Tag Archives: Thrums

Problem-Solving in the Works

06 Monday Mar 2017

Posted by in Planning, Thrums, Wool

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A couple weeks ago, I wrote about my thrums dilemma and eventual inspiration to weave a bench pad in rosepath boundweave. On Friday, I pulled the pad off the loom and yesterday, finished the hemming.

Thrums waiting to be woven

Thrums waiting to be woven

The bed covering in the painting “Lallah Rookh” is my source for inspiration. It has, as one of its motifs, an elongated flame shape on a solid ground. Because I had a limited supply of thrums for patterning, I focused on that shape rather than trying to duplicate the entire covering. I supplemented the thrums with other wools from my stash for additional colors. From this image, I went to past magazine issues for specifics.

I have seen different tie-up methods for boundweave. Tom Knisely threads boundweave in the typical rosepath arrangement and treadles the colors in blocks which float two ends up, two down. (see “A Boundweave Rug” p. 34 November/December 2010 Handwoven). This results in a reversible fabric.

Flame taking shape

Flame taking shape

However, I chose the tie-up from “Rugs in the Scandinavian Way” in the May/June 1987 Handwoven Magazine for no other reason than I just wanted to see how it would work. Here, Phyllis Waggoner uses a boundweave tie-up that lifts three ends against one. With this set-up, the backside is definitely a backside. Her rug shows several design bands in varying colors, one of which was a distinctive flame motif. Sometime, that would be a fun rug to weave in its entirety, using the block treadling to produce a more reversible fabric, but for now, I needed to focus on that flame pattern and maybe a smaller diamond.

Backside of the boundweave, right off the loom

Backside of the boundweave, right off the loom

Weaving progressed slowly, not just because boundweave is a slow weave, but because I was working with weft in one-yard lengths. Lots of loose ends! Every end had to be overlapped and tucked to the back of the web while weaving. Here is where I made a decision based on expediency: because the back side would not be seen, indeed would be tied down to my loom bench, I decided not to worry about all those loose ends. If this had been a piece on which both sides would be seen, I would have used a needle to weave those ends in after taking the piece off the loom.

Because I didn’t know how long the flame motif would end up, after weaving the hem and header, I started the border just a couple inches in from the beginning. As it turned out, one repeat was going to be too short, and if I wove a second one, the pad wouldn’t fit on my bench. An added smaller diamond on one end resulted in a more useable length, even though it does bother my “symmetry” sensibilities a bit.

The finished boundweave bench pad

The finished boundweave bench pad

This was definitely an exercise in problem-solving that resulted in something useful—which is what I wanted from my thrums.

What challenges are you working on this week? Share your discoveries!

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What To Do With Loom Waste?

17 Friday Feb 2017

Posted by in Blankets, Thrums, Weaving Inspiration

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Loom waste from the wool blanket warp

Loom waste from the wool blanket warp

After I took my blanket off the loom, I was left with a familiar dilemma—what do I do about all that loom waste—thrums in weaving parlance.

Loom waste is the warp yarn left when you can’t get weave any further. Most of the time, it’s about 36” that is either cut off and thrown away or tied on to the next warp. On my Glimakras, it can be as much as 42” depending on the draft. For a wide warp, that’s a lot of yarn.

I left the warp knotted on the loom after I cut off the blanket. I just couldn’t bear to throw it away, knowing how precious good wool is. Yet what could I do with it?

Back in 2014, I used thrums for mug rugs in an overshot weave but I don’t need any wool mug rugs right now.

A couple years ago at a Midwest Weavers Conference, I took a class by Robyn Spaedy on making jewelry with thrums. She creatively wound precious yarns around pipe cleaners and twisted them into curious shapes to make whimsical pendants, earrings, and bracelets — an inspired used for sparkly, fun yarns, but these muted colors of wool wouldn’t make much of a statement.

So the thrums stayed on the loom.

At the same time, I’ve been pondering what I can weave for our annual guild challenge. The past few years, the challenge has revolved around the color of the year. This past October, we met at the University of Missouri Museum of Art and Archeology. We were challenged to use something in the exhibits to inspire a finished product. “Lallah Rookh” by Francis John Wyburd is filled with elements that can be translated to the loom, from the bed covering to the drapery, and even the women’s clothing!

As I walked past the loom with the wool this week, it occurred to me that this wool could make great cushion fabric for my loom bench. And the bed covering in “Lallah Rookh” looks like rosepath boundweave! At last, inspiration!

Boundweave sample from a recent workshop

Boundweave sample from a recent workshop

In boundweave, the weft covers the warp entirely. It makes good sturdy rugs with striking figures if more than a couple colors are used. My thrum wool colors may be subtle, but they do contrast with each other and will bloom nicely after fulling to cover the warp. Because the lengths are only about 36”, I will weave the cushion sideways, 18” wide by 30” long, folding it around the seat and hiding the cut ends on the underside. Extra thrums can be used as ties to keep the cushion in place. A path forward feels so good!

How do you use up your project leftovers?

Giving Thrums a New Life

24 Thursday Apr 2014

Posted by in Overshot, Thrums

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Earlier this year I made a goal, a New Year’s resolution of sorts, to work more from my stash. I’ve made some towels with a rick-rack cotton yarn, followed by some placemats in a heavy cotton woven in block weave. There is still my thrum basket.

Thrums are the short pieces of yarn left at the end of the warp. They are too short to weave anything useful, but I ache at just throwing them away. Each warp takes a lot of planning and throwing away 300-400 pieces each 20” to 24” inches long is against my nature. But what can I do with them (other than bundling them up and putting them in a basket for some future project?)

For ideas, I pulled up my Handwoven Magazine indexes and looked up “thrums”. (Yes, I do keep my back issues—they inspire and entertain, even if they are 20 or 25 years old!) In the September/October, 1991 issue, Margaret Gaynes presented an overshot potholder design. She used her thrums as the pattern weft and bordered the potholder with bias tape to cover the cut ends on each side. There was the beginning for my project.

Instead of potholder, I chose to make mug rugs– those fabric coasters for your coffee mugs and water bottles. I like the idea of using an overshot design and chose a pattern with one large motif for each piece. Mug rugs are often fringed on the cut ends, but I needed to do something with the sides where my short thrums will hang off. The answer here is to apply a side fringe as well. This is accomplished by threading a dummy warp for the width of that side fringe. Then when the project is off the loom and machine-stitched around each mug rug, that warp is removed and the fringe remains.  Of course, I’m back to wasting yarn.

Mug Rugs from Thrums

Mug Rugs from Thrums

I’m still sampling to get the perfect size. The first mug rug had fringes that were too short (top). The second one, on the left, seemed too big to me (6-1/2” square with fringe). The third one, on the right, is sett closer, so it is 6-1/2” x 7” with fringe; still too big. Next I will use a finer ground weft to see if I can get down to a 5-1/2” square mug rug. I’m getting there.

Do you have ideas for using thrums? Let me know!