I started weaving rugs during lockdown simply because I needed one and couldn’t go anywhere to buy. One day it occurred to me that I could weave one myself. I looked for a tutorial online. This video is the simplest one I could find. It took me some practice to get the tension right for the rug to lie flat. I found that I really enjoyed weaving and have continued.
Initially I was being inspired by the fabric I found at home. I have chosen not to buy fabric. I use fabric that would have been thrown away. It feels symbolic and healing to create beauty from what was no longer useful or what one would have discarded!
Gradually the new weave with radiating pattern started to emerge.
This inspired me to weave rugs in the chakra colours.
Then a moth arrived in my home. It was so beautiful I had to take a photo.
When I showed the photo to my husband he said that this could be the inspiration for the next rug. I wasn’t so sure initially. But I managed to weave one. People started saying it looks so Japanese, it’s like a calligraphy.
This inspired me to weave a couple of these. Each one turned out to be slightly different.
And then I got a request for another moth inspired rug by someone who loves moths. So around the time I was diagnosed with cancer, I started weaving this rug. This time round I was amazed at having the courage to weave more black. It seemed like the black represented the unknown, perhaps the unknown aspect of the journey of healing from cancer for me. Black represented the mystery, the creative power of the universe.
I am learning to accept making mistakes. when I get carried away and forget to change colour, these are the times when something new comes through.
This summer I am finding inspiration in nature. When a red admiral butterfly kept flying towards me in the park,I felt it was trying to get my attention. It seemed to be bringing the inspiration for the next rug. It didn’t stay still long enough for me to take a photo, so this photo is from the web!
I don’t have enough fabric in orange colour. A nurse in the chemo unit told me about working with fabric when he saw me weaving. I asked him if he might have any scrap material from his projects in orange. So he brought me some orange fabric. After receiving this gift I had to weave this butterfly rug, inspired by the red admiral, summer of 2025.
