Stringing the warp threads Weaving in the rags The finished rug

I have had a long time ambition to try and make a rag rug. It was why I learned weaving in the first place. But, when I moved to London, I left behind my growing stash of quilt remnants and have been “ragless,” so I was thrilled when I found a local shop was selling selvage by the pound — for people to use as trims.

Let’s just say I cleaned them out.

I wove this on a 32” ashford heddle loom. I used butcher twine for the warp thread and did a loose plain weave. The warp were symmetric from the center, but I made clusters of 4 close together, then doubled the spaces between clusters to make the rug looser.

The selvage pieces were only 4-6 feet long, so I tied them on the edges to make a continuous selvage.

I learned a lot. Mostly that I need more rags. The rug is colorful, but not super thick. More rags would have allowed for a ticker rug, but even by the pound, I couldn’t have gotten much more material at the time.