Many people are quilters, and it takes a long time to learn all the different kinds of stitches, and how to put together complex patterns. People make all kinds of things out of quilting material. Many people are quite accomplished artists in this medium. Still, making a really nice rug for the floor or for a wall can be much more difficult until you learn how to do it correctly. They’re all kinds of things you need to learn if you choose to take up this new sport. Let’s talk about that for a second shall we?
The reason I say this is because I own a very good book that talks about tufting, and the other day when I was going through my bookshelves determining which books I should donate to friends or to the local library I came across this book. I decided to take it with me to the local coffee shop and read through it. I’m very glad I did. It’s an extremely interesting book, and I’d like to recommend it to you as well. The name of the book is;
“The Art of Speed Tufting” by Joseph Montell, published by RC – Rug Crafters, Santa Ana, California, 1973, 63 pages.
In this book you will learn about all of the tools needed for speed tufting. You will learn how to use a tongue and steel shuttle, and a needle and wooden handle tool. You will learn why tufting weavers prefer spring brass tongues, and how to use the adjusting screw to get the tufting tool to walk. It is my belief that if you put in a good 20 hours of practice, you can learn to be a speed tufting artist. If you doubt that, perhaps you might also read the book “The First 20 Hours,” which suggests that you can learn a new skill quite easily if you put your mind to it and use the right methodology to learn.
Okay, back to the tufting book; in this book you will learn how to thread the tufting tool and why there is a bend in the tufting tongue and how to gauge and adjust the loop length as well as the distance between stitches. You will learn about the stretching pattern, preparing the yarn and how to use a yarn reeler. I had no idea about how to latex the back once you are completed, or why the hemming of the pattern and the hemming of a round rug were different.
This book takes you through creating custom patterns from start to finish. Lastly, the book tells you how to wash your creation without ruining it. Please consider all this and think on it – and perhaps, buy this book if you are interested.
