I’d heard horror stories about combing out long fringes after the washing machine got hold of them. I also had a sternly worded suggestion from my weaving teacher that if you are going to sell a rug as washable, you should wash it first. I also wanted to see what happened to a rug when the cotton warp shrunk a little. When I thought of a possible work-around for the first problem, I decided to give it a try.
My work as a collector of used textiles (and sewing machines, for that matter) gives me a huge stack of pillowcases. I basted one across each end of this rug (the one used in the header shot for the website) and tossed the rug in the washing machine (cold). Line dry.
Yank out the basting stitches, and the fringe came out perfect!
