I was watching someone weave a rag rug and she used the warp yarn for picks in between picks of the cloth weft. She said it made the rug studier. Do others of you do this too? Does the warp thread go in the same shed as the cloth or the next one? If it goes into the next one, that would mean in a plain weave structure, the cloth weft would always be in the same down shed and would not pack as well.
I am also wondering about which direction to cut my strips - parallel or perpendicular to the selvages? Perpendicular would only give a 44 inch long strip, so parallel seems more efficient.
I am working on a small sample using 8/4 cotton warp and calico weight fabric and I am with the strip width/sett. I think a 1.5 inch strip in a 6 epi warp seems pretty good in plain weave.
All input is welcome to this newbie rug weaver!
Thanks,
Jennifer