oked Ru£s and Howto make them c o ^^ m <^ oo CLnna JiLaise Phillips [ ne- JMaryAnn j$ chum (Decorative cArt STCRXl N G AND FRANCINE CLARJC ART INSTITUTE L1BRART Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK • BOSTON ■ CHICAGO ■ DALLAS ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., Limited LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them By Anna M. Laise Phillips New York The Macmillan Company 1925 All rights reserved (N*^ Copyright, 1925, By THE MACMTLLAN COMPANY Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1925. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY T. MOREY & SON It is with sincere appre- ciation THAT THIS BOOK IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED TO THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN MOST INSTRU- MENTAL IN AWAKENING THE AUTHOR TO THE SUBJECT OF AMERICAN HAND-MADE RUGS: E. M. HER FIRST WORKER, OF REVERED MEMORY, AND E. V. H. WHOSE EARLY, VITAL ENCOUR- AGEMENT HAS HELPED MORE THAN SHE CAN EVER REALIZE. The sincere thanks of the author are heartily ex- tended for cooperation with illustrations and line drawings to: Mrs. R. E. Aiken, Kenwood, Oneida, New York Mrs. R. G. Brown, New York City Mrs. M. R. Maphey, Fayetteville, New York Mrs. E. 0. Schernikow, New York City Mrs. Carroll D. Smith, New York City Mrs. Helen Holbrook Smith, Miami, Florida, and Montclair, New Jersey Revillon Freres, New York City Hill, Gerhard Company, New York City Art Center, 65 East 56th Street, New York City Good Housekeeping Magazine, New York City The Modern Priscilla, Boston, Mass. Antiques Magazine, Boston, Mass. The Curtis Publishing Company, Philadelphia FOREWORD Out of darkness cometh light, out of chaos cometh order y after sorrow cometh joy. Sometimes I wonder if the thing itself is as big or as important as the reason for its being; and in view of the darkness and dawn, the chaos and then the order, the trials and then the joy of our work, it seems that the things we do are but the outlet of our inner selves. We grope in darkness and then suddenly over our world comes a light, softly stealing away all the shadows. We may remain in the spot where once it was dark, yet just because of a little thing, a circumstance, perhaps, that place is forever glorified and black darkness is for- gotten in the light of a new activity. Chaos, our unanchored minds in restless bodies, too disappears, and its antonym, order, Heaven's primary law, reigns. Light and order banish sorrow and worry and lo, in the twin- kling of an eye, the opening of a door, the en- trance of a friend, joy and happiness and hope are made possible. They become realities through the magic thing that has many, indeed 9 10 Foreword innumerable, ways of expressing itself, yet may be summed up in one word — work. Whether we labor with our backs bent to an arduous task or with intellect aided by our eyes and our hands, there is within us the power to make our lives and the lives of those around us bright and happy because we work. Satan provides some mischief always for the idle, and yet some dear souls find themselves wishing for pleasant incidental work that may be done without giving up or neglecting the duties, and at the same time, let us hope, the pleasures of homely occupations. Scattered all over this broad land from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the frozen inlets and broad plains of Canada down through our own original thirteen states and on to those that later became a part of our United States, are homes where women attend to their household duties systemat- ically and conscientiously, yet they have their leisure hours when they might be doing some other form of expressive work if they could only decide what to take up. Or having decided, for example, that they would like to possess a lovely hooked rug, they do not know how simple and yet delightfully interesting this home work really is. Many women whose ancestors were dexterous Foreword 11 rug makers have allowed the art to slumber, and it is hoped that the readers of this book may awake to new light and joy, and that they may realize that from little inconsequential things come great results, not alone in the things created or made, but in the coming of light, order, and joy to the worker. Yet all who read about hand-made rugs will not make them, but it is hoped that all may see in these inanimate mats the hands and brains and hearts of the workers who fashioned them with such care. There are rug makers and also rug collectors, those who treasure that which others have made, and because the two are wide apart and unacquainted I wish to tell the story of my own initial interest in hooked and other hand-made rugs. The tale centers and hinges and revolves on a rug maker and a rug collector — two women : "And never the twain shall meet, Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat." THE WORKER One bleak December day, trudging over a brownish yellow road that seemed more tawny, 12 Foreword perhaps, by contrast with the snow-capped Alleghenies and the Brush Mountain spur of the range off in the distance, my heart was in accord with the bleakness of my surroundings. Particularly so because the road I was treading led up to the old cemetery where some of my own people, kin folks and friends, were buried. The shrill whistle of the powerful locomotives drawing a passenger train around the Horse Shoe Curve a few miles across the valley waked me from my reverie. Looking up I found myself in front of a plank house, one of those unfinished homes that shriek the tale of their semidilapidation at all who pass by. The brick casing that was intended to transform it into a comfortable and good-looking dwelling had never been put on. Hard times caught the owner without sufficient funds to complete it, and as I turned in at the half-open gate and approached the front door, I saw that a box served the pur- pose of a step. But ere I had time for further observation of the exterior, the door was opened by a big, motherly woman. She wel- comed me — hearty and kindly in her greeting, sweet and quiet in manner. She apologized for taking me on through the unheated front room and into the kitchen, where her husband, Foreword 13 half ill and no longer young, was sitting by the cook stove in which a low fire was burning. "Indeed, I can make rugs and I work fast, too. If you'll let me make you one I am sure you'll be pleased/' My precious worker! She was so earnest, so insistent on getting something to do, for she said her husband had not worked for a year, and times were hard. Hospitably she offered me a cup of tea and some dainty bread-and-butter sandwiches, and as I was leaving she pressed a big red apple into my hand. $ $ $ $ 4s How different the yellow-brown road seemed! It was no longer tawny, but its windings gleamed as if strewn with gold. Somehow the worker's sweetness had changed my day. My quiet visit to that humble home was more important to me and to the worker than either of us knew then. Before the first rug was finished the business that had taken me back to the scenes of child- hood was completed and I returned to New York. Soon the rug my worker made for me came by mail and it was so lovely that I praised her as she deserved, for over its surface were scattered morning glories and marigolds that 14 Foreword had been wrought in a mountain kitchen during midwinter. Others followed steadily every week, for the worker had passed the good word along to her neighbors. They had little rug parties where two or three gathered and visited in just the same fashion that folks gathered to make rugs in colonial and other days that have passed into history. The rugs came and each was in itself a master- piece of handcraft, but as I had asked my worker to send the first one to be paid for on delivery, and those that followed came the same way, I began to wonder how I was going to stop the influx of hooked rugs and the out- pouring of the contents of my none too fat purse. Diplomatically I wrote my worker that, while they were all beautiful and well made, I really could not afford to buy so many, and quickly came the answer to that letter — an answer that is the keynote to everything I have had to do along this line — both in encouraging that group of workers and by voice and pen in trying to create an interest in the revival of the art of rug making. My worker's message said, "Please, Mrs. Phillips, don't stop buying our rugs. You are keeping the coal shovel and the bread knife going." Foreword 15 I didn't stop. Nor did my worker and the group of women who hooked rugs under her direction. For a year she worked and fashioned bits of cotton and wool, with here and there a thread of silk, into rugs from her own designs. Then the contagion of her prosperity and joy reflected itself, and her husband, having recovered his health, secured a position that promised enough to permit my worker to ease up a bit. With the coming of the following New Year, however, her tired hands ceased their earthly labors and she passed to her reward leaving not only beautiful reminders of her art and industry, but to me and to those who knew her better than I, the imprint of a splendid and beautiful character. From the humble, unfinished house by the side of the yellow road emerged things that brighten today other homes in the metrop- olis and in the country. Families whose names are synonymous with wealth and power prize the handcraft of My Worker. THE COLLECTOR When I had enough rugs to make a small exhibition I was fortunate in showing them at 16 Foreword the Art Center in New York. Just a few nice pieces — none of them marvellous, but all of them showing that this group of women, whose mothers and grandmothers, too, had made good rugs before them, deserved to be encouraged. The first rug sold went to a woman who delights in showing her appreciation of sincere work of any constructive kind. When the exhibition was over she ordered other rugs, and thus the "bread knife' ' and the "coal shovel" were kept going through the good will, the kindliness, and the patronage of The Collector. It is, then, with sincere appreciation that this book is dedicated to the two who have been most instrumental in awakening the author to the subject of American hand-made rugs: the worker and the collector. Personally I know of no other handcraft that has in it so much of human interest, so much of the personal equation, as American hand-made rugs. Their influence, too, seems sweet and gracious. Those who construct them are without exception, so far as my own expe- rience goes, the kind of folks one loves and trusts; and those who gather them into their homes also are people of refinement and good taste. Foreword 17 It is a real joy, then, to be the means of bringing others into this community of workers and users of American hand-made rugs. Anna M. Laise Phillips Ye Hearthstone Studios New York City. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE Foreword 9 I Hooked Rugs of Yesterday and Today . . 23 II Sentiment and Symbols in Hooked Rugs 37 Geometric Designs 40 Welcome Mats and Emblematic Rugs . 