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Fleece As Weft

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   I made a rug yesterday as an experiment. I was using my Union loom 2 harness set at 6 epi and I wove in first about 6 inches of carded fleece in strips beating lightly to medium between each, and then I wove in a grey, unwashed fleece in strips making the tufts come up here and there for about 12 inches, then I did another 6 inch area of carded and of course headers. I used poly cotton from Great Northern Weaving (love that stuff) .... Well, I pulled it off the loom, hemmed it up and washed it gently in the tub, with laundary soap. Remember , there was a whole area of unwashed fleece in there,  I rinsed , and rinsed and hung out on the clothes line. It is beautiful.... I will be doing more, but, probably will use washed fleece as it was smellly to work with the whole while.

Tracey Schuh -Abrams Wisconsin
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   I used a heavy wool (navajo type) warp, wove 3 rows of warp, then one row of thoroughly washed lincoln locks tucked under 2 warp threads. I tried using the locks every other row and locks every other warp thread, but it made the rug way too heavy and thick (unless one wants a thick stiff pile). I used a twisted fringe to finish. It was beautiful.

Ann in Illinois
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   I wove up two fleece and roving rugs;  either laying in clumps of fleece or a strip of roving and beat them tightly.   I very gently washed the rugs and carefully hung to dry.  They looked lousy, the hems tightened up and fleece looked loose and flimsy.  So what the heck, I threw them in the washing machine on HOT, then COLD rinse.  Then threw 'em in the dryer on HIGH!   By this time I didn't care what happened to them.  They came out the most gorgeous soft but firm rugs with just the right amount of shrinkage and felting.  I really like them now.

KarenInTheWoods
http://www.oocities.org/rugtalk
(I made a rug yesterday as an experiment.)