Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Rugmaking ~ A New Hobby on the Horizon

Snickers with my wool finds from Goodwill

In my blogging adventures I have come across so many new & different crafts and creations. I am totally blown away by the talent of everyone.
Rugmaking in particular has really caught my eye.
I love to look at the creations of Ginger at Primitives by the Light of the Moon & Betty's over at Primitive Betty's as well as many other wonderful sites.
After drooling over their creations I decided that I wanted to give it a try but I've never seen rugs like these locally nor any of the supplies needed to make them with. I contacted Ginger and asked if she could steer me in a good direction for purchasing the right tools and thankfully she was willing to help. She told me of a few places to shop online as well as where to find some tutorials to get started with. She was also kind enough to send me a lil' package of stuff to use for practice. ( Thanks again, Ginger!)
Now that our schooling is over I have more spare time to be able to get started on this new hobby. I went to our local Goodwill store in search of some used 100% wool clothing. It is much cheaper to do this and dye it yourself than it is to buy new wool by the yard.
I was able to find a skirt and two pairs of pants.(Pictured above with Snickers) I then washed and dried them and boy did they ever shrink. Next I cut them apart, removing any buttons and zippers.
Now they are ready to be dyed to a shade of my liking.
I mixed up two different colors ~ blue and green. Here the wool is soaking in the green dye which looked black to me. I was beginning to think I had screwed up somewhere along the way but it turned out green once it was dry.

These pictures don't show the true colors that well. They are much more vibrant than they appear.

In person, the blue piece clear way to the right is so pretty.
Now I just need to cut my wool strips and get started but I'll save that for tomorrow. For now I'm off to the Goodwill again. I'd like to have a few more colors to work with so I'll pop in and see if I can find anymore wool.
Enjoy your day and hope it's not as soggy as it is here in my neck of the woods.

6 comments:

Mama Mess said...

Very soggy here indeed! Can't wait to see your progress!

Carmen S. said...

Very soggy here too:( I can't wait to see the rugs, what a great new hobby! I love how your precious Snickers has claimed the items you found, LOL!!! Have fun at GW:)

Holly, the Old Western Gal said...

Oh, I hope you can find a red -- red is such a good prim color -- this new craft of yours is amazing!!! I peeked at those rugs and they are so unique a texture!

Primitives By The Light of The Moon said...

Have fun on your hunt for wool. Looking forward to seeing your rug as you get started. Snickers looks right at home on your wool!

Cora said...

Very interesting craft. Can't wait to see your results.
Love your garden. We really have fun in ours, although it is alot of hard work, but it pays off!!

Thanks for your visit and the anniversary wishes.
I'll be back!

Leah said...

Interesting -- I think this may be the rug making idea I recently saw... hopefully you post a little how-to -- I just wasn't sure if it was something I could do....