Stitching a rug while balancing on a bongo board: Don't try this at home, or anywhere else

Well, no one has suggested a new video idea for me yet, and I had friends by to help me shoot a few days ago, so I decided to finally live up to my boast that I can stitch a rung while doing anything, including while balancing on a bongo board. Hence this video.

2 Parts Frustration + 3 Parts Boredom + 1 Part Ingenuity = Rug needle made from a discout key fob

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While my wife was in the hospital, I took a rug with me back and forth to work on while on the CTA. One day I made the mistake of leaving it in "Savi land" and she decided the needle was a chew toy. I got it back, but forgot to put it with the rug.

BIG MISTAKE!

 We show up for her follow up apt. after discharge and... no needle. Initially I tried using a key, but the head of the key was just too fat to fit through. Then frustration and ingenuity came together, and I cut up one of my discount key fobs, and it worked. It wasn't ideal- it was a bit shorter than I'm used to, and I was always worried about giving myself a hellacious papercut, but it worked! I love the "make do with what you have on hand" aspect of this craft!

You can see me discussing this in the video below, and also see the canine culprit, angelic papillon puppy Savina...

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Watch Toothbrush Rugs: Discount Key Fob as an emergency needle in Video Blogs and How to Videos  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

The monarch rug finished & tutorial on matching an orphan color/pattern

I finished the "monarch rug" today, which is apt, since my wife loves it and helped me plan it, and today's our 13th anniversary.

So we will be keeping it, though I have very similar materials around should anyone see it and want one like it.



Here's two videos I shot with Tess as we planned the final row. The challenge was how to finish off the rug in a way which tied back into the center when I'd used up the entire sheet on the center. So these videos give you a glimpse of our artistic process, and our loving interaction.

It can be frustrating when you use a one of a kind fabric and then need to duplicate the effect of it, but we made it fun, and I hope you can have fun with it too.

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Part I

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Part II

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My mother's rug stories, another installment

I shot a LOT of video the last time we were home with my mother, but I've been so busy and sick that I've not been able to weed through the 6 gigs of files to find what is worth posting and where, what should just be kept for family history, etc.

My health has largely returned, so I started in on the project again last night.

When my wife's health stabilizes, we'll shoot the improved tutorial videos for which several of you have asked.

Grandma's unfinished rug which my mother finished, the rug Mama made from her children's flannel jammies, etc.

This is one of the longer and more poignant rug story videos I've uploaded.
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My mother telling the stories behind her rugs, including the rug my grandmother (her mother) was working on when shedied and which my mother finished, the rug my mother made of all of us kids' flannel jammies, etc. As always, my papillon dogs Hilde and Killian make cameos. I shot in lower frame rate mode to conserve drive space while visiting my mothers', so when people or the camera are moving the video is a bit herky-jerky. My wife Tess also is heard off camera.

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Some rugs my mother made "just because" and the papillon' appreciation of them

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Welcome Readers of the Tribune - How to use this site & video: the most fun you can have recycling!

Welcome readers of the Chicago Tribune's Home & Garden section. I'm glad they saw fit to publish my note about my "little craft", and I'm glad you're here.

The best way to use this site is to click on the keyword which most interests you. This blog is a mixture of tutorials, pictures, and stories of what went into the rugs, etc.

Rescued from the landfill for rugs- Veoh high res version

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Rescued from the landfill for rugs- Youtube low res higher speed version

Three rug stories by my mother and some tips too

I asked my mother to tell the story behind some of the rugs she made. I shot this in D1 quality but at a lower frame rate. One is a rug she made from her mother's old coats. Another is a rug she made of her old dresses A third is one she made of her old bathrobes (I remember going shopping with my father to buy her those!) She also discusses a bit of the technique of doing color block rows.

(The photo is 2 years old of her down at Berger Park holding the rug I made for Berger Park.)

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Tutorial & video: The easiest method to start a rug & chosing colors

I stumbled across this idea when I was tying off a little trivet I made while my wife was in the hospital. I noticed that the series of half hitch knots I made around the hanging loop looked for all the world like the normal row... much more than braids or chain stitches do.

My wife is home from the hospital now, and as she's learning the craft, she was watching and filming it.

My papillon Hilde makes a cameo.

At the end I give some guidance about how I chose the colors for a rug- I start with the start, and follow the "dao" of the rug from there.

Hilde my papillon always wants to be involved with the rugs I make, even the starts, so she provides comic relief!

Text tutorial

Take a thick or heavy strip-in the video I use the button holes strip from a blouse- this will be what you tie around, like the green pole in the picture.
Splice a piece of rug material to it, and from the splice end, start tying a series of half hitch knots until you have a long enough start-
* For a round rug, anything under 6 inches should work, but 2 or 3 inches is sufficient.
* For an oval rug, you'll need one much longer
* For a square or rectangular rug, you'll need a start as one long as your longest edge.

When you have a long enough start, create a loop around your thumb
Insert the needle through the SECOND loop to the right, and use the first loop to the right as your "top loop". You won't have a "middle loop" on this stitch, but you will the next, don't worry!
Twist your thumb loop over, and voila, you're stitching a rug!

For the first stitch you'll probably need to do a double stitch, but after that you won't need to do any more than normal.

Going around the ends the first few times, you may even need to do a couple of triple stitches.

Youtube version

Veoh- Highest Res

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Advanced Technique: Mending a rug made weak by wear or by canine chewing

When I was last home, my mother wanted me to show her how I use the same basic technique as is used to make the rugs to mend them.

Though these rugs are durable and are known to last DECADES, sometimes due to a weak fabric, a thin strip, loose stitching, or canine chewing, holes and weak spots develop.

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The videos

In high quality Veoh only... if you have trouble with viewing them, try them on Google Video or Youtube.

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Mending a rug, part 1

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Part 2

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Part 3

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Part 4

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Part 5

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Part 6

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Part 7 Final

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Tutorials: Finishing a rug, finishing off a solid color row

Background: I was finishing the rug made of the clothes my wife and I wore when we wooed and fell in love 13 years ago, and as she was in the hospital, and the rug celebrates our love and marriage, I lugged the huge rug down on the L and bus to finish with her.

(In a future post I will show detailed pictures of this, my "opus magnum" so you can see more detail. But for ease of people finding tutorials about various topics, I'm keeping those sorts of posts separate from these.)

When I was doing it, she wanted me to explain how you finish a color band row or solid color row, and as I had the camera along to take stills of her with the rug anyway, I recorded my final stitches and tying off of the rug while explaining it to her and answering her questions.

The lighting gives a spooky or film noir overtone, but I think the video is made better by my wife's interaction, as while a brilliant linguist and utter genius, she's just started doing this craft.

Finishing a row of one solid color

When finishing off a row of a given color or pattern, it is best to overlap by a few stitches so that the color is joined when the rug is viewed from any angle. This is especially important when the row is the final row of a rug, as in this case.

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Low res Youtube

Tying off the rug

When you're done with your rug, there's any number of ways to tie it down. The stitch is incredibly resilient, it isn't going to unravel or pull loose regardless. Still, this is how I usually do it.

• I do the last few stitches very tightly (even for me)
• I use a thinner strip or a graduated strip for an even blending of the end of the row into the preceding row.
• For the final stitch, I pull it down as tightly as I can,
  
• I run the strip in a basket weave pattern (over under) for three loops along the row,
  
• I do three loops in the other direction along the previous row
  
• And finally I tie it off using two half hitch knots (see previous post about these.)
  

Again, don't worry, do what ever you want and what ever works for you, but this technique will give you a clean visually attractive finish.

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Low res Youtube version