Lil Witch Pocket

This wonderful Needle Punch Hanging wall pocket!!!
 Click Here for purchase information 

Rug Hooked Jack-O-Lantern

Rug Hooked Jack-O-Lantern 
SOLD

Want one contact me for special order for a similar pumpkin. 

This primitive Jack-O-Lantern is created with the fiber art called Rug Hooking. Strips are hand hooked, through a backing fabric, one loop at a time in the art of Rug hooking. The backing I used was monks cloth and this Pumpkin is hooked with wool strips in a #8 cut. Much of the wool is hand dyed in fun fall tones.  Just look at that awesome stick stem. This is an original OOAK creation.
 This Jack-O-Lantern free stands and is 12" high and  7" wide.

Noahs Ark

Gene Took some wonderful photos of the Noah's Ark that I was so delighted to be a part of.

Head on over and take a peek. Keep in mind that this was completed done with a #3 cut.

This ark is so awesome. I hope to see it live some day.

Click here to go to Gene's post about this.

Rug Hooking Basics

Rug Hooking Basics

The art of creating rugs, and other things, by pulling fiber loops through an open weave fabric. You can decorate clothing, that has an open weave, with the art of rug hooking.

Tools

Backing Fabric: Open weave fabrics. Linen, Monks cloth, burlap fabrics are the most common foundation used.

Loop Material: Wool strips and wool yarn. Most common.

Rug hook: A hook that looks like a crochet hook. Most have a wooden base. Many sizes and kinds available. The hook you choose should correspond to the width of the strips you are using in your project.

Rug Frame: Used to keep the foundation fabric tight so you can push the rug hook through the woven fabric.

Loops are pulled through the backing fabric with a rug hook. Attention must be given to the height of loops. The goal is to try to have even height loops with spacing of loops consistent. You do not want the foundation to buckle because you are hooking to tight or have the foundation show through because you are hooking to loose. The loops if hooked right will actually keep the strip tight enough that it will not easily unloop.

Many patterns are available for Rug Hooking artists. Most designs come drawn onto the foundation of your choice. The designer must keep the design consistent with the warp and weave of the fabric backing. The pattern will usually come already sewn or surged around the outer edge to keep it from unweaving. Some patterns are just the paper pattern and the pattern must be transferred to the backing with a marker. Most rug hookers use rub a dub markers to draw on the backing. There are primitive designs usually hooked with wider width wool strips, like a #8 cut. Or finer designs hooked with rug yarn or other yarn.  Or with very narrow strips of wool #2 or #3 cuts.  (see chart below) You can hook with what ever fiber you want.

The wool strips can be cut with a good pair of scissors but most rug hookers will purchase a wool stripper. There are various wool strippers on the market. There are cutting wheels in the wool stripper that cut the strips into certain widths. There is a number scale for width of strips that correspond to inch scale measurements. Primitive rug hookers use wider width for their designs. You get more detail the finer your cut of wool strip.

The Scale below shows you the cutter wheel # you would need to cut the widths shown

#2 cuts 6 strips 1/16" wide
#3 cuts 6 strips 3/32" wide
#4 cuts 4 strips 1/8" wide
#5 cuts 3 strips 5/32" wide
#6 cuts 3 strips 3/16" wide
#7 cuts 2 strips 7/32" wide
#8 cuts 2 strips 1/4" wide

The backing fabric (which your pattern is drawn on) must be tight to open the weave so you can see the holes between the warp and weave threads. There are many frames available on the market. You can start with a good embroidery hoop. The thicker wooden kind would work best but a real rug hooking frame will be far easier to work with. The link below shows the, on a curve, gripper strips that are preferred to hold the pattern in place. A gripper strip has many metal pieces, kind of like a hairbrush but metal pieces that grip onto your fabric backing.  The grippers MUST be on a curve in order to work. There are frames that just sit in your lap, or floor stands to hold the frame or lap stands to hold the frame There must be room under the frame for your hand to work under the frame. Both hands are used to rug hook. Since you are using both hands you can see why a frame would be preferred over an embroidery hoop.

http://www.searsportrughooking.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=listing&rid=429&pageid=39&id=974820

Here is my favorite frame so far. It has a locking system which seems to keep the fabric nice and tight with out loosing up.

http://www.snapdragonframes.com/Frames.htm

The wool strips are brought through the backing fabric with the rug hook.  

The rug hook is inserted in the hole created as the warp and weave cross. Care is given to not put the hook through individual threads of the warp and weave threads.  Working from under the pattern you place the wool strip with you fingers under the hole you want to bring a loop through and at an angle push the hook through the hole from the top side, grab the wool strip from your finger and pull it up to form a loop. The wool is placed over the hook from the bottom of the backing fabric and the hook pulls the loop through the backing. The wool strip is pulled up taller then needed and then pulled back down to the height desired. This will help you to be consistent with height of the loops. A good rule is the loops should be the height of the hook or the width of the wool strip. A rug hooker will develop their own preferred style as they grow in the art of rug hooking. There are many hooks on the market here is a link that will show you some.

http://www.searsportrughooking.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=browse&id=946263&pageid=174

Most rug hookers start hooking the pattern design from the middle outward. Hooking the outside of each element first then working toward the middle of the element in the drawing. If you were drawing a design you would draw the outside then the inside details. That is how you would hook. 

The edges of the hooked piece are finished in many different methods. Most the edge is folded under and the backing is covered either with whipping wool around the edge, whipping yarn around the edge or sewing wool over the edge. These are just a few ways you can finish a rug.

Are you interested in learning more about the art of rug hooking? I would suggest getting a book. You could start with one from your local book store or even better borrow one from your local library. That is how I started. The next step would be to assemble the tools of the trade. You could purchase a kit. Most of the kits will have the design on the backing, enough wool or yarn to finish the design and many will come with a hook. At that point you would only need to purchase something to hold the backing tight.  

