~*Whipping The Edges*~

Hello Dear Friends! While working on finishing my ~*Antique Cookie Cutter Pony*~ rug this afternoon... a rug that I started months ago & am finally getting it bound thinking it will be an offering for my Early Work Mercantile page on January 1st... I thought you might be interested to see how I finish the edges of some of my rugs.



Often times I whip the edges of my rugs with wool worms... the same wool worms used to hook the rug. I don't have a large collection of wool yarn... and find it easier to finish the edges this way. I begin by marking the linen 2 inches around the boarder of the rug with a Sharpie marker. Then I sew a stay~stitch with the sewing machine... a straight and/or zig zag on the marker linen. Then cut away the excess linen. Next, I cut the corners of the rug off to prevent too much bulk. To estimate where to cut the corners, fold the point of the linen towards the corner of the hooked rug. Finger press. Then open the fold and cut on the fold line. Next, with the rug facing up, fold the raw edge of linen up to the outer edge of your rug as close to the last row of hooking as possible. Then fold the linen in again ~ so the first folded edge is now against the last row of hooking.



I don't always add cotton cording, but for this rug I did. Often times I have left the cording out & just whipped around the linen only. Also... a penny saving tip... cotton clothes line from the hardware store is a little less expensive than the cotton cording you can purchase at the fabric store. You get a lot more for your money with the clothes line.



Set and pin your cotton cording inside the folded linen as shown.



Grab your gold, bent tip needle & thread it with a woolly worm.



Poke the needle down as close to the last row of hooking as possible. Pull it through leaving a short (1/2 inch or so) tail. Hold the tail with your thumb and poke the needle through the linen again about 1/4 inch from the first poke. You will need to guide the worm as you pull the needle to keep it from twisting. Pull it down snug, but not too tight... having it hold the tail as you do this. Continue whipping until the worm is too short. Thread the extra worm under a few 'whips' on the backside of your rug and then trim the tail. (I haven't trimmed the tails on my rug yet.) Start another worm and continue until finished.





This is just how I do it... and I've never had a lesson... so it may not be right... but it works for me.



Wishing you all warm smiles...

Betty