Rags-to-Rugs.net
The Craft of Handmade Rugs
Some Old time Rugs
Some Old Time Rugs - Chapter 1 A Word About Dyes - Chapter 2 The Braided Rug - Chapter 3 The Scalloped Doormat or Tongue Rug- Chapter 4 The Knitted Rug- Chapter 5
The Crocheted Rug- Chapter 6 The Hooked Rug in Cotton and Wool- Chapter 7 The Needle-Woven Rug- Chapter 8 The Colonial Rag Rug- Chapter 9
 |
 |
 |
© Copyright Rags to Rugs.Net 2004 - 2006
These paragraphs are copyrighted, but feel free to use the PD book "The Craft of Hand-Made Rugs", or use this site as a reference.
Few articles of home furnishing are more useful or decorative than a well-made and attractive rug, and among the interesting techniques which have been revived from the old-time crafts are numerous hand-made rugs. There are the braided rug, the scalloped rug, the knitted rug, the crocheted rug, the hooked rug, the needle-woven rug, and the Colonial rag rug. The ragbit rug, the tufted rug, and the raveled rug are minor examples. All these rugs fall into two divisions according to the manner of making. In the first division are rugs made with the simplest hand tools and without anything approaching machinery. The braided rug, the scalloped, the crocheted, the tufted and knitted rugs are in this class. The hooked and needle-woven rugs lead from this division to the more mechanically developed rug, the Colonial rag rug which frankly takes its place as a loom-woven fabric.
The only tool used in making the braided and the scalloped rug, is the sewing needle. The crocheted and the knitted rug are respectively made with the crochet hook and the knitting needles. In this division the rugs are all made without a frame. The hooked rug which follows them in point of development is the first of the hand made rugs to be made on a frame. This wooden frame for the hooked rug is of the simplest construction and yet in it are the beginnings of the primitive loom.
The only other tool used in making the hooked rug is the hook or needle from which it gets its name. The needle-woven rug which follows the hooked rug is made on a primitive loom and shows an interesting example of one of the earlier experiments in weaving. This loom is actually nothing more than a wooden frame, not a bit more complicated than the frame used in the hooked rug. In the method of making the rug lies the main point of difference, which separates it as another and distinct type.
Though the tool in this type of rug is actually a needle it is used in a manner which corresponds more exactly to the shuttle of a mechanical loom. The comb which is used to press down the threads of the woof develops later into the reed. These two rugs, the hooked rug and the needle-woven rug, stand midway between the rugs made with the simplest tools and the more mechanically constructed rug, the Colonial rag rug.
Thus the methods of making are developed in logical sequence, from rugs made by hand to those made by relatively complicated tools—only relatively because the technique of each one is really simple. Even the loom upon which the Colonial rag rug is made cannot be regarded as anything more than the most primitive of looms compared to the complicated modern power loom.
Because the method of making these old-time rugs is so simple, their design must correspond in type, for without appropriate de-sign these old-time rugs cannot claim our consideration as serious handicraft. Even technical perfection cannot make an attractive rug, if the element of good taste is lacking. Straightforward honesty in design can alone do this, an honesty which acknowledges the limitations in the methods of construction and scorns to get effects by more superficial means.
Chapter 1
