The tools, equipment and
workspace used to make braided rugs depends both on the scope of your
project and personal preferences. Everything I used to make my
first half-dozen rugs were items found around the house.
- An absolute necessity is some kind of clamp
to hold your braid while you tug on it. I took a wood picture
frame clamp that I found in our garage to start with, and it worked
so well that I haven't had a reason to replace it with anything
fancier. Special clamps are available for purchase from
braiding supply stores, however. If you are doing any sort of
pattern (i.e. concentric circle illusion), you must lace as you
braid so you will know exactly where to change colors. At these
points, you will have no unattached braid and will need to clamp the
actual rug to a table edge in order to proceed. So unless you
will only make "surprise" rugs from a continuous braid
that will be braided all in advance and then laced together at the
end of braiding, you need a heavy-duty clamp that will hold the rug
firmly to a table that supports your entire rug.
-
Strip sewing
equipment: A sewing machine makes this job much
easier. However, as a rug gets bigger and bigger, hauling it
over to a huge heavy sewing machine like mine every time I wanted to
add a strip became too cumbersome. I did not want to install my
big sewing machine on top of our dining table, which is where I was
making rugs. I looked into the cheap little portable sewing
machines that are advertised a lot on television, but they will not
sew the heavy fabrics that I often like to use for rugs. So that
brings me to my rug work table ...
-
Work table: I
put my sewing machine on a sturdy desk in our office, and again raided
our garage to find a cheap fold-up six-foot long table.
Perfect! I could sit in the same office chair and just slide the
light table over to the sewing machine, rug and all, then slide it
back out of the way. And when I need to clear the room, I just
dump all my supplies in an under-bed storage container and fold up the
table. The table is also perfect for my strip-cutting equipment
....
-
Strip cutting
equipment: A lot of material can just be ripped into
strips. But if you are using nice wool, upholstery fabric, etc.,
the strips need to be cut. This is a very tedious and painful
process using scissors! Short of purchasing a very expensive
machine for strip-cutting, the best method I found is borrowed from
quilters. From a quilting website, I bought a good rotary cutter
and mat. The mat is already marked with measurements, and I can
fold the fabric to cut up to four strips with one zip. I line up
a large metal straight-edge and just follow it with the rotary
cutter. The straight-edge and mat slide out of sight behind a
dresser when I need to clear the room.
-
Lacing cord:
This can be purchased from braiding supply stores. I would have
to order it online, so instead I have been using heavy nylon thread
that I can buy locally, and I double it when I lace.
-
Braid-Aids:
These are a set of three metal thingies that you insert onto each
strip, to fold the fabric as you go. One of the braid-aids is attached
to a roller mechanism that keeps that one strip rolled up and out of
the way, eliminating the tangling problem. In my opinion, the
roller is extremely helpful when you are working with long strips, and
the folding action of the braid-aids would work best with coat-weight
wool fabric. When I use recycled materials like towels,
blankets, sheets, etc., the braid-aids are of limited use ... They are
either to narrow to accommodate a three-inch strip of flannel that I
need to match with a 1-1/2 inch strip of blanket for an even braid, or
the stiff upholstery fabric I use turns itself backwards inside the
braid-aid, etc. But on fabrics with a certain weight and
strip size, and that would otherwise require ironing to make them stay
folded, the braid-aids are very helpful.
|
