Meet the WGM Rag Rug Study Group
Do you like to weave rugs? Do you have a stash of fabrics waiting to be woven? Do you like to learn new techniques? Like to share and problem solve with other weavers? Do you need more fabric to make more rugs? Do you want to weave your first rug? If any of these sound like you, then the WGM Rag Rug group is ready to welcome you!
We meet on the third Tuesday at 6:30 pm, currently via Zoom, but plan for hybrid meetings to resume in the future. Most meetings have 10-15 members attending. Each meeting has a featured topic, along with Questions, Tips, and Techniques, where you can bring in any question and let the group help you solve it. Admiration and Inspiration time showcases the weavings our members have done, and it is not always just rugs.
As a group, we have warped up the Guild Glimakra for group weaving projects in shaft switching, shadow weave, rosepath, patchwork, and Theo Moorman techniques.
We also do annual challenges such as Vintage rugs, Black and White, and Something New to Me. Our woven rugs have been displayed at the Guild, at various art exhibitions, and entered at the State Fair.
Some of our rugs have been donated to Bridging, The Zoom House, and Habitat for Humanity. We are also the recipient of fabric donations, which are then distributed to the group members. So we have a stash, add to our stash, and weave more rugs! Sometimes we even reweave old rugs, and give them back their usefulness. (Pictured: Rugs woven from the stash of Nedra Granquist, donated to Zoom House in her honor.)
The Rag Rug group is an amazing combination of weavers from beginners to experts, who are all supportive and willing to share, inspire, and encourage each other to continue to learn more about weaving. We are standing on the shoulders of those who came before us, passing on their knowledge and techniques to a new generation of weavers, as we pass on the historical, artistic, and technical legacy of weaving rag rugs.
The current leader for this group is Judy Larson, and you can contact her at chjulars@centurytel.net to join us. Our next group project is weaving boundweave rugs, which will be on the Guild Glimakra. Our display of rugs to be donated to Habitat for Humanity will be exhibited next year, and then we will plan for future donations, too.
We recently took a field trip to see the textile studio with old looms and meet the weavers at Old School Lives in Cotton, Minnesota, and have plans for a future trip to see the looms at the Minnesota Discovery Center in Chisholm.
Join us, and be inspired by the Rag Rug study group.