41 Picture Rugs 44 Animal Rugs 47 Marine Rugs 50 III Rare and Unusual Types of Hooked Rugs 52 IV Rugs and Carpets Suitable for City and Country Homes 59 The Living Room 62 The Dining Room 63 The Bed Room 64 The Guest Room 65 The Nursery or the Children's Room 66 The Halls 67 The Maid's Room 68 The Porches and Sun Parlor 69 Rugs for Camps and Hunting Lodges 70 V Preservation of Hooked Rugs 73 Mending 81 VI Making Rugs for Ourselves 87 19 20 Contents CHAPTER PAGE VII Foundation Materials for Hooked Rugs 92 The Odds-and-Ends Rug 95 VIII Marking in the Design 101 IX Getting Ready to Work 1 1 1 The Frame in The Hook 114 X Hooking in the Design 117 XI Kinds of Hooking 121 XII Round, Oval, and Semicircular Hooked Rugs 126 XIII Making Hooked Rugs from Wool Ravel- lings 128 Jute and Hemp Rugs 133 XIV The Three Strand Braided Rug, and the Five and Seven Strand Braided Rugs. . 135 XV Woven Rugs and Rag Carpets 143 Knitted Rugs 149 Crocheted Rugs 150 Fur Rugs 151 XVI The Rug Makers of the Future 153 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PLATES FACING PAGE I A Corner in the Author's Home 22 II The Vermont Union Rug 23 III Welcome Mat 42 IV Two Contrasting Rugs 43 V Picture Rug 44 VI Garden Design and Animal Rug 45 VII Ship Rugs 50 VIII Oriental Design 51 IX Rare Applique Rug 54 X Hearthstone Floral Rug and Egyptian Rug ss XI Needlepoint Rug 56 XII Intricate Knitted Rug 57 XIII Some Rug Treasures 62 XIV Rose-Spray Design 63 XV Unique Fur Rug 70 XVI Quaint Old-Time Rug 71 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them A Corner in the Author's Home Ye Hearthstone Studios Showing some of the Hooked Rugs in the author's possession. This embossed carpet in pastel shades on a tan and elephant- colored background has the flowers molded an inch above the sur- face. The small rug in the foreground matches the carpet. Under the window is a Star of the Sea embossed mat. On the wall is the "Vermont Union" shownjn detail on next Plate. . *w ^^ CO a-s eti ey u ^C * •« ■*"' O M-. £ •a G '£ oj as U -5 ^ •c c ^ "~ 60 £ P CS ■*— > ^3 u c ^4 s Is p CO • — H .22 M Z o cu w > " .. -G G ^ O co 3 § w ^•3 w +_J +-> h g t B '" U C r^ u O ~ G -m tuO C U G •« '^'>*£ h CQ k^ CHAPTER I HOOKED RUGS OF YESTERDAY AND TODAY "Sing a song of sixpence, Pocket full o' rye, Four and twenty blackbirds Baked in a pie; When the pie was opened, The birds began to sing, Wasn't that a dainty dish To set before the king?" Jlvhymes and bits of whimsical folk-lore jingles come to mind when we see a lovely old hooked rug or its younger lineal descendant just from the frame of its interesting and industrious maker. "When the pie was opened, the birds began to sing," birds of memory that carry us back to the twilight of other days and into the dawn of the present. Since the World War we have had a new, a different, existence. The hands of our clocks run on and time is marked just as it used to be in the days when hooked rugs were first made and treasured. Yet withal there is a difference in our lives, a difference in our thoughts, and a difference in our mode of living. As a nation, 23 24 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them notwithstanding the advance of science, of means of travel and of instantaneous com- munication, of labor-saving inventions, and the right of women to vote and hold office equally with men, we are yet unconsciously turning back to grandma's days. Why? Blessings brighten as they pass. When we were children we resented the mid-Victorian furniture, the old-fashioned cherry chest of drawers with its glass knobs, and the hand- patched quilts that covered us at night. What do we think of these things today? Who does not find somewhere in the inner consciousness that thrill that gives birth to covetousness when we see an old-fashioned brass candlestick, dented and bent, perhaps, but still beautiful? What is it that makes us wish it were ours? Is it for its beauty alone? I think not. It is because it is a key to the door of history and of romance. It makes us think, and if candles and old china and glass, things made in factories and turned out in comparatively large quantities at the time of their manufacture long ago, start us mooning, what a mint of infinite pleasure may be found in an old hooked rug. Human interest lies imbedded in every stitch, and grows, and glows, and scintillates, giving sub- Hooked Rugs of Yesterday and Today 25 ject for thought and bringing to us memories of other days. In fancy we see again industrious hands drawing in the pattern by the light of a tallow candle or a kerosene lamp, and our own electric lights blink and blink, and ere we are aware of it the spell is on us. Our own troubles and worries fade, and with our rugs and their makers we find ourselves in a fairy world, beautiful because it is a dream, a fantasy, but a bright and happy experience. We see the bits of color expand and the petal of a rose becomes the face of a young girl in quaint costume working, mayhap, on a rug for her dower chest. Then as the picture evolves, we see her youthful hopes realized and she becomes a matron with all a matron's cares. Later, as grandmamma, we see her industri- ously threading the design of autumn leaves into a hearthstone rug for posterity. Why do we love soft-toned old rag rugs ? Is it not because they are fascinating in them- selves, and they take us away from the hurry and bustle of today and start a train of thought that is new because it is old? The origin of American hooked rugs is wrapped in a veil of mystery. True, we get occasional glimpses of what seems to be the 26 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them germ from which they grew, but looking closely we find that our trail leads us up and down our colonies an d into the hills and dales of our original thirteen states, until we give up our search for data based on fact, we pause to admire the specimens we have collected. Hooked rugs have been made in the past, they are being made today, and we hope that they will continue to be made in the future. Our floors in the past were covered with them, today we have some old ones and a few new ones, and in the future the old ones will be supplanted by those of later make if the work of reviving this form of handicraft is successfully continued. Far more interesting than the date of the making of the first hooked rug is a study of the good rugs of an early period, with the idea of emulating the industry and patience which wrought the rare and fine examples of old hooked rugs yet remaining. Many times we blindly fall back upon tradi- tion and quote unverified statements regarding hooked rugs, so that it seems wise to use our reason in making a few deductions from what we know about these precious relics rather than to admire blindly an atrocity simply because somebody said it was of Revolutionary or mayhap of pre-Revolutionary period. Hooked Rugs of Yesterday and Today 27 While a few rag rugs may have been made in the earliest colonial days, few if any of them remain for us to admire and to examine. If the rough floors of the colonial farmers' cot- tages were covered at all, the mats used were undoubtedly the skins of animals that had roamed wild in the vicinity; bears in the north- ern and north central states predominated, and deer and sheep skins, too, must have been used before the open fireplaces and at the side of beds. When civilization advanced and wild game receded into the wildernesses beyond, com- munities grew to larger proportions, cities were the outgrowth of hamlets, and naturally stores sprang up and prospered. These offered floor coverings for those who could afford to buy the few foreign-made carpets exhibited, and the women -folk in the humbler homes who began to feel the longing to possess some- thing with color and design with which to cover their floors, set about planning how copies of the beautiful carpets of their wealthier neigh- bors might be made in their own homes. Just where or under what circumstances the first hooked rug was made would be interesting reading, but I have a strong suspicion that the real origin of our present-day hooked rug lies 28 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them overseas. In Scotland many village and farm houses have the floors covered with hooked rugs, "pulled" rugs they are commonly called from the process involved in making them — literally pulling the goods through canvas or other coarse foundation material. England and the rural regions of the entire United King- dom abound in hooked rugs, some of them quite old and large enough to cover an entire room. This might account for the great interest in the industry in Canada were it not for the fact that many of the Canadian women most skilled in the handcraft are of French extrac- tion, and tradition tells us that French peasants also were dexterous rug^makers. There has been a tendency to refer to our American product as the New England hooked rugs, giving an impression that they were made there only, to the exclusion of other places. As a matter of fact some very old examples of hooked rugs have been found in Pennsylvania, but as New England was settled in 1620 and the Keystone State in 1682, it must be con- ceded that our New England housewives may have had a little more than a sixty-year start before the Pennsylvania Dutch women took up the craft. Perhaps the strongest passion of the human Hooked Rugs of Yesterday and Today 29 race, covetousness, the desire of housewives to possess for themselves such things as other folks had, was the real cause of the birth, growth, and beauty of the American hooked rug which took the place of the animal skin rugs of settlement and colonial days. The making of rugs was done in what might have been termed leisure time; the long winter evenings when between the dusk that fell at four in the afternoon and the nine o'clock bed-time hour, hands were busy and minds acutely active in constructing home-made floor coverings. If covetousness were the mother of this art, then is it not logical to con- clude that rivalry, the desire to excel in making something better and prettier and more worth while than those already made, had a very strong part in perfecting the hooked rugs of an early day? Competition became the life of the trade, if one may refer to this merely incidental occupation of our American ancestors as a trade. The small rugs that covered the cracks in the floor where grandma's chair had creaked as she rocked and knitted, grew into coverings that extended from the fireside to the middle of the room and on to the opposite wall, but of course such big rugs were not produced 30 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them during the first few years in which our women made their own floor coverings. The simplest kind of rag rugs were made by sewing the pieces of good parts, or at least the less worn parts, of cast-off clothing on to a gunny sack, putting the longest pieces in the center and the smaller ones at the outside. There are some very old rugs made in this way; that is, appliqued to homespun linen, each row of pieces overlapping the other, thus making a warm mat from what would otherwise have been useless, half-worn patches. Later, this form of rug was decorated with stitches of wool by using the short lengths left from the woven coverlets and other household and wearable articles. The dye pot was as much a part of the kitchen equipment as is the stove today, and beautiful colors were obtained from barks, roots, and herbs brewed and combined to make the desired tint. Vegetable dyes were used, some of them grown in the garden; saffron for example, from which a brilliant golden color is obtained, was raised primarily because saffron tea was said to be efficacious in breaking up a cold and in reducing a fever. Logwood, onion skins, and other vegetable dyes colored the sheep's wool for the family wardrobe, and later