weft prep

It is fascinating to me how much a woven piece can change its look merely by changing the weft prep.My first three rugs woven on my current warp were carefully ironed using the handy, dandy bias tape maker. Actually, my last dozen rugs were made this way. I am really tired of all that ironing ... a minimum of 130 yards per rug. My friend Bev loaned me her book of Swedish rugs.







Rug woven with the above weft. These are 2" strips ironed into oblivion, or 1/2". Nice, neat, tidy, all raw ends tucked inside of this ridiculously long strip. Makes for a nice rug with very distinct colors.








This rug is being woven using 1/2" strips, unironed. It was woven willy nilly, meaning it made no difference if the right or wrong side appeared in the shed. I love the muted appearance. Yes, a thinner rug, but the Swedes seem to weave thinner rugs. Some of the rugs in the book had two 1/2" strips in the same shed, others only one. It does pack down more easily.
I doubt I'll have enough warp left to try the two strip trick but will on the next warp I wind on. I have woven using 2 strips, each 1.5 o 2" wide but set at 6, ends doubled. I'm really curious to see the difference with rugs. Oh! I also changed the dreaded hem treatment on this rug. I threw 4 shots of tripled rug warp followed by 4.25" of 1/4" wide fabric. I do hope this works well as I'm not that crazy about the other hem.