Taqueté Rug

Last week, I posted about a bit of serendipity, which led to this project.

In a nutshell, a lady in one of the weaving Facebook groups had some Maysville 8/4 cotton warp for sale. I bought it. Before we concluded our business, she asked if I were interested in some Maysville Rug Filler before she posted it. She sent me a photo. I had never heard of it (because it was discontinued ages ago), but I liked the blues and brown she offered, and bought it from her.

After it arrived, I really liked it. So much so, I did a quick search to see if I could find any more of it.

I found six hanks from eBay for an extremely good price, so I bought those, too.

This stuff was obviously for rugs, but I had no specific idea of a rug pattern with which to use these hanks.

However, I had printed a Turned Taquete pattern on my desk, as I was considering making tea towels with it, when it dawned on me it would work perfectly with the black rug filler and some of the rug warp I had just received.

One thing led to another, and I soon had a warp on the big Macomber:

While I had a ski shuttle, I ordered a longer, custom one from Etsy It came in the same day the warp was ready!

And, within no time, I was on my way to a new rug!

What is cool about this pattern is the positive negative designs on the front and back of the piece.

To weave it, I throw the ski shuttle with the rug filler in pattern, then follow up with tabby using the same 8/4 cotton I used for the warp, but in black only.

This made the weaving a bid fiddly, but with such a thick warp, the weaving went quickly. Three or four evenings of weaving, and I had a 41" wide x 67" long rug off the loom. It took an hour or so to secure the ends and hand-stitch a rolled hem, which makes the rug completely reversible. 

I admit the colors are not exactly in keeping with the decor of my home, but this has been a great experiment. I anticipate doing more Turned Taquete; however, instead of the partial purple circles on either side, I now know to omit those and just warp with the background color.

I am sold on the rug filler and will be looking for substitutes for it, as it has sadly been discontinued.

The experiment; however, is not over just yet. I warped 7 yards on the loom to ensure I used every bit of the black rug filler that I had; however, after I used five of the six hanks, I decided to keep one to add to the blue and brown hanks I have, as I was pleased with the size of the rug. 

This means, I have 5 yards of warp left on the loom, at least 4 of which are usable.

I am waiting on an order of black mop cotton to use in place of the rug filler to make a couple of throws...

We shall see.