these and Hooked Rugs of Yesterday and Today 31 many other dyes brought bright spots into the early hooked rugs. The carpets brought to the Western Hemi- sphere from Europe and the Orient were made in rather intricate designs. The French car- pets with bold florals, garlands, and wreaths were naturally the possessions of the wealthy, but their designs were imitated by the ambi- tious home rug makers and many of our early American hooked rugs show traces of the pat- terns found in old carpets. This is particularly true of the rugs made in our central states. Philadelphia was the mecca of the merchants who in early days went east once a year to buy goods. While admiring the small stock of these rare and expensive lux- uries, generally ordered by a wealthy customer, Mistress Beitleman and her neighbor Martha Simpson, spinster, and well-to-do, saw the possibilities of making for their own parlors and bed chambers nice soft rugs very similar in design, and coloring easily duplicated by dexterously dipping their materials into the dye pot. Each set to work on her delightful task and each succeeded in her own way, a very good way, and as she painstakingly drew her design with a piece of charcoal on the homespun linen or the piece of burlap that had 32 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them once been a bag, she felt the same kind of thrills and joys and expectations that come to us today as we design and execute things of beauty and utility. When her work was completed Mistress Beitleman compared notes with Miss Simpson, and later both rugs were displayed at quilting parties and apple-butter boilings, and what Mistress Beitleman and Martha Simpson, spinster, did for themselves, their neighbors imitated and enlarged upon with many varia- tions. Domestic life began to be portrayed and the house tabby was pictured early in the rug- making era. A delightful example of genre or home life is shown in an old hooked rug. Here we see Maria, see her double, in fact, with a wonderful bow tied under her chin and her red mouth literally laughing in feline glee over her conspicuous position in the center of truly colonial yellow fields, broken at the corners by the acorns that seem to point out more emphat- ically than necessarily, pussy's proud position. In the central panel on a stone-gray ground is a prim plant in a black bowl or pot which might masquerade as a Jerusalem cherry, that much loved plant of grandma's days, or a tea rose. It matters little what the flower Hooked Rugs of Yesterday and Today 33 may be, suffice to note that this rug which was said to be of Revolutionary period is quaint, and soft, and lovely, and childlike in its design. Possibly a child who loved Maria rigged her up in her own nice blue hair ribbon and then painstakingly drew her so well that mother, just ready to put a rug in the frame, cut out the silhouette of the pretty kitty, using heavy paper and applied the outline to her canvas, duplicating the design for the other side. Revolutionary? Well, maybe, but probably not Revolutionary War period, just a revolution of the paper pattern, and because it is quaint and the straight line border and panels carry the color of the old gray stone house that tabby and her mistress called home, is not sufficient argument to claim unreasonable age for it. It is a good rug, old or new, and its clipped sur- face came from the modern cleaners soft and velvety, and with but little trace of wear. If the inland towns of Pennsylvania and adjacent states gave birth to home-life scenes in rugs, or if the designs of floral-decked Euro- pean carpets served as models for the thrifty rug makers in those states, the coast-wise settlements and communities where seafaring was the source of income for the family, natu- rally gave a salty flavor to the rugs made there. 34 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them Designs of ships, clocks, and compasses were often found on old New England rugs. Of such origin is one very delightful old rug showing a ship's compass as a center motif and the moon, stars, and signs of the zodiac besprinkling the crazy-quilt border. Had these nautical em- blems been placed on a different border, one would not be skeptical when one reads the tag on the rug that says "the rug was made on a little island off the coast of Maine by the wife of a seafaring man about 1840." Now it is a patent fact that the crazy-quilt designs were wrought very largely in the eighties, but some inventive genius may have been the pioneer designer away back forty years earlier. Who knows? Forty years hence the rug will be actually as old as it is said to be today, and just as lovely if it is cared for prop- erly. If it is not, it will have passed into obliv- ion; but even then the memory of those rare colors, that mingling of sunset purple and rose that speaks of the dawn of a beautiful day, will live, and the little piece of handwork will have served a worth-while existence because it has given joy to those who came in contact with it. Another early American rug that rings of romance and the sea is the Bride's Welcome mat with two love birds in one long drawn out Hooked Rugs of Yesterday and Today 35 kiss of affection, or shall we say drawn in, since it is a hooked rug. We can see those birdlets being presented to some sweet young Puritan maiden years ago by her husky seafaring lover. In memory of the occasion it is quite possible that Aunt Jane drew them into a little design on a sprig of a tree with sky blue mottled back- ground, adding the word "welcome" under- neath in dainty pink letters. That little mat may have been designed for the threshold, but it is a safe guess that it has never been trodden upon. What heartless wretch would trample on two love birds? It simply is impossible, and it is more likely that the rug was wrapped in paper and that it reposed in a treasure chest until a few years ago. To carry the romance further, the lover may never have returned from the sea, his ship may have been lost, and his bride-elect, heartbroken, may rest in an early New England grave. Whatever the story, this little rug is today a treasured wall hanging, beautiful in sentiment, in coloring, and in execution. Of such is the warp and woof of hooked rugs. Fact and fancy, prosaic moods and idealistic whims, suggest subjects stamped or drawn on homespun or canvas, which today tell us some- thing of the life and character, the aims, aspira- 36 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them tions, and loves of the makers and their associates. Some of these rugs are fine enough in sentiment and workmanship to be called the American tapestries of other days, whether the rugs were made in the dim past, the early years of the last century, or but a few decades ago. There is a charm and worth in the old-time rugs that give valuable ideas to our workers today. We may make rugs from whatever odds and ends we may have at hand, but the designs and methods of an age that has passed may well be perpetuated. The Rodier family, master weavers of France, have a scrap book worth thousands of dollars. This book is made up of bits of fabric recovered by the rag pickers of Paris, and serves as documentation for some of the most beautiful of modern textiles. So, too, our old rugs and even bits of them show our modern rug makers what has already been accomplished through the medium of what others have thrown away. CHAPTER II SENTIMENT AND SYMBOLS IN HOOKED RUGS I^ike tapestries, embroideries, and prints, hooked rugs vary in both texture and design. Wide as is the scope of the patterns that have been drawn into the hooked rug, it may seem a bit unusual to state that the way they are drawn in, or the texture of the rug, is just as varied, but since the design of a rug is more outstanding than its texture, let us consider first a few of the kinds of rugs that our ances- tors made and that their descendants are copy- ing today. In making a rug as in painting a picture there is the element of personal preference; in short, our likes, the things we admire, are those that are chosen to be represented. I think to a large extent this accounts for the many floral patterns in the rugs of other days. What the movies mean as a diversion to some folks today, a revelling in the old-fashioned flower garden was to the women of yesteryear. Hollyhocks and bluebells, and other garden flowers of 37 38 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them many kinds and colors, were the joy and pride of the rural homemaker. It was but natural, then, that the flowers so carefully planted and tenderly nurtured during the summer should be held in loving memory in the gray winter days when snow covered the ground, the hills, and the fields, and the never idle hands turned to creating beautiful things. The most popular flower, the rose, has perhaps the largest representation in our old hooked rugs. Great big red roses, the kind produced now only by the most careful gar- dener, were drawn in, crudely perhaps, but with faithfulness as to richness of color and size, and the artist who laid out a flower garden and cared for it in the summer was the artist who hooked her conception of its beauty through the canvas of the rug in the frame. Nor was there monotony in the floral designs. The leading color may have been red, and the madder dye pot yielded color equally as rich as that of the original flower, but too much red would have marred the harmony of the rose picture, so the color was lightened with a mixture of soft pinks made by simply diluting the original coloring matter to daintier shades. What was done with the flowers was also Sentiment and Symbols 39 accomplished in reproducing the greens of the foliage. The effect of a bit of sunlight was given by drawing in yellow with the green, while the shadows merged themselves from the deep forest green into the hazy grayish tones that create an impression of distance. Notwith- standing all this display of artistic talent, some have called our early American floral rugs "crude/' The question arises whether they were crude or whether their tendency was modern in giving us a foretaste of the impres- sionistic school while eliminating its crudities. To the thinking student of this type of early American form of floor covering, comes the deduction that garden and house plants only were represented, except in very rare instances. Wild flowers and weeds were seldom thought of sufficient importance to be perpetuated. If a sunflower or goldenrod design is seen in a hooked rug, even though that rug be frayed and worn, the chances are that it is a modern product, for in the old days sunflowers grew near the chicken coop where the falling seeds were quickly picked up by the fowls as choice morsels of food, and goldenrod was considered what it really is, a weed. House plants and the more delicate garden flowers were occa- sionally shown, and we find fuchsias, verbenas, 40 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them geraniums, and morning glories scattered over the surfaces of many of our early hooked rugs. GEOMETRIC DESIGNS To associate a simple hooked rug with geom- etry, an accurate science, does seem a little far fetched, yet some of the best old as well as modern hooked rugs are of geometric design. They were not accurate, but they carried the thought of a repetition of certain angles or circles. If mother's hands drew in the roses and leaves of the floral rug, the geometric pattern was quite as likely to be the work