.) |