This art form is rather expensive. Wool, patterns, backing fabric, wool strippers, rug hooks and rug frames are the tools of the trade. Every one of them is on the expensive side. 

Knowledge of what types of wool to get and coloring planning are things you will have to learn. 

Links:

http://www.rughooking101.com/  A great site for many of the rug hookers needs

http://www.searsportrughooking.com  Another good site for the rug hookers needs

http://www.jeannesullivandesign.com/CustomerCare/Tutorials/RugHooking.aspx       This is a good visual of how to rug hook

Rug Hooked Watermelon & Fabric Watermelon

 This wonderful Watermelon is for sale on Ebay this week 

at a great start price of $29.99 

Dimensional Rug Hooked Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkin

This is a large fully dimensional Rug hooked Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkin.

It has a flicker lite inside that is battery operated. 

Look for this to be available for purchase very soon.

Needle Punch Witch's Boot

I just love how this turned out!

This wonderful Witch's boot is made like a Christmas Stocking but in the 

shape of a boot.


Look for more Halloween Needle punch creations to be available soon. 

SOLD

Primitive Black Doll Rachael & Rug Hooked Bees

On Ebay Now

The Noah's Ark on Front Cover

So excited that Noah's Ark made it to the cover of Rug Hooking Magazine. I am so excited that I am a part of this. It is a great accomplishment for Mary and Leonard. They let us share in creating some of the animals. Thank you for letting me share in this fun project.

Check it out

The Ark will be at Sauder & find a Home in Nova Scotia

The top photo is of Mary and Leonard with the ark. It puts it into perspective of just how big this ark is.
Completely rug hooked and all the animals, people and things on the ark are rug hooked.
I had the privilege of making two donkeys and a bee skep for this wonderful ark.

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/1-noahs-ark-leonard-feenan.html
http://www.hookedrugpatterns.com/noahs_ark_project

http://www.saudervillage.com/Creativity/rughooking_exhibition.asp#FtrTchr

http://www.hookedrugmuseumnovascotia.org/m_2.asp
http://marysburton.com/noahs_ark__products
http://threadsofmiz.blogspot.com/2009/10/peaceful-motivation.html

Overdyeing Cotton floss

Ginger from Primitives by the Light of the Moon has a great tutorial on overdying cotton floss. 

Hop on over there and learn you will be glad you did. 

Link

JoEllen

Classes on Three Dimensional Rug Hooking

This week I was asked if I would teach a class on my Three Dimensional Pumpkin. I want every one to Know that I would be happy to teach classes on any of my Dimensional pieces. Please contact me directly for this. 

It was also brought to my attention that some people have been asked to teach my process of making some of my dimensional rug hooked creations. So I thought I would make this clear how I feel about this.

Please do not use my patterns to teach classes. I work hard to come up with the unique pieces I create and love to share this in pattern making. But for another teacher to teach my pattern I believe is wrong.

I would love to teach you or your group how to do dimensional rug hooking. It is a lot of fun.

JoEllen

Bessy Angel Bunny

I finally tried my hand at Needle Punch. This little gal is of course 3 dimensional. She is not yet finished but couldn't wait to share her with you all. The back side is of course also finished. She is free standing and weighted.

The first photo was before I painted the eggs and added other details. So you have before and after photos. As I stated above the back side is also finished.  If you haven't tried your hand at punch needle embroidery give it a try. It is a lot of fun.

On Ebay Now

Rug Hooked Teddy Bear

Sewed the fabric bear yesterday and it is a good thing that I tried this before I hooked the pieces.

The pads of the bear feet do not fit well into the leg parts so will choose a different pattern for this bear. In fact I had to cut some of the leg to make it fit.

My first rug hooked Teddy Bear I did not do this initial first step. Lucky the Ending was good.

Here is a picture of my first bear.

Do you want to make your own Rug Hooked Teddy Bear?

It is easy to do this.

The hardest part of dimensional rug hooking is the assembly. I hope to help you out with different steps here and in an online tutorial.

Would you like an on line tutorial about the Teddy Bear?

JoEllen

Rug hooking a Teddy Bear

This week or next week I hope to start another Teddy Bear that is rug hooked. I am going to try my hand at jointing the arms and legs on this bear.

I will probably be using cleaned raw mohair to hook this bear with. I am thinking about a white bear with pastel colored ear and paw inserts. But we will see what it ends up looking like.

First I need to sew a cloth bear to make sure that this pattern will work for rug hooking. That is the first thing I recommend is to do a test run in fabric of something you are thinking about creating in the art of dimensional rug hooking. It would be very disappointing to do all your rug hooking and then find out the pieces are not going to go together.

If you have any questions about this art form feel free to ask and I will try my best to answer it.

Stay tuned for the free online dimensional rug hooking class. Hope to get to that soon.

JoEllen

I won

Maria from Star Rug Company was having a give away on her blog and I am one of the winners.

I won some yummy wool.

Thanks Maria

This wool is awesome and thank you again Maria.

Sauder Village 2010

Noahs Ark

I was privilege to be a part of this project and am excited to share with you that the Ark will be at Sauder this August.

14th Annual Rug Hooking Week 2010 at Sauder Village Exhibition: Wednesday, August 18 – Saturday, August 21, 2010 Exhibit Hours: 10:00 am – 5:00 pm

JoEllen of BeFRuiTFuL KReaTioNS 

Look for new things here in the year 2010

We have had a really busy summer and holiday season. Been working many hours. But this is past for a while and I hope to update this blog real soon. Also look for a free how to dimensional rug hooking class this year.

JoEllen