of father or son Johnny, and in this the yardstick and the dinner plate played an important part, together with a scissors and a good stiff paper pattern. Let us take for instance the scroll designs so popular in many of the New England and Canadian hooked rugs. These were formed by deftly cutting the pattern from stiff' paper, later tracing the design on cardboard, cutting it out, and again tracing it on to the homespun or burlap which forms the foundation. Many of the geometric hooked rugs are irregular as to outline, due to the fact that the soft homespun or burlap did not stay in place while the lines were being drawn on it. We Sentiment and Symbols 41 frequently find rugs showing a diamond pat- tern border with but few of the diamonds of equal size, yet this very irregularity in drawing gives the rug a quaint hand-made quality that adds to, rather than detracts from, its charm. Florals and geometries were sometimes com- bined. When oilcloth and wallpaper came into some- what common use, housewives copied the pat- terns and preserved their favorite designs by using them in rugs, sometimes creating new patterns and combinations by working out a color scheme of harmonizing shades or con- trasting tones. WELCOME MATS AND EMBLEMATIC RUGS The general impression has gone out that the age of our rug-making ancestors was an unemotional one, that the trim, straight-backed chairs and the hard-seated sofas did not lend themselves to sentiment or romance. It is true that during the more primitive days of our country there was but little time for the elaborate expression of the finer sentiments that make for pleasure and happiness, and there was little if any of the luxury that is so abundant today. Yet human nature in the eighteenth century and during the early Vic- 42 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them torian age was just about what human nature always was and always will be. The form of expression may have differed, but the thought back of it — the impulse that prompted the expression — was nothing more nor less than natural and human. Our ancestors worked hard because they found it necessary in order to conquer conditions, but that does not mean that they did not love whole-heartedly just as normal folks do today, nor that they closed their eyes to beauty, or allowed their aspira- tions to become dulled. By no means! Hooked rugs, even those made in straight lines and somber colors, often expressed the sentimental feelings of the makers. When it came to the display of hospitality there never has been a more subtle, more kindly welcome extended to a guest than that which emanated from the semicircular rugs placed just inside the front door with the word Welcome nestling amidst a bed of flowers or scrolled in front of the picture of a pet dog or cat saying, literally and figuratively, "I bid you welcome, and am so glad to see you that I scatter my treasures in your path." Now it is quite true that the busy and prac- tical American housewife would scarcely have ^4 T5 CTS -a o ^ Is +-> 2 4J w> 2 o cu CO T3 cu *• cu "« ~ £>0 § >>» haded rosper C cu CJ s U j^ cr w " U 4-> co o cu cu c^ h ^ ' -o o rt u *~ CO > CO n "■* tJO £ « 'd 4-» S u -d O cu cu X p u aJ 3 c 5 -n rt M cu "So £ G r j 1 £ Sentiment and Symbols 43 unbent enough to say these words, but the thought of them was shown when she designed her rugs and was held sincerely, although in a sense subconsciously, as she executed the pattern stitch by stitch. With all the thought of beauty and sentiment that is back of these Welcome mats there is yet the practical use for which they were designed. They were generally of very heavy texture and deep pile, hooked closely so as to withstand hard wear and to protect the larger rug or carpet. Like other forms of hooked rugs these threshold mats were both decorative and useful. Patriotism, too, found expression in the rugs of our ancestors, and in these the flag and the eagle predominate. The rug shown in our illustration has an historical as well as an emblematic value, and is known as the Vermont Union Rug, the fourteen stars in the shield indicating the admission of Vermont which took place in 1791. Another form of emblematic rug is found in ur Peace, Happiness, and Prosperity design. Two white doves flanking a bouquet of roses in a vase, and some luscious looking red apples were used as the symbols; the doves for peace, the flowers for happiness, and the fruit for prosperity. 44 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them Still another symbol is the Horn of Plenty which is frequently found in old rugs, while a more modern adaptation comes in a rug with a horseshoe in the center and four-leaf clovers scattered over the surface. These are but a few of the combinations that form this type of old-time rug. I cannot pass from this subject, however, without referring to the Valentine rugs occasionally found in old collections. In these, very naturally, hearts and love's arrows are the predominating fea- tures in combination with geometric and floral patterns. PICTURE RUGS There would be no question as to whether a hooked rug with a design of an automobile or an aeroplane on it was antique or modern. Yet a worn-out picture rug with a winding path leading up to a little cottage, a well with the old oaken bucket, and a rambling barn off in the distance might be quite as modern as one representing an aeroplane. The chances are, however, that a rug which shows wear, a rug with faded colors and frayed edges, depicting a scene of home life or farm life, has not been made recently. Just as the floral hooked rug indicated that ; \ & Garden Design Animal Rug The very old hooked rug with braided border speaks of the gar- den, for the design of corn and tomatoes in their natural coloring is adroitly arranged. The lower illustration shows a pair of playful squirrels made by reversing the pattern. Although simple in design this is a typical old-time rug. It is especially pleasing in the nursery. Sentiment and Symbols 45 its maker loved the garden flowers and shrubs, so the picture rug tells the story of its maker's fanciful conceptions rendered with a realism sometimes only too discernible. It was the descendant of the occupant of a thatched cottage in Normandy, whose fancy, carrying her across the sea for her inspiration, created this lovely scene, old in conception but modern in treatment. Plate No. V. In many cases the composite picture rugs, those showing houses with lawns and household pets, were drawn without much idea of perspective, and the cruder they are the more feeling seemed to be put into their execution. Primitive art is primitive art and outline and color may not conform to rigid rules, but in the matter of old rugs we find a sincerity of thought which far outweighs any mistake the youthful or the mature artist may have made. It would be impossible to attempt to classify the picture rugs extant. These are among the rare hooked rugs and good specimens should be carefully preserved. An old-time scene with a present-day atmosphere, even when done with painstaking exactness, is not nearly so pleasing as those that reveal the home life of our ances- tors. True, some of our rug makers today, by crudely working in the figures regardless of 46 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them the laws of perspective, create an atmosphere of long ago. I recall one rug made by an old lady in her eighty-sixth year which showed real old-time feeling. Speaking of the rug as she handed it to me, she said: "That's my pony; that's Jack, our old black Jack, and that's the field he used to browse in, and that's the sky behind it, and that's the same old fence and the old bars I used to let down when I took the cows to pasture when I was a girl." And except that the rug was new and clean and fresh it was an old-time rug, because the black pony standing in the field or grass with the tumble-down fence in the foreground and the hazy sky in the perspec- tive, gave us a picture that was truly an- tique, but this was a rare example of modern hooking. I think, perhaps, a better name than picture rug might be given to this type. They could be called Memory rugs, for many were made from memory, using a particular phase of old- time life as the basis of the design. Simple representations of a log cabin with smoke curl- ing from the chimney, or a part of the barnyard with the house in the distance, or maybe a turnstile leading from the road to the lane; all were perpetuated by people whose memories Sentiment and Symbols 47 turned, not to the thing they saw in reality so much as to thoughts of other and perhaps happier days. ANIMAL RUGS Animal life, both domestic and wild, and with many variations, has been a popular sub- ject for hooked rugs. Cats and dogs have been represented in repose and at play. Tabby striped and Tabby white, Tom black or white or mottled, and numerous kittens of varying colors were painstakingly drawn with a bit of charcoal on to the canvas foundation of many early hooked rugs. Sometimes, lest they should be forgotten by the maker of the rug, the name also was drawn in. Thus we have a black cat on a shaggy grayish brown foundation with the word Billy in red as the only bit of color to relieve the somberness. Another rug shows a cat and her two kittens with the enlightening statement "born, 1886." A cat with kittens playing with a ball has been duplicated again and again and was a favorite subject for the semicircular Welcome mats. Tabby with her mistress' favorite color shown in a prim bow of pink or blue or red, has been reproduced with many variations. Cats awake and cats asleep, cats at play and somber mamma 48 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them cats watching their young, all are to be found in the old hooked rugs. Although more especially the pet of the men of the house, the dog has a very prominent place in the designs of the early American hooked rugs. Sometimes like the cat he is named, and there have been Rovers and Tow- sers and Tiges posing protectingly near the door or reposing on a mat or a pillow near the fireside; while curly poodles, black and white, are generally shown quietly sleeping on the old-fashioned footstools with their cross- stitch embroidery forming a bright back- ground. Leaving the farm house for the barn, we find the horse taking first place among the out-of- door domestic animals represented. Large horses and small horses, horses black and horses white, and even prancing horses done in bril- liant reds have held the fancy alike of their makers and of those who are the fortunate pos- sessors of them. In some instances a herd of cattle has been shown grazing peacefully in a pasture; while one particularly interesting rug portrays a farm- yard scene with the horse, the cows, the chick- ens, and even the pig. Poultry and bird life have always been pleas- Sentiment and Symbols 49 ant subjects for reproduction in rugs, and some very rare examples of early American hooking show the rooster in all his gay plumage proudly proclaiming himself, as it were, "cock o' the walk," and the rug showing a rooster as big as a horse and a horse as small as a rooster is unique and interesting. As a matter of fact, while hens have been shown on rugs they are the exception rather than the rule. Ducks and geese, on the con- trary, are often found both singly and in groups of three and four. The robin has occasionally been shown, and the canary bird, or probably we should say the salad bird, is