Many years ago I wove rugs on my shafted floor looms. I first bought rug yarn from Halcyon and then when I moved back home to New Mexico, I used rug yarn from Clasgens and then churro rug yarn which is particularly wonderful. I love how quickly rug-weight textiles weave up and how suited they are to tapestry techniques.
When I became the apprentice of James Koehler, I left rug weaving behind and focused on wall tapestries. But it is true that the very same techniques I use for my art tapestries can be used to make more functional rug-weight textiles. Of course rugs can also be hung on the wall and often are!*
The course kit comes with these 5 colors of yarn (there will be two balls of two of the colors) and a cone of cotton seine twine warp from Brassard.
photo courtesy of Gist Yarn
For the last couple years I’ve been watching Gist Yarn develop a new rug-weight yarn they’ve named Dwella. I’ve had the opportunity to test it out on several occasions and I love how vibrant the color is and how well it weaves at 6 epi. I’ve had so much fun diving back into rug weaving again. I love how quickly these textiles weave and that I can weave smaller ones on my tapestry looms and any of them on my shafted floor looms.
Gist sent me a box full of their new yarn more than 6 months ago and I have had such fun playing with it. I developed a class using the yarn called Introduction to Rug Weaving. Today is the day the yarn and class are available to all of you.
This yarn has a beautiful sheen to it. It isn’t shiny, but it reflects light beautifully. The color line was taken from their Array tapestry wool so it will be familiar to the tapestry weavers among you. It comes in 24 colors and is a 3-ply yarn. I found the yarn easy to manipulate. It works wonderfully for tapestry projects because though it is flexible and soft to the touch, it is firm enough to make a nice sturdy textile that could absolutely be a floor rug. After some experimentation, I found that 6 epi is the perfect sett for tapestry projects with Dwella.
The two projects in the class plus the colors of Dwella that come in the kit. You’ll get 7 balls of yarn total plus a cone of warp.
photo courtesy of Gist Yarn
In the new class I’m opening today, I’m encouraging you to start with table-top projects. Dwella is well-suited to these sorts of projects and my table and those of my family will soon be graced with some cheerful Dwella-woven table runners and mats.
These table-top textiles can be woven on any loom that holds a firm tension. The class covers weaving on shafted floor looms and frame-type tapestry looms. I also mention other possible sorts of looms.** I encourage shafted floor loom weavers to give rug weaving in tapestry a try very specifically in this class and one entire project is demonstrated on my Macomber.
In the class I teach how to weave angles, curves, and do eccentric outlines. We also cover other basic tapestry techniques you might need to create these projects. I will walk you through some practice with these techniques and then present the two projects you see pictured here. There is more specific information available on my website HERE.
Project 2 is about curves and eccentric outlines. Here I’m demonstrating on a Mirrix loom.
If you’ve ever been curious about making tapestry rugs, join me for Introduction to Rug Weaving! The class is appropriate for anyone who knows how to warp their loom and has some basic language around weaving. You can be a tapestry beginner but I don’t teach you to warp or manage your equipment.
As in all my classes, you have forever-access and you can ask me questions whenever you need to right in the class.
I’m looking forward to my next box of Dwella arriving so I can weave some new rug-weight designs I have in mind. I hope you join me on the journey!
The two Dwella projects I teach in the Introduction to Rug Weaving course.
*What do I mean by tapestry rugs? Rugs can be constructed with many different weave structures. Generally a rug is just a textile made with heavier materials that is often used on the floor. Tapestry techniques can be used to make weft-faced rugs using rug-weight yarn. This means that you won’t see the warp in the finished textile and the weft plays a staring role in the surface of the weaving.
**Most table looms will work, but rigid heddle looms have some challenges for tapestry. If you have a RH loom that can weave at 6 epi, it will probably work for this class. The projects are 12 inches wide. One is 12 inches tall and the other is 16 inches (plus finishing and loom waste!). I am not a RH weaver so you need to be able to figure out your sett and heddle combinations on your own. If you want to weave with Dwella on RH looms and get all the instruction, Gist has another project with this yarn just for RH looms.