If you’re a long time blog reader you might remember Kelli and I taking our quilts to Kansas City for a photo shoot for our book. You might also remember how excited we were after we stopped at the AMAZING wool rug hooking place American Whatever at Corbin Mill in Liberty, MO. They had so many amazing projects. I just loved them all. This was a particular favorite.
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After leaving the store Kelli and I were convinced that we both wanted to give rug hooking a try. We were so impressed with all the amazing samples. We talked and looked and looked and talked. We did leave the store with some monk’s cloth, a hook and I got a frame. We also left with good intentions to give it a try. The owner did tell us that we’d likely want to buy a wool cutter. Price on those…$400 or more. Well that was out of our price range. Besides we were industrious girls. We were quilters. We could cut wool with a rotary cutter…
Well cutting wool into 1/4″ strips with a rotary cutter…not fun. We tried….So we put the project aside. Once our quilt book was published we promised ourselves should our book ever make $400 we were going to look into getting a cutter.
Well our book did make $400 and we kind of forgot about it.
With my health being a little topsy turvy I’ve had some time to think about what I do and don’t want to do in life…one thing I want to do is to try rug hooking. I really-really do. It is so amazingly beautiful. Besides I thought it might give me a chance to rest my foot from time to time.
I ended up telling this to Kelli and she said she was game and that we should order a cutter. We did a little investigation reading blog and websites to see what was recommended. We ended up with a Fraser Model A-Bliss. We looked on ebay and none were available. We watched a great video from the company showing how they worked and finally decided to just buy a new one from them. (You can watch the video and see how it works here)
It came in the mail a few short days later. Here’s Kelli giving it a whirl.
It cuts wonderfully. We love it and the owner of the store was right. To be a serious wool hooker, you need a cutter. It is SO slick.
We do have some wool. We don’t have the best colors. Awhile back we’d bought some clearance wool. To start with I think I’m just going to make a trivet or that table runner shown in the photo below. That will give me a good idea if I like it and what I want to move onto.
For now I’m heading over to Youtube. I’m sure they’ll have a few videos showing how to do it…I remember but I’d like a refresher.
Are any rug hookers out there? I’d love some references to good rug hooking blogs and websites. Wish me luck!!
Don’t have any websites but wanted to say “Go girls”. When I started with the help of a friend, I made some rules,, Do my own designs, use recycled wools and have fun. Amazing what can be found at thrift stores. (watch out for blends since they might dull the blades.)
It’s on my list to try. I have the cutter, and quite a bit of wool, but done have the frame yet. All my wool is thrifted and I felted it myself. Recommendation on the felting, if you haven’t learned this already. Put the wool inside a pillow case before putting it in the washer – sew or tie it closed. I found out the hard way about this when I ruined a washing machine. But you’ll be surprised how much 100% wool you can find, and debone the garments just like we do with the cotton fabric out of shirts.
My grandmother was a rug hooker. She would go to Goodwill and local thrift stores to find wool skirts that she could cut apart. She said pants and suit coats not worth the effort. You will get nicer pieces with skirts. She would even bleach out then re-dye in shades. I already buy wool this way to do wool appliqué. Good luck on the rug hooking and can’t wait to see your projects!
Polly Minick of Minick and Simpson would be the person to hook up with.
She has books out on rug hooking and has also recently retired from teaching rug hooking. Minick and Simpson do have a shop on Etsy (currently with bugs) but once those are fixed, there are a couple of books you might want to take a look at.
they also blog on blogspot.
I read Mavis Butterfield’s blog: (It’s more than rug hooking)
http://www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com/
She sells her hooked rugs on Etsy and Ebay:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/MavisButterfield
http://www.ebay.com/sch/mavisbutterfield/m.html
If you enjoy rug hooking, after you’ve made for yourself, it might be a good side business for you.
I’ve stumbled across a couple of rug hooking blogs. Try the Orangesink.blogspot.com and themiddlesister.blogspot.com. On the Middle Sisters blog, she has a bunch of favorite blogs she visits listed on her sidebar, some of which are rug hookers. Hope this helps.
I don’t know if this will be of any help, but I remember reading how one lady dyed wool
using kool-aid and a crockpot. Here’s the blog http://kimsbigquiltingadventure.blogspot.com/2010/04/got-kool-aid.html
Good luck in your new adventure.
As a long time follower of you in the quilting world, I’ve noticed that just about the time I pick a new project, you blog about it. This morning I checked in with you before leaving for my rug hooking guild and now you are rug hooking. I do wish we lived closer. I like http://www.geneshepherd.com/Genes_Intro/Welcome.html. It’s a lovely relaxing hobby but can be expensive. But I do well with scavenged wool just like I do with scraps. lol
Wool skirts, coats, and blankets thifted are a great source for wool.
Here are some great blogs: Orange Sink (she has etsy shop for her own designs) Marijo Taylor–Northwest Folk Designs, she has etsy with her own patterns and her hand-dyed wool, also a personal friend, she posts every Wed. and has great info, so reading older posts might be good. I know your going to love hooking. It is so relaxing. You can also buy wool off the bolt from Heaven to Betsy, The Wool Studio, Dorr Mill Store. If you want to dye your recyled wool you can use Kool-Aid or buy wool dyes from Cushings. There are lots of Utube videos on how to do it. A hint: don’t pre-cut all your wool–just do as you need as you’ll end up with lots of left overs, just like all your fabric scraps. Have fun–you’ll love it. Post your in progress as we’d all love to see it.
i love Gene Shepherd’s website and his internet rug camp. I have 3 or 4 of his books and I love his style and techniques. you’ll love having your own cutter – it makes all the difference!
Yay! Hope we get another convert to rug hooking! I love quilting and rug hooking equally and split my time between them. They are very compatible (design wise) and fun to do. Good luck to you! (good choice on your cutter – I have one just the same!)
This post made me smile, especially since the day before I read your post, I had put something in a box for you. Hoping to post it tomorrow. :-)