not infre- quently found in old hooked rugs. Designs of a caged canary I have not seen, and it is quite possible that the kindly souls who formulated the patterns preferred to recall their pets as being free rather than prisoners behind bars. The seacoast regions of New England have given us a number of tropical-bird reproduc- tions. Gay-plumaged parrots, big macaws, and little love birds, brought most likely from the tropics by the seafaring men of the family, have been pictured in varying degrees of exact- ness in hooked rugs. The hooting owl in his setting in the moonlight, too, has many versions 50 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them and even the stork in its aquatic surroundings is often shown. Hooked rugs depicting wild animal life are somewhat rare. There have been a number of lion rugs; the one with which most of us are more or less familiar is that of a large male lion recumbent in the foreground with a smaller lion, in a tropical setting. A beaver with water and bare trees in the foreground was a rare enough subject, and it is quite clear that the maker of this rug lived in a region of fur-bearing animals. Really modern both in its method and treatment, yet pleasing in its color and design, is the big elephant, a most charming rug for the nursery. Two playful squirrels cavorting over a dull gray road are also delightful bits of animal life that would amuse children and please their elders as well. MARINE RUGS The source of marine views, lighthouses, ships, bits of seascape with gulls, and kindred subjects is easily traceable to the coasts of New England and Canada. The ship, very naturally, is the most commonly reproduced and all kinds of sailing vessels have been shown; little outriggers, sloops, brigs, and full-rigged ??■■'■"• '■■•■■. ; ■■,.••..•■: .:.■■.■• •■ .'■ : ■ , Ship Rugs Here we have two marine rugs hooked most admirably by a present day ship-rug maker. The upper illustration is a study in blues and sea green. The larger rug shows Henry Hudson's ship, "The Half Moon," on the river which now bears his name, with the Palisades in the background. mmm. v*ML,*t m> //,-, » Oriental Design This American hooked rug was so perfectly made that its owner believed it to be imported from Asia. Close examina- tion, however, discloses the fact that it was hooked through canvas and the stitches sewn in place with thread. Sentiment and Symbols 51 schooners with the wind in their sails giving one the impression that they are eagerly wing- ing off to some distant port. Ships on the old rugs, while quaint and inter- esting, are not nearly so well drawn as those that are being made today, and if one looks for beauty and perspective it will be found much more readily in the modern ship rugs than in the old ones. Designs of ships' compasses have often been drawn into our hooked rugs of other days while conch shells and seaweed are sometimes inter- twined in the borders together with anchors and twisted rope. Symbolism and sentiment, fact and fancy, all have a part in the making of hooked rugs of yesterday and today. CHAPTER III RARE AND UNUSUAL TYPES OF HOOKED RUGS 1 he word "rug" in old provincial English meant literally "snug" or "warm," and there are many other uses for rugs than as floor coverings. They have served innumerable purposes such as bed and couch coverings, for travelling as a protection against the weather, as wall and door hangings, and as prayer mats. The use and designation of the prayer rug is applicable not only to the Oriental rug, but to the modern Occidental product as well. The Oriental prayer rug has some counter- parts in the more crudely made hooked rug, for our own American rug makers wrought the substance of prayer — the soul's sincere desire uttered or unexpressed — into the warp and the deep texture of their simple handcraft. When the rugs were completed and placed by the bedside of their owners, they, too, became prayer rugs just as truly as were those Eastern mats with the spots indicated for placing the palms of the hands when the body was pros- 52 Rare and Unusual Types 53 trated towards Mecca. Into our American rugs there was woven hope and aspiration, and when the daily burdens and struggles were almost too heavy to bear, the outlet to pent- up feelings came through nimbly fashioning rugs of beauty and utility. Even the higher element of consolation was, no doubt, achieved through the medium of primitive textiles, born, perhaps, by the light of a tallow candle. Nor was the prayer rug of our ancestors entirely figurative. Rugs suitable for the pur- pose of prayer were made as copies of real Orientals and the patterns are being per- petuated today. The rug shown in our illustra- tion is a very old hooked rug of Oriental design, the colors represented with care and precision. It was made in small pieces and sewn together. Another delightful rug is that made in Orien- tal design on a knitted background. Still another of Eastern origin is a delightful mat in soft rose and tan colorings called, by its maker, the Latch Hook rug, but which is so dainty in its development that the Jewel pat- tern seems a more appropriate designation. The Near East also is responsible for some of the very delightful American hand-made rugs of Oriental pattern. One old-time rug done on men's homespun goods is appliqued in the 54 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them Near East motif of an artichoke with simulated palm framing and husk corners. This represen- tation of the artichoke, a vegetable indigenous alike to the Levant and to Italy, is a modifica- tion of the sixteenth century designs found on old velvets and other Near East and Italian textiles. The supposition is that the rug was modelled after a pattern on some rug or hanging brought back to the States by a sea captain, but no definite or authentic history of these old rugs seems to be available, and the best we can do is to temper our imagination with reason and make our deductions accordingly. The little mat of our illustration, Plate I, is embroidered in brilliant crewel work. It is a type of rug that was popular from 1840 to 1875. The raised design was made by overcasting a pattern cut in star shape from a piece of heavy cardboard, or in some cases from tin. When the desired thickness was attained the stitches were cut through the center, the pattern re- moved, and the edges of the star bevelled off neatly and evenly. The mottled effect was produced by using crewel or yarn of various colors. The Egyptian rug is of silk in the brilliant colorings of the Nile country. Deep rich blues in a dozen or more shades and the unusual Hearthstone Floral Rug Egyptian Rug The upper picture shows the conventionalized floral and scroll hooked rug with irregular block border. This silk rug in Egyptian design is rich in coloring and fine in texture. It is appropriate for table cover or wall hanging. Rare and Unusual Types 55 purplish red that one associates with Cleopatra are in close contact with the most vivid greens, yet the effect is harmonious and one has a feeling that the scarab, so nicely pictured, will bring luck to the fortunate possessor of the unusual specimen of American hand-made rugs. I have purposely avoided speaking of the individual or classes of rug makers because some of the most striking and unusual rugs are often found or rather made in quaint, obscure communities, and it is extremely interesting to know that this example of Egyptian gor- geousness was conceived and completed in a little valley farm house in one of our central states. The maker, a lady no longer young, had never travelled beyond the limits of her county and those adjoining it. She was far away from city shops, yet she wrought with the skill of a master and the texture is as beauti- ful as the colorings. Such rugs are lovely to bring color and brightness to a wall and are equally appropriate as bench or table covers in a very modern home, but to use them as floor mats would, methinks, be sacrilege. Another old-time rug that has always seemed like love's labor lost was the so-called "Dol- lar" rug made by appliqueing coin spot pieces of material to a heavy piece of men's woolen 56 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them goods. Each little spot has a border of feather stitching and the scalloped edges are embroid- ered in like manner. The diamond design is formed by the arrangement of colors. While not very practical as a floor mat there is yet a quaintness about this relic of other days that seems to indicate that it was constructed by some dear old lady whose strength did not per- mit her to work on hooked rugs or those of heavy texture and large size. Another form of applique rug called the Caterpillar is made by cutting material, pref- erably light weight wool or silk on the bias, into strips, and gathering them like a double ruffle through the center. The shirred material is then sewed on to a background in a simple design. Like the Dollar rug this is not practical for actual floor wear, yet it reminds us of the ingenuity of our women folks of another day who considered no work too intricate to be done neatly and well. Another type of rug that savors of the late Eighteenth and early Nineteenth centuries is the needlepoint rug illustrated on Plate XI. The foundation is canvas in rather large mesh and the entire surface of the rug with the exception of the central floral spray, which will be described later, is done by double cross- Needlepoint Rug Rare old needlepoint rug with raised flowers in center. Heavy enough for a rug and soft enough for a table cover or wall hanging. Intricate Knitted Rug This is what its owner calls her "wonder rug." It was knitted in sections, as shown by the turned-back corner, and bits of wool were looped in to form the design. Rare and Unusual Types 57 stitch, in this manner giving a raised center to each group of four stitches. The center is in raised or tufted flowers and leaves. There are several ways of attaining this result when modelling flowers. This particular rug center has the outer edges of the leaves and roses in fine cross-stitch, the raised central portion being made by bringing up the thread from the under side, taking a single diagonal stitch, and then bringing up the thread in the center of the stitch and looping or fastening it, and proceeding in like manner until the entire petal or leaf is completed. The ends are then clipped off, leaving the center pile quite high with the sides bevelled off down to the small cross-stitch. This crewel work of our ancestors is very rich and realistic in coloring. The red roses are beautifully shaded with touches of shadowy purple, and the leaves are pictured in varying tones of greens, browns, and tans. The one time white background of the floral medallion has mellowed into a pleasing ivory tint which shows here and there in the inner geometric border. The outer edge is black and around this is a border or frame of quaint woolen cloth as unique as the rug itself. The rug has an interlining of carded wool and the lining is of 58 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them red felt. The rug is bound with carpet binding of a vintage now almost forgotten. I have gone into detail in the description of this rare old embroidered rug because it is so beautiful that it deserves to be copied by some one whose taste for such work will make her construct another equally fascinating. CHAPTER IV RUGS AND CARPETS SUITABLE FOR CITY AND COUNTRY HOMES 1 he question