I recently completed my 4th rag rug project and a common theme in all of them is a straight end and an end with a smile on it (not a happy smile, unfortunately). Two of the rugs (shown in the picture) were woven on the same warp. Another rug had the same pattern and material as these two rugs but was just a bit longer. The remaining rug of these 4 was done on a different warp set up and done as 2/2 twill. Three of the rugs were done using 4/8 cotton warp and a cotton bed sheet cut into 1” strips. I felt that the warp went on the loom fine and appeared to have even tension across the warp. I wove 1 1/2” in 4/8 cotton in plain weave for hems at each end. The pattern is log cabin so uses alternating light and dark cotton threaded 1 and 2 on only 2 shafts. The width in the 12 dent reed was 28” and the finished width off the loom is 26”. I felt that the weaving went fine without any issues. I did fiddle a bit at the selvages to get the rags to give a decent selvage so this probably contributed to the 2” of draw in. The last of these 4 rugs was done using 4/8 cotton for the warp and 1” cotton strips for the weft and was woven as 2/2 twill. I set the loom up so that there were 2 working ends in an 8 dent reed. The common theme in all these rag rugs is that they all have a smile at one end. I do not have this problem on any of my other weaving projects like blankets or tea towels. I would appreciate any and all suggestions that you may have. Thanks.
It is happening because of the draw-in. What did you sett them at? Many rug weavers use a temple to control draw-in. It is the only time I would use a temple. You could also weave with a higher angle on your weft, or create a wavy line in your weft before you beat. Somehow you have to get more weft into that shed. Have you washed them and blocked them yet? You may be pleasantly surprised after you do that. Tug on them corner to corner while they are wet and then lay them flat to dry, like a good wool sweater. Shape them.
