The wrong side of weaving is always facing you on the loom and all ends are fastened afterward with a needle and thread. Perhaps you would be interested to know how a weaver makes a set design in tapestry. Usually an artist designs a piece, say a design for the back of a chair. Often the artist is the weaver himself. He will make two sketches in colour one to put under the warp threads and the other to keep in sight. He then starts to weave the design in as many colours as desired, then the background is worked.
A piece of hand-made tapestry is a possession that only the very wealthy can buy for it is indeed exceptional to find an ordinary weaver who can make tapestry. To the French is given the honour of being the most clever weavers in the world. As a general thing in France weaving is an inherited trade. You will find, if you ask the weaver what his mother, his father and his grandfathers were, he will tell you—weavers. The hands of the men are almost as small and soft as the women's.
I have seen a beautiful screen that represented a pansy field, if you can imagine such a thing worked in over two hundred shades of silk. Every conceivable kind of pansy was worked in it. It was made for a man who loved pansies. It took four weavers three months in which to make it, working eight hours each day.
Too much thought can not be given to the right colour for your rugs or whatever you intend to weave on your simple loom. Study to get harmonizing effects rather than contrasting ones. Gray is probably the most pleasing of backgrounds and can be combined to advantage with almost any other shade. Remember that a dark room needs a cheerful colouring while a bright airy room can stand subdued shades.
Red excites the nerves. Lavender is depressing. Blue is a cold colour and should be combined with other colours to be effective. Green is restful to the eyes in any shade, while yellow seems to reflect light and for that reason is to be highly recommended for use in a dark room. One of the prettiest rooms I know, which is ordinarily a very dark one, is one that has bright yellow and chestnut brown for its decoration. The minute you enter that room you are impressed with its cheerfulness and warmth.
No matter how pretty and beautiful are the hangings and other dainty touches of a room, a rug remains the chief attraction. It is to a room what a vase is to a flower. A rug is not absolutely necessary, but unless it is the right kind your room looks patchy.
As in everything else practice makes perfect and as soon as you become accustomed to weaving you will plan regular designs that will make the work more fascinating. If you have a large quantity of undefinable shades of silk or wool or cotton rags I would recommend that you dye them all one shade.
One ten-cent package of a dye will colour a couple of pounds of rags. Get a dye that is good for all three kinds of material as sometimes a dye that changes the colour of silk may not affect cotton at all.