of whether American hand- made floor coverings are suitable for city resi- dences as well as for rural homes is left for the individual to answer. An American house, it would seem, should be the proper setting for strictly American textiles. Too many houses are built and furnished in French, Italian, or Spanish style that is not in harmony with the location, the environment, nor, above all, with the inherent characteristics of those who are to be its occupants. The type of architecture and the style of decoration and furnishings are the incidental factors. The taste of the owner, the individual likes in the matter are, after all, the potent factors in the choice of rugs and carpets. While hooked rugs are often associated with the primness of New England in colonial days, still it is true that there are many brilliant and beautiful designs both antique and modern that would be delightful in a newly created 59 60 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them home. Brides' rugs are just as lovely today as they were in times past and happy is the young housewife whose wedding gifts include one or more American hand-made rugs of good quality. There are hooked rugs of such texture, design, and coloring that they may take an honored position along with rare Eastern textiles, for like these Oriental mats such hooked rugs are made with skill, precision, and of artistic design, so that it may be said that good hooked rugs are suitable in any setting. Their particular province, however, lies in their adding a homelike touch to the residence that is neither lavishly elegant nor pitifully meager in its furnishings. Such is the average American home today, a place of comfort and retreat where the family mingles informally. Whether, then, the home be a city house or an apartment, or a country estate or in a quiet village, all types of American hand-made car- pets may be used if a little thought is given to their selection and the proper placing of them. While a hooked rug may be beautiful in it- self, well designed, of good color, splendid wearing qualities, old enough to have value as an antique, or new enough to have long life before it, yet if placed in inharmonious sur- For City and Country Homes 61 roundings it loses its own beauty and becomes an eyesore rather than a pleasure. Because of this it seems quite worth while to consider the placing of our American hand-made hooked rugs with regard to bringing about good results. Almost any type of hooked rug is appropriate with colonial furniture, but when we come right down to the fact that much of the real colonial furniture is very simple and of natu- rally finished pine or maple, we have a point to settle before going on with our scheme of deco- ration. Old mahogany is generally referred to as colonial and many pieces of English, French, and even of West Indian origin are included. With this type of furniture good hooked rugs of heavy texture, rich bordering, and floral design well softened by time and not too harsh in outline, are appropriate. Until the more recent revival of the use of hooked rugs many decorators and home makers used Oriental rugs with old mahogany furniture, and if good hooked rugs in the sizes and the quality suitable for their surroundings are prohibitive, perhaps it may be better to use ordinary Orien- tal rugs. When, however, good taste may be fostered by a pocketbook that permits the pur- chase of fine hooked rugs, certain it is that they are more suitable and give a more homelike 62 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them and American touch to our furnishings than any imported rug could possibly supply. THE LIVING ROOM The old-fashioned parlor and the formal drawing-room have merged themselves in recent years into what we now call the living room, a room devoted to the common use of the different members of the family, good enough to receive our most distinguished guests, and substantial enough to withstand hard daily wear. It is the room where we are alive and awake, where our eyes are open and where we should surround ourselves with things that are pleasing in themselves and that are in harmony with the other furnishings. The kind of rug or rugs we select for such a room depends upon the color of the walls, the color scheme of the entire room, the curtains, and the floor itself. If one is to visualize the ideal floor on which to spread our beautiful hooked rugs I think it is a good, safe, and sensible suggestion that the floor be painted instead of finished in the natural hard wood. The painting of floors in these days of ultra decoration has become the work of an artist instead of an artisan, and I recall several floors which are in themselves things of beauty when used as the backgrounds cu JJ G c .ST a "-M 3 G t-i 03 j^ CU CU g J3 o 3 T3 , i g =3 oj «4H CO J3 50 &J0 3 • ^ 5-1 CU T3 T3 cu CU ^ J3 O V O *G O c s_ a cu .2 T3 CO O CU u d W «-M X 4—i rf o CU a D a 4-> CU CO < 3 o CJ G W »h o rf to ^d U h aj 4-J .5 o Id £ ^3 rt O .G O w CO CU j>. S CO O 3 S-c o • — > 4-J 4-> c/3 -d 3 CJ -G CO to CO o CU J3 4-> X 4-> C! 4-» 03 CU X O S-h «-t-i 13 CU ■S CU _c o ^ 4-) a o o .s CU ,G CJ «-t-l +- 1 G T3 G O G O u O tuC CO CU CU G J^ CO 'Sc C-H CU G -G aj 4-> ~G Rose Spray Design An unusually fine specimen of the carpet design is this quaint old-fashioned hooked rug with sprays of roses and buds centered on an irregular goemetric field of tan. The darker figures are soft brown and much of its charm lies in its primitive drawing. For City and Country Homes 63 for hooked rugs. One floor in particular is of soft grayish green with a surface almost like marble yet without sheen; and another of the same type carries a suggestion of dull red in its undertone. Such a floor might well be used as the background for almost any type of floral or geometric rug, and if the room be large, better results come from the use of two good-sized rugs, one somewhat smaller, and one or two small ones at the threshold, than by covering the large central space with one rug of the trade dimensions such as seven by nine feet or nine by twelve feet. This permits the use of the same colors in the rugs with a slightly varying design. For example, the two larger rugs might be of geometric pattern, and the rug before the hearth a well-covered floral with a suggestion of the same geometric pattern in the border. THE DINING ROOM While medium-sized rugs may be used to good advantage elsewhere, the dining room really requires a center rug sufficiently large to extend far enough beyond the dining table to prevent the chair legs catching in its edge, the size of course depending upon the propor- tions of the room and whether the furniture is medium-sized or massive. While a floral design 64 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them would not be out of place, a geometric, or a geometric with a floral or fruit pattern in the corners, would be more suitable. Here a rug with close, solid hooking gives better service than one with a deep nap which allows the crumbs and dust to sink into its pile. The most serviceable type of rug for a dining room is that made from cotton rags or from ravelled- out jute or burlap or a mixture of these with wool. Even in this room there is ample oppor- tunity to use several smaller rugs in connection with the large one. THE BEDROOM The selection of rugs for the bedroom depends upon one's preference in color and on the kind of furniture. If the bedroom be shared by two, of course there cannot be so much individuality displayed as when the taste of but one person is to be considered. It is well to place rather good-sized rugs of harmonious tones in front of the bed or beds and bureau, while smaller ones carrying out the color scheme could be used at the doors. The wear on rugs in a room used by two people is double that on the rugs in a single room, therefore the texture and wearing qualities should not be of secondary importance, For City and Country Homes 65 and it should be borne in mind that soft, fluffy rugs are more pleasing to slippered or bare feet than the harsher, firmer kind of hooked rug such as is suitable in a dining room. The bedroom, even when it is somewhat formal, is a very appropriate place for decided floral patterns, but care should be exercised to select rugs with a softness and tone blending between the background and the pattern. In other words, the design should not be so bold as to give the impression that it is rising up off the floor. It should be quiet and restful and yet with enough design and color to prevent one tiring of it. THE GUEST ROOM For the guest room there is a wide leeway in the selection and arrangement of floor cover- ings. Here we should plan to please by giving that sense of restful comfortableness to our visitor that is so acceptable alike to a man or a woman, an old or a young person. A bedroom is essentially a place of retreat, and if one element more than another predominates, I should suggest that it be beautiful yet simple. The guest room, too, might have one rather good-sized rug for the open fireplace, if there be one, with strips in front of the bed of sufli- 66 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them cient width and length to make sure that the guest need not step out on the cold floor. Three good-sized rugs, happy as to color combination and in harmony with the exposure, bright yellows and warm reds for a north room, grays and tans for a south room, with medium colors for those of eastern or western exposure and with a rather large pattern, would suggest a sense of comfortable floor covering. Somehow a very small pattern of flowers or a finely blocked geometric design does not convey that feeling of hospitality that the freer, bolder designs give, especially when they are carried out in a harmonious trio of guest-room rugs. Whether a guest room be large or small, the idea should be to have the floor well covered without using too many small rugs. In one's own room, however, a few small rugs might be advanta- geously used, for they can be changed about easily, thus relieving the monotony of seeing the same thing in the same place day after day, week after week. THE NURSERY OR THE CHILDREN'S ROOM Nowhere are American hand-made rugs more appropriate than in the playroom or bedroom of the little folks or young folks of the house- hold. For the nursery there are adorable rugs; For City and Country Homes 67 quaint animals, flights of birds, baskets of flowers, and lovely combinations of the floral and geometric types of hooked rugs are suit- able to encourage beauty of design and charm of color. Here again, however, we must remem- ber the question of utility. Little feet are never still and the rugs on which the toys are spread should be of somewhat generous dimen- sions and of a firm texture. Indeed it is a good suggestion to cover the nursery floor entirely with yard-wide, hand-woven carpet, sewn to- gether and tacked down around the edges, using this as the background for a few brilliant and delightful hooked rugs. The use of this rag carpet as a floor covering is advocated because when it becomes soiled it can readily be taken up and the strips put through the family washing machine, thrown over the line and made perfectly sanitary, sweet and clean for service again in the nursery, or it may be the maid's room. THE HALLS Where the large living room takes the place of the entrance hall, as it does in many country houses, the Welcome mat at the front door gives that hospitable feeling