Wednesday, August 7, 2013

A Quick Way to Bind A Hooked Rug

 
Here is another way I bind rugs.  I don't always serge around the edges but for this one I did.  You will want to leave about 1 1/2 inches all around the hooked piece to be folded in for binding.

Fold in up to the hooked row

Then fold over one more time.
 


Take a needle and thread and baste in place ..... it makes it a lot easier in the long run to do this step.
 

 
Now to make it simpler for your corners baste right up to them and leave them for last.
 

 
Fold in at the corner just as in the picture.
Then fold in one side

Then fold in the other side

With your needle and thread whip up the center


Lace it up with the needle and thread now repeat on each corner.
 
Now that all four corners are basted it is time to press.

Press it all around until it lies flat.
 

Now time to whip that rug.  I am using 4 ply wool yarn that I have hand dyed and a big eye tapestry needle.
 

You want to come up with the needle right next to the last hooked row.  You will hide your tail of your yarn as you whip the rug.
 

Now go down next to the last loop of the hooked row.

Come around with the yarn and right back down next to the last hooked row again.  Repeat over and over laying the yarn right next to each other.  DO NOT pull tight.  You just want it to lay nice and even.

Nice and even and not too tight :)
 
 
 
Now just keep whipping right down the row keeping your needle right next to the last hooked row.
 



This is how the back should look it is also right next to the last hooked row.
 
 


When your yarn gets short run the needle back into the whipped row and hide the tail.
Clip off any extra bit of yarn.
 


Start again with another piece of yarn hiding the tail in the whipping and continue on.
 

As you approach the corner go slow and take your time.  You may need to add 2 or 3 stitches in the same hole as you yarn over.  Just lay them side by side as you go around the corner.
 

 
This is how it should look.
 

After you have rounded the corner just keep on whipping side by side.
 



This is the back of the rug  showing the corner I just whipped.
 
 
 

Well that is it.....easy peasy isn't it!!!!!
 
I'm not going to finish this one just yet.  I need a few rugs to show how to bind when we are at Silver Dollar City in a couple of weeks.  So there will be plenty of time to finish this one up!
 
This lil' gal has been over visiting in the afternoons as Sloan is gone to visit his other Grandma before school begins for him next week.  She finally has a chance to play a game all to herself :)  How quickly they learn to make things work.  Don't you just love lil' fingers and toes!!!!!!
 
 
Happy Trails......Ginger
 
 
 

Friday, August 2, 2013

Binding Can BE.......

Relaxing once you figure it out.  Now let me be the first to say I have tried all kinds of binding techniques and I have a couple of favorite ways.  One is with binding tape which I have found to be one of the most easiest once I learned how to do it.
I admit I once had a pile of over 40 hooked pieces needing bound all because I wasn't sure how to finish them without getting discouraged.
So I just kept on hooking and let them pile up.

This method I am using on this oxford punched rug does not use binding tape.  I simply just trimmed the monks cloth folded it in and sewed a simple running stitch to hold it in place and rounded the corners a bit with needle and thread.
 

 
Here is the backside of the rug.  See how it adds the look of almost another row to the rug.
I have another rug I need to bind and I will try to take step by step photo's of how to do this.  Maybe it will give you another option to binding if you have never tried this.
 
I am binding this with the same wool yarn I hand~dyed for the punching.  It is a 4 ply wool yarn and it binds it very quickly :)
 
Enjoy your weekend and take a few minutes to slow down in this busy world we live in and just enjoy the simpler things of life!  You will be glad you did :)
 
Happy Trails......Ginger