After spending a couple of hours sewing in the ends of the denim rag rug it became clear this finishing technique wasn’t going to work. It tightened up the header so much the rug was drawing in. So I pulled out the ends and tied them instead. A fringe may not be the most hard-wearing of finishes, but it looks like I’m gonna have to stick with it.

Still, tying was a lot faster than sewing and I was finally able to get the rug off the loom and onto the floor.

I haven’t washed it yet – I’m hoping that washing will tighten up the fabric a little more. Not that it’s overly loose.

I’m pretty happy with it, and want to try dyeing the remaining denim to make a colourful rug. Though I have to admit the rya rug technique also looks like a fun one to try with denim.

There’s some prep to do before I decide. I’ll sample rya rug weaving on the rigid heddle loom and, of course, I have to find time to dye the denim. In the meantime the table loom is free for another project. Hmm, which to try? Here are three ideas I’m considering:

1) Twill blanket with warp of leftover 8ply yarns (need to buy a black weft yarn)
2) Wine bottle cosies using double weave
3) Using rag rug method to make a shawl/blanket out of black and red velour strips

I’d like to something a bit more advanced than plain weave, but it may depend on whether the weekend’s weather turns my head to mush. Mind you, velour might not be the best material to work with, especially as it needs to be cut outdoors as it’ll produce a lot of dust. Saturday is forecast to be 43 degrees. I may just sit downstairs under the aircon and knit.