that is suggested by no other form of floor covering; while in 68 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them houses having the old-fashioned long entrance hall through the center, a runner should be used of sufficient width to cover the floor with the exception of a few inches at both sides. Such runners may frequently be found with very little design in them. Many of them come in soft tones of forest green with shaded borders and others have tiled or block designs wrought out by the use of black on neutral grays, tans, browns or whatever colors one may select. If the hall is spacious, merging itself into a recep- tion room, one may dispense with the long runner and use medium-sized rugs instead. THE MAID'S ROOM Let us not forget the maid's room. Do not relegate to the quarters of that faithful house- hold helper all the faded bits of old carpet and dusty cast-offs that are not suitable anywhere else. Let us realize that human nature in its legitimate love of comfort and beauty is just as evident in one walk of life as in another, and so let us make the floor coverings of the rooms occupied by our domestic helpers both attract- ive and sanitary. Here, as in the nursery and children's bedrooms, we may use to good advantage the nice patterns of yard-wide hand- woven rag carpet. It gives a firm, smooth sur- For City and Country Homes 69 face, is easily kept clean, and adds brightness and charm to its surroundings. Our sense of economy may make us feel that a hooked rug is an extravagance, but I believe that even a small hooked rug with good coloring and a touch of daintiness in its design in the maid's room would be well worth the investment. The rooms about which we are speaking are not always the most brilliantly lighted nor the most cheerful in outlook. Tired eyes and drooping body might find a little inspiration if the maid's room were made attractive, as it surely would be, with, let us say, a rag carpet in a broken block design of yellows and deep blues, with a soft hooked rug in harmonizing colors. I cannot pass the subject of the maid's room with eyes solely on the floor, and I must say that fresh chintz curtains with deep, cheer- ful colors, and a print or two on the walls, are also good investments. The home that is fur- nished with hooked rugs is certainly a cheerful home and the maid who cares for it and keeps it clean and neat should not be forgotten in our planning. THE PORCHES AND SUN PARLOR In direct contrast to the texture of the rugs used in our sleeping and living rooms we might 70 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them very well select for the porches and sun parlor rugs of rather thin texture and with but little if any depth of pile. All that is essential is that the design shall be pleasing and that it shall be bright. Here one can use one's most riotous ideas as to coloring and design. Great big bold floral patterns with colors that do not clash with the chintz are quite appropriate here, and if geometric designs be our choice, we need not confine ourselves to the conserva- tive small patterns with scarcely recognizable designs, but we may use bold blocks of bril- liant blues and yellows and reds, and a mixture of other colors that will reflect the brightness of the days and enhance our sense of freedom from restraint. RUGS FOR CAMPS AND HUNTING LODGES There is no quainter nor more appropriate setting for American hand-made rugs than the wind-swept rustic cabin of the hunter or the wave-washed seaside cottage. For the hunter's lodge there is in addition to the coarser and heavier varieties of hooked, braided, and woven rugs, the fur rug made from bits of fur pieced together like an old- fashioned patchwork quilt and hung on the wall as a trophy of the hunt. '>&' J &r3t 3> * d* ....... ...-■■ ; Unique Fur Rug Fur rug made from innumerable pieces of various kinds of fur. This is one of the mDst elaborate fur rugs ever made. The de- signer worked out the picture in the center first and then added border designs from material at hand. Quaint Old-time Rug Time has dealt gently with this old lace-edged hooked rug. Its roses and foliage are softened and its black background, faded, giving it a dignity all its own. For City and Country Homes 71 Textile rugs should be heavy and rather bold in design. Animal rugs hooked from coarse woolen cloth are excellent before the fire. Dogs and deer are favorites in their primitive settings. Even the good old-fashioned rag carpets woven from coarse rags with gay wool stripes are delightfully comfortable in keeping the wind from penetrating unwelcomely through the cracks of the floor. Oval and round braided rugs of generous size, too, add a touch of real comfort to such a room and there is an excellent chance to use some vivid colors here and there that reflect and emphasize the rosy lights from the roaring wood fire in the chimney — hearth- stone rugs, these, in name and in reality — and every retreat of this kind should be amply supplied with genuine American hand-made rugs that reflect, too, the taste of the owners. With such furnishings, in the language of Omar, "A wilderness were Paradise enow." The seaside shack or the summer home that stands within sound of the turbulent waves may have the floors just as attractively dressed as are those of the mountain hunter. Indeed, if I may venture to refer to it again, hooked rugs have an especially salty flavor and there are no end of nautical subjects to use on rugs for floors and walls and over couches. 72 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them Here the rather light-weight woven carpets in those wonderful color tints and tone com- binations that reveal the sunset glow are cool and smooth coverings for the floors of the entire house. These may be relieved here and there by a hooked or braided rug that is restful in design and harmonious in coloring. For all places, then, where man may dwell either temporarily for rest and recreation or permanently in the spot he calls home, the handcraft of our American rug makers is not only appropriate but essential for comfort, beauty, and utility. Hand-made rugs are cheer- ful on the hearth and they wear like a stone. CHAPTER V PRESERVATION OF HOOKED RUGS We have a slogan that sounds about like this: Hooked rugs are cheerful on the hearth and wear like a stone. This statement, like most truths, can be questioned because it does not tell the whole truth. Hooked rugs are cheerful only when they are clean and free from the unsightly disfigurations of dirt. True, some people like what they consider the aristoc- racy of age, faded colors, grimy texture, and frayed edges; but all these elements shorten the life of hooked rugs, and the accumulation of dust is a menace to health. Certain it is that old rugs have a softness that is not possible in a rug fresh from the hands of the maker, but this softness is the result of being well pre- served. The beauty of an antique hooked rug lies in having time deal gently with it, in blend- ing its colors and melting one stitch into the other. This is achieved by taking proper care of these precious relics of other days, through keeping them clean and sanitary. There are a few things in this mundane life 73 74 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them of ours that are best done in the old way, the natural way, rather than by an artificial method. Science and invention may take away the drudgery of some things that used to be done more laboriously than we have time or patience for today, but most of the big things that mark epochs in families, the pleasures and pains of our daily life, are met in about the same way that our grandmothers faced them. Hooked rugs are a product of other times, and yet those that are well made today, and the art is being revivified, are made in exactly the same manner that those prized mats of almost a century ago were made. Stitch by stitch the pattern is traced by hooking the material through canvas or burlap, and even the old designs are really more sought after by collectors and connoisseurs than new ones. However, unless the rare old rugs are properly taken care of they will literally pass away and the place where they were will know them no more. New rugs, too, will not grow old grace- fully unless their owners learn to preserve them by old-time methods. The very earliest hooked rugs were drawn through a coarse homespun canvas which naturally wore quite well, but even that would not have withstood the heels of time and the Preservation of Hooked Rugs 75 accumulation of the dust of ages ground into it unless certain care had been taken of it week by week as time wore on into years. Dust settles into the bottom of the mesh of hooked rugs and grinds into the foundation, rotting it and causing it to become brittle and easily torn. When the foundation of any structure is in danger, the structure itself is not worth much, so it behooves those who would preserve their valued possessions to understand their weaknesses and to set about remedying so far as possible any worn places. Since we are dealing with cleaning an old- time article in an old-time way it may not be amiss to remark as did our grandmothers before us, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," and we shall proceed to show how to administer that ounce of prevention and touch later on the pound of cure. Very naturally a new rug, just from the frame, has the loops or its sheared surface rather loose, much looser than after the rug has been trampled on, and is, therefore, more apt to ravel out if one or more of the strands should catch in one's heel or in any rough obstacle such as a broken castor or splintered chair leg. Let us prevent this at once by placing our newly made rug where it will be walked on 76 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them daily. This continual walking on the rug will wear off the bits of ravellings and threads that appear when a rug is first used. These in turn may be removed permanently together with the surface dust by a gentle brushing with a rather soft corn broom, one that has fine splints. Just here we revert again to primitive methods of cleaning; that is, sweeping with a broom. New rugs, as we have just said, require a bit more care in handling than those which have become set, by pressing down and flattening out the stitches and thus preventing them from ripping. After rugs have had daily wear for a few weeks they may be swept quite briskly with a corn or splint broom, and as they grow older the broom need not be so soft nor the applica- tion so gentle as when the rug is young and tender. A rug in its prime will withstand almost any kind of cleansing process that is reasonable or sane, with one exception, and this exception really is a rule which reads, NEVER SHAKE A HOOKED RUG! "Why, all old-fashioned carpets and floor coverings can be shaken out of doors," someone argues. They can be shaken and many of them are shaken, but the treatment is not good for the Preservation of Hooked Rugs 77 longevity of any floor covering, and this axiom applies to machine-made as well as hand-made products. The reason is obvious if one stops to consider that when rugs are shaken there is a strain on the fiber at the point where the rug is held, and it is apt to be literally torn to pieces by its own weight. This is particularly true of hooked rugs. The process of their making adds to the original weight of the material holding them together, the burlap or canvas, and the added