I actually rearranged this corner of the living room. This way I can hook whenever I have a few spare moments. They really add up. The wire shelving is the same shelving I use in the studio. It can be set up and torn down in just moments. See my website for more details. Click on the rug eSchool and take a look at the pictorial tour of my studio. They are old pictures. I have actually added another row across the top.
After about a week I decided to roll the edges of the backing up and baste them in place with yarn so that I could deal with only the center of the rug. That helped a lot.
I initially tried to use clamps for quilting to hold the edge of the rug out of my way. I need to get my arm under the frame either at the bottom or the left side. The rug was just too heavy for these clamps. I found these heavy duty clamps at the home improvement store. They were even on sale for about $4 apiece! They have helped a lot. Even if I cannot get the heavier hooked part of the rug inside the clamp, I can close the clamps on the rug itself and still get the bulk of the rug out of the way.
Update: The clips were more trouble than they were worth. I stitched up the folded sides with old acrylic yarn.
I also had to add a 1/4 sheet of plywood to the bottom. I simply added screws from the bottom into the wooden feet of my stand. That added the stability I needed.
Over time, the weight of the rug did degrade my 20 year old grippers and I had to replace them. The wire itself was fine, it was the material they were attached to. They would no longer stay in the tracks of my Puritan frame.
Read all the posts about my Room sized Rug (Updated 2019)
- Day 1-35 of rug hooking: Putting the pattern on the backing & hooking a rose
- Day 36 My temporary rug hooking set up – How to hook a large rug
- Day 38 – 94 Resolving the Large Leaves & Hooking the Border
- Day 94 How to hook crooked rows not straight ones
- Day 99-275 Circle Border on Room-sized Rug
- How to Hook the Circle Border
- Day 276 – 425 Progress on Room-sized Rug
- Day 426 – 659 Progress on Room-sized rug
- New Border Ideas for Room-Sized Hooked Rug
- Day 660 – 902 progress on Room-sized Rug
- Day 903 – 2491 Progress on Room Sized Rug