# Woven rug from recycled blue jeans



## gardenpoet (Jun 24, 2016)

My elder daughter requested I weave for her a rag rug from recycled blue jeans to place inside their front door entry, and I was delighted to have a request. It will go just inside past the mudroom they just added to their front entry, and as we live in Seattle where it is rainy off and on for a few months in the year and they have two young children, the ostensibly tough rug is a good option.

I requested that she collect the used jeans and wash them for me, which she did making that request through Buy Nothing and then rewashed. She got a lot of great options with different levels of wear and color of blue, some of them very large sized which gave me a lot of material to work with and longer strips. Fortunately, I had just watched Tom Knisely's video on making rag rugs and he had a segment on working with jeans, which was encouraging if not helpful. (You can get the same info re working with blue jeans from YouTube, probably). Anyway, it took me days to cut strips out of the jeans, which I did in lengthwise strips (rather than circular diagonal cuts on the legs) partly because I knew I wanted to vary the color as I wove and also because I wanted to do the cuts with my rotary cutter to save my hands. Still, if you do this, I recommend putting a new blade in your rotary cutter, as this material is tough.

Since I was weaving on my 24" rigid heddle loom, I knew that I would have to make two panels to come out with the 30" x 36" size she wanted, and seam them. I used 8/2 cotton warp and dressed the loom with a long enough warp to do both panels. I paid a lot of attention to my selvedges, knowing I would need them to be straight to seam very well, and tried really hard to get the lengths of the panels exactly the same -- and in the end was moderately though not completely successful with both of those endeavors. 

This is not at all the first rag rug I have woven on my RHL, but by far the hardest. In fact, making this has made me start talking aloud about "needing" a larger, heavier multi-harness loom with a beater that I can put a weight on (as Knisely has done for his rag rug weaving). I couldn't "beat" it at all with the RHL's heddle, nor did my heavy plastic comb do enough. Instead, after settling each row with the heddle-as-faux-beater, I used my fingers to push down each row as hard as I could, and often had to use my fingers and fingernails to pull down rows to tighten them after I had woven another five or so picks, to get them really close and thicken the fabric. It worked, but after weaving for several hours each day, my poor hands.... 

For the ends, I used a cream colored cotton warp to create hems to turn under and stitch, and hemstitched them before removing the panels from the loom. I don't know what I was thinking when I chose cream; it might have been better with the same dark navy I used for the actual warp. Oh well. Maybe that will keep them from placing the rug upside down? It's not a bug, it's a feature. After stitching the hems under--which was more of a chore than it should have been, because I had to weave the stitching back up through some of the jean strip picks to make sure the whole thing was quite sturdily constructed (thanks to stupidly cutting the warp ends too close to the hemstitching, duh)-- then I was ready to seam.

Seaming was a lesson in patience as well. It took me three tries to make a seam that I found both sturdy and acceptable in appearance on the top, using the same cotton yard as the warp. I really wanted to just give up and leave one of the messier seam stitch efforts so I could be through with it all, but after so much effort for the panels themselves I didn't want to wreck it with one last half-hearted go, and tried again and again. Finally I finished it last night and then added my label (a gift from my sis, who has made many a beautiful handmade item in her time) to the underneath.

I am looking forward to giving this to Megan on Friday, when I go help her volunteer team assemble food packs for hungry families, which she does every week and is one of the reasons she deserves a rug made by her mama. I hope it lasts for many years.


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## crafterwantabe (Feb 26, 2013)

Looks great!!!!


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## farmlady (Apr 15, 2017)

Great work. I make rugs from jeans also but using a two harness floor loom which makes it much easier. Cutting the strips by hand is not easy. There is a machine to cut them which I would love to have but it is quite expensive. I am still using jean rugs that I made fifteen years ago in my first weaving class and the warp is just now starting to break. 
I took the classes and then could not afford a loom so did not do any weaving again until about three years ago and of course had forgotten most of what I learned.
The rugs themselves can be recycled.
When the warp starts to break the rug can be taken apart and the material woven into a new rug. The teacher where I took the class was doing that for a couple of people who had rugs that were made for them in the past and wanted to keep them.


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## BirchPoint (Feb 12, 2016)

I LOVE your rug!!!


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## farrieremily (Aug 14, 2016)

It looks like waves. I love it too❤


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## Hilary Mercer (Feb 24, 2015)

I'm VERY new to weaving on my RHL. I love your rug and the clear instructions. What width did you cut your denim? I recently bought a book on making clothing from your own weaving, but there was no indication of the width to cut the cotton they recommended. I'm sure this is a 'simple' question to you experienced weavers!


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## Goodshepfarm (Jul 20, 2014)

Excellent ~ she’s going to love it!


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## OdileC (Jan 20, 2014)

You inspire me with your nice achievement, I love it. Also appreciate all the info you provide, great help when I'll be starting my rug, you are such a generous person, thank you so much and congrats for your work!❤????


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## Gail in Mexico (Aug 2, 2015)

Wonderful rug!


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## nanakathy (Nov 13, 2016)

Wow! You did a great job. I love it!


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## Mevbb (Sep 5, 2011)

Great. How special.


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## Babalou (Jun 3, 2012)

I can’t imagine doing this on a rigid heddle, you went way above and beyond. Even on my 8 harness jack loom, rep weave and krokbragd is a challenge because it is difficult to get the beat required. Kudos to you!


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## katrapp (Mar 21, 2013)

Looks wonderful!!! WOW!!


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## barbaralbb2119 (Sep 18, 2015)

Babalou said:


> I can't imagine doing this on a rigid heddle, you went way above and beyond. Even on my 8 harness jack loom, rep weave and krokbragd is a challenge because it is difficult to get the beat required. Kudos to you!


I completely concur, that's really heavy work for a rigid heddle! You did a great job and the time spent perfecting your seam was certainly worth it. That rug should last for years and years and years!????????


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## ilmacheryl (Feb 3, 2013)

Hilary Mercer said:


> I'm VERY new to weaving on my RHL. I love your rug and the clear instructions. What width did you cut your denim? I recently bought a book on making clothing from your own weaving, but there was no indication of the width to cut the cotton they recommended. I'm sure this is a 'simple' question to you experienced weavers!


I have not woven with blue jeans, but I have woven placemats with cotton fabric for the weft. I used cotton rug warp yarn for the warp and I cut the cotton for the weft (most of it was bought as remnants) in strips of about one inch. Actually, I think I just ripped the fabric rather than cutting it. I think I left short fringe on both ends. The placemats were a gift and I haven't seen them in several years - and of course, I didn't write down what I did.


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## ilmacheryl (Feb 3, 2013)

Your rug is beautiful! But, I don’t think that I will be weaving with blue jeans on my rigid heddle loom and I have no desire to get a multi harness loom, nor do I have room to put one if I did want one.


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## Hilary Mercer (Feb 24, 2015)

Thank you ilmacheryl for the valuable information.


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## gardenpoet (Jun 24, 2016)

Hilary Mercer said:


> I'm VERY new to weaving on my RHL. I love your rug and the clear instructions. What width did you cut your denim? I recently bought a book on making clothing from your own weaving, but there was no indication of the width to cut the cotton they recommended. I'm sure this is a 'simple' question to you experienced weavers!


Argh, I just wrote a long reply with lots of info and then when I tried to post it, KP made me go through all that captcha stuff and then deleted it. Sorry I don't have the patience now to rewrite it.
But, the upshot is:
-- figure out how heavy you want your woven fabric to be
-- cut wider strips (1-2") to make heavier fabric and thinner strips (¼"-½") to make light weight fabric
-- experiment and see what works for your project
-- cut only some of your fabric to start with, weave and then cut more changing widths if needed

Experience is the best teacher, and you will have so much fun schooling yourself!


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## Hilary Mercer (Feb 24, 2015)

Thank you gardenpost for your detailed reply and encouragement.


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## Spinningmary (Feb 18, 2014)

I think your rug is stunning and just what your family needs.
I too ask how wide are the strips and did you fold them?


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## spinninggill (Apr 9, 2011)

Looks good!


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## gardenpoet (Jun 24, 2016)

Spinningmary said:


> I think your rug is stunning and just what your family needs.
> I too ask how wide are the strips and did you fold them?


I cut them in varied widths from 3/8" (or even thinner for some of the "inserted" more decorative pieces) to 1 ½" to make a varied weft. Sometimes folded, but not always; it depended on what color side I wanted to show after being beaten. Most were shorter than 2x the width of the panel being woven, so that I never actually wound them on the shuttle, but used the shuttle to push a strip through the shed. Then if the strip wasn't already tapered at the end, I cut it so it was to make the overlap of the next strip (also tapered) fit in better. Sometimes I had to cut the width of the wider strips where there wrapped at the selvedge so that it wouldn't be too thick to make a flat turn. The whole thing was pretty much an assemblage than the usual weaving, with each piece a considered placement though spontaneous as I went.


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## gardenpoet (Jun 24, 2016)

Thank you all for your nice comments. I gave it to my daughter yesterday and saw it on the floor where it will be used. It looks nice on hardwood flooring, but then what doesn't. It also looked...small. Though it fit the space she wanted and even her reticent engineer husband turned from his computer where he was working and appreciated it with a compliment. So, good. The looking-small bothers me though. It really makes me feel like I NEED a big floor loom. Ha ha? I have been thinking "someday" but am starting to feel like I don't have that many somedays left. What is your experience, if you have a bigger loom? To what age (strength) can one really enjoy using one?


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## farmlady (Apr 15, 2017)

For whatever it is worth, I am 85 and still enjoy using my floor loom with no problem.


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## Spinningmary (Feb 18, 2014)

Thanks for all the additional information. One day I might get round to weaving a rug.


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## Ettenna (May 3, 2013)

Good job


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## raedean (Apr 25, 2011)

thats beautiful


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