load this foundation has to bear even under proper treatment is no small ele- ment. We must realize that the texture of the material has been pulled apart where the hooking is done, and that in time this burlap will give way unless its health and strength are carefully watched and any signs of disintegra- tion remedied at once. There have been legends broadcast, concern- ing hooked rugs, that are half truths. One of them is that the housewives of grandma's days turned their rugs upside down to preserve them from dust and wear. The fact is that the first element in the cleansing of a rug lies in turning it with its face to the floor, and walking on it for a few days before any other attempt is made to clean it. The laws of gravity teach us that heavy matter falls to the ground. Thus the 78 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them dirt that has been pressed into the hooked rug while it was being used right side up has sunk deep into the pile, indeed it has buried itself about as deep as it can get and lies on the bur- lap or canvas, slowly but most surely cutting its texture. The careful, old-fashioned house- wife, by years of experience with hooking and using rugs of this kind, never stopped to analyze the principle that Isaac Newton put into words, but she knew that dirt just naturally settles. Preliminary to further attention she turned her rugs over and let the folks walk on them good and hard, and the same heels and toes that had tramped the dirt and grime into the rug, tramped them out again on to the floor that had been specially scrubbed before the rug was turned. What a lot of dust mother swept up when she again turned her rug right side up, brushed it lightly, and put it down on another freshly scrubbed part of the porch or kitchen floor. The old-time method of actually cleaning hooked rugs was by using a little water and a strong old-fashioned soap with a scrubbing brush. A good lather was made and the bristles dipped into the solution just far enough to carry enough of the suds to the pile of the rug to wet the top of it, but not to soak into the Preservation of Hooked Rugs 79 texture and wet its foundation. Already the loose dirt and dried particles of dust had been removed by being tramped out while the rug was upside down, so that the only problem confronting the tidy housekeeper was to make the rug look nice and bright on the surface. Now the real process of cleansing was at- tacked vigorously, yet most skillfully, and I feel like writing those two words in italics, because next to the no shaking command these two words give the key to caring properly for our hooked rugs, vigorously yet most skillfully. The process is vigorous in that a goodly applica- tion of what was known as elbow grease was applied, by going over the entire surface of the rug with a brisk circular motion of the scrub- bing brush. A piece of coarse, loose towel dipped in hot water and wrung out lightly, quickly removed the suds and grime. This is the real cleansing process. The scrubbing loosens the dirt, but the hot towel takes the dirt away. The towel or cleaning cloth should be frequently rinsed in plenty of water, and care should be taken to prevent the rug from becoming wet in the depths of its nap or through to the foundation. A second going over with a fresh cloth wrung from clean water, without any soap in it, will leave the surface of the 80 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them hooked rug soft both in texture and in blending of colors. Thus a part of the process of our ounce of prevention against the destruction that might otherwise occur as time goes on has been accom- plished. Now we have at hand a clean rug, dry on the wrong side but decidedly damp, to say the least, on the right side. What shall be done? Dry it, of course, but do not do this simple thing artificially or you will spoil all the work you have already done. Take your rug into the open air, and if you have a grassy back yard lay it out in a shady spot for a little while, and let old Mother Earth put her healing balm into your treasure. Let us not try to analyze the reason for all this, but just accept it as a fact, that contact with the great big sphere on which we live and move and have our being, is good for things as well as for people. After a few hours the rug will take on a new lease of life and when nearly dry it may be hung across a clothes line for a little sunning. This process will do nothing more than take away a bit of the heavy color, and will leave an unusually sweet and truly lovely-to-live-with rug. It will be rejuvenated, made young readily and easily, because it had not been allowed to decay from neg- Preservation of Hooked Rugs 81 lect nor to rot by being wet through and through. In homes where hooked rugs were used extensively and where the attic contained an ample supply to take the place of the old products that had begun to show wear, the process just described has been used and indeed is still the method of caring for the rugs that we are beginning to appreciate more particularly now that they are growing scarcer. MENDING Now comes the always somewhat discourag- ing element of trying to make and take a pound of cure. The damage has been done! Our beloved and lovely rug that was so soft in its colorings and so harmonious in its combination of old-time posies is fast nearing its end. We have tried to mend it, but somehow every time we sewed it or tried to hook new stitches into the worn-off places it broke away anew and with sorrow we reluctantly put our piece of dilapidated handcraft into a dark corner where its age and condition were less obvious to the casual observer. This did not help the rug; as a matter of fact it actually shortened its days. Every time we looked at it we had a feeling of shame that we had had a part in the 82 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them untimely death of our once lively bouquet of roses and bluebells resting so forlornly now in a muddy-looking, drab background with a border of greenish, grayish, rusty one-time black. What can be done for this depressingly stiff, ragged rug? Let us see. Hooked rugs are cheerful on the hearth and wear like a stone. If they wear like a stone this poor little parody of a ruglet is not altogether hopeless, for it has not yet all turned to dust, so away! let us quickly get that pound of cure into action. I confess that attacking the problem of curing a rug that is sick from neglect, lack of sunlight, air, and filled with germs that are as deadly as those that come from any other decayed thing, is a hard one. The only question we must decide is whether the rug means enough to us to undertake its restoration. Instead of going on with this story entirely in the abstract, I can best illustrate my point of repairing an old rug and cleansing it by telling of one that was brought to be mended by a sweet, young, expectant mother who valued it for sentimental reasons. It had a big un- sightly hole in the center, part of one of the full-blown rose,s in the bouquet design was entirely gone, together with the foundation of burlap. The rug was falling apart with dirt Preservation of Hooked Rugs 83 and wear. Its surface was grimy, its texture harsh, and there were breaks along its edges that seemed to preclude any possibility of restoration. It was suggested that a new rug, carrying out the color scheme of her room, might really be less expensive and more satis- factory than to put time and expense on the sad-looking relic. "But I like this rug so much, and I'd rather have it in my room than anything else, except an old-fashioned cradle. I would love that, but my husband doesn't care for old things as I do. Fd rather have this old rug fixed up than to use any other." So the rug was sent to a dear old lady who for many years has been making and repairing hooked rugs. When she heard the story of the reason for its being mended, she set about her task by searching through her rag bag for wool materials that had the required colorings for the torn parts to be replaced. She was skillful in her selection. Long experience had given her eyes an exactness of color sense that few not so trained possess. She cut a piece of can- vas about five inches larger all around than the hole in the center, basting it into place carefully on the wrong side of the rug. She then sewed the rug into the frame on which 84 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them new rugs are made and proceeded to cut away all the badly worn parts surrounding the orig- inal tear in the rug. This done, and quite without any design being drawn in, she re- placed the rose and the background. Skilled hands, trained eyes, and a love of the work created a new rose harmonious in tones and texture. Still, after the rug was mended, it was defect- ive because it was not clean. Now seemingly the logical method of procedure would have been to have had the rug cleaned before it was mended, but in this case the rug was too far gone constitutionally to withstand the process of even a mild cleansing. Thus it was necessary to line it all over with the same kind of natural- colored burlap that was used in mending the rug. After it was lined neatly it was ready for a surface cleaning, for that was all this partic- ular rug would stand. It was put on a table and soap suds applied with a piece of Turkish towelling instead of a scrubbing brush. The process was magically successful and the deep tints and soft lights again smiled from their background as if in welcome of the dear baby in honor of whose coming birth it had been reborn. This rug looks well and with some care will last a while, but when a rug has reached a Preservation of Hooked Rugs 85 stage of fragility of texture that prevents its being cleansed by having the dust tramped out of it, its days of real utility are nearing an end. Strange as it may seem, a rug that is not of extremely heavy texture often wears longer than one that would appear to be everlasting, because it is thick. Such a rug is the receptacle for more dust and it holds the dust tighter than a mat of thinner pile. However, in cleaning a thin rug, more care must be observed or the back of it will become water soaked. When that happens the life of the rug is brief. Although ammonia was not used long ago to any extent in the care and cleansing of rugs, it is a fact worth putting down in our memories that it is a good thing to use on the surface of a rug. For one that is just a bit soiled it is well to wipe off the surface about once in two or three weeks with a cloth or coarse piece of towelling wrung out of a quart of hot water containing a teaspoonful of ammonia. This process, too, removes the lint and restores the colors. For a badly faded rug a stronger solu- tion of ammonia and water will work wonders. I cannot turn from this subject without referring to the question so frequently asked by owners of hooked rugs. Shall one use the vacuum cleaner on hooked rugs ? Since hooked 86 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them rugs are an old-time product, old-time methods are best in caring for them. Therefore I should say, with all due respect to the magic of that modern implement of housecleaning, the vac- uum cleaner, let it alone. I would not use one of those powerful suction machines on a tender or well-made hooked rug. The simple things required for their care and preservation are so much better that there is no need of resorting to mechanical methods of cleansing. Hