April 5th 1pm – 4pm
$55 WSCC members, $60 for non-members
Learn the basic skills needed for braiding round wool rugs! Learn braiding techniques such as braiding straight, braiding corners, adding fabric strips, and lacing the braids together neatly to keep your project flat. Finish a small 6” braided coffee mat with a fringe, or continue braiding at home to make a chair pad, or a large round rug. With the skills learned in class, you will be able to continue enlarging your project successfully at home if desired. Supplies will make a 6” mat; make your mat larger by recycling wool clothing as our grandmothers did, or by purchasing wool strips.
Level: Beginner. All supplies included: pre-pressed wool strips of three colors sewn into a T-start, lacing cord, and tapestry needle; instruction booklet includes directions for a coffee-sized mat, or a chair pad, or a round braided rug.
Must register by March 27th in order for us to order needed supplies.
Christine Manges has been mad about rug braiding since she went to her first braid conference in 2006. She has since co-authored a book: Combining Rug Hooking and Braiding (Schiffer Publishing, 2011), and co-written and illustrated two chapters in Finishing Hooked Rugs (Editor: Rug Hooking Magazine, 2013). She has taught both at rug hooking conferences (ATH San Antonio 2015 &2017), and rug braiding conferences (New England Braids, 2010-2019) and runs the teaching program at the yearly Valley Forge Guild conference (2010 – 2019). She publishes a quarterly internet newsletter on rug braiding (The Revolutionary Rug Braider) and chats about her braiding life in a blog (TheBraiding Post.wordpress.com). She recently curated an exhibit of braided art rugs that traveled to 3 states. Her work is currently on display in Pittsburgh at The Brew House Gallery (Feb 21 – Mar 21, 2020).
