Snail Spirals

Monday I warped the loom again for a project I've been plotting for a while. I had four pairs of Shaun's old jeans that had unmendable holes, and I just could couldn't bring myself to throw them away. There was so much denim that was still perfectly good!

So I cut the jeans into 1/2" strips, sewed the strips end to end, and made this:



A virtually indestructable rag rug, made entirely of recycled denim and the tail ends of three spools of cotton rug warp that came with my loom. The warp is set at 8 ends per inch, the weft is beaten (hard) to 4 picks per inch, and I wove 3" with the rug warp at the beginning and end, folded it over twice and machine stitched it down for hems. It's 25" x 35", and fits perfectly in the space I designed it for (Emma's bathroom).



I have enough denim strips left for at least one more rug, maybe two.The inspiration for this project, aside from a way to reincarnate old jeans, is the most beautiful pair of blue eyes I've ever seen, which just happen to belong to Emma.



I love how the slightly different colors of denim from the four pairs of jeans blend together in the rug to mimic the rays in her iris. I jumbled the cut strips together in a big bag and reached in randomly when I was sewing the strips together.

Truly a family project- inspiration from Emma, materials from Shaun, woven by me.