How To Twine a Rug

I learned twining from a friend who has made many rugs for her house. It's easy to do, and the loom is easy to make. I am currently making a rug with a bag full of Lopi yarn that my friend found at a yard sale for $1.00. The bag contained about ten skeins of yarn in varying shades of gray. The finished rug will be about 24 by 54 inches and I plan to put it in the bathroom. I like a nice wool rug in the bathroom. It's warm and soft, handles water well, dries quickly and of course, it will be a handmade one-of-a-kind piece that only cost $1.00 plus the time it takes to weave the rug.

If you look closely at the photos, you'll see that the loom is a simple frame made of 1-by-4-inch pine, roughly the size of an old-fashioned screen door. In fact, if you have an old screen door like this, take out the screen and add an additional cross piece. There is a row of nails across the top, about 1/4-inch apart, and a similar row of nails on a movable cross piece. The cross piece is held in place with screws and it can be removed and placed at any level to make a rug of the desired length. Some people use smaller frames that can be placed on a table or screwed to the wall for easy weaving. Others use an old wagon wheel to make round rugs.

To warp the loom, use sturdy cotton string or strips of fabric about 1-inch wide and rolled to make a narrower warp string. Wrap the warp string around the first nail at the top, leaving a ten-inch tail. Wrap the string around the first nail at the bottom and then back up to the top. Wrap the string around the second nail and back down to the bottom to the second nail there. Keep wrapping the string up and down until the warp is as wide as you want the rug to be. Wrap it around the last nail on the bottom and cut the string leaving a ten-inch tail. Pull the tail up taut and tie it to the adjacent string. Pull the tail at the top where you began down tautly and tie it to the adjacent string.

In twining, you are weaving two strands at once. It is basic over-under weaving, and you alternate the two yarns, strips of fabric or string. Tie two 6-foot long pieces of yarn or fabric strips together at one end. Place that end around the first warp thread and bring both ends through to the front. Pick up the left-hand strand of the two, lift it over the right-hand strand and over the next warp string. Then weave it under the next warp string, bring it to the front and drop it.Pick up the second strand, which is now lower than the first, bring it up over one warp string and under the next. As you weave, you are also twisting the two strands over each other, hiding the warp strand completely. When you come to the end of your weft yarn or strip of fabric, just add more. If you are making a rag rug with strips of fabric, use a needle and thread to swiftly stitch another strip of fabric at the end of the first one. If you are using fat wool yarn, as I am in the pictured rug, you can do a "spit splice" or tie a knot. Make sure the knot is buried in the twining or pull it to the back.

I recommend using a guide such as "Twined Rag Rugs," by Bobbie Irwin for more information on selecting fabric for rag rugs, the ins and outs of twining, different loom styles and lots of design suggestions. You can make some rather elegant throw rugs using practically free material and your unique ideas. If you do, send me a photo. I'd love to see your work.