Twined Rag Rugs

Since Claudia asked... here are some references for twined rug weaving...

Bobbie Irwin's Book: Twined Rag Rugs - Tradition in the Making
www.woolworks.com/Shop/Books/Weaving/Twined-Rag-Rugs

Another reference... I haven't seen this book, but it looks interesting...
www.henscratchquilting.com/rugsfromrags.html

A youtube video... actually seems to be from the same folks as the book above...
www.youtube.com/watch

and... a bit of a tutorial...
www.ehow.com/how_4492933_out-of-used-cotton-fabric.html

Notice that many of these rugs are done on rug frames, but a floor loom would also work - especially if the twining is finer.  The rugs done in these examples are using fabric as the warp and the weft, and generally are about 2-3 rows per inch.

My twining is done on a tapestry loom using a really strong carpet warp and warp spacing at 1/4 inch, and the t-shirts are cut to a width of about 1/2 inch.  My twining is generally about 5 rows per inch.

Doing twining will completely cover your warp, so it only shows at the ends.

T-shirt preparations are done as I go, because depending on what project I am doing, I might want a wider cut to the weft materials.  Do not try to use T-shirts as the warp material, because there is too much stretch.  However, they work great as a weft material and are very forgiving.

I usually use every bit of the T-shirt I can... I know it's time-consuming, but as projects go... going faster just means doing more projects, which isn't really my goal.  So, I do undo the main hem, and cut all the seams out.  I imagine someday I will do a project that uses only the T-shirt seams, but I haven't decided what that project will be.  I do spiral-cut T-shirts that do not have a side seam, but honestly, weft that is too long becomes a pain to manipulate, so most of my strips are generally about 2ft long unless it's a knit bedsheet.

One of the nice things about using T-shirts is that it isn't necessary to worry about whether the front or back side is showing.  I've experimented both ways, and it doesn't make a bit of difference.

I do use a different technique for joining my strips than is demonstrated by the person in the youtube video, but my method does show a bit of a bump where two sections are joined.  I consider this to be a "feature" of my weaving, and so I haven't worried about it, but by using the method in the video there will be a different visual effect  - both of her strands are always the same color, where in my weaving they are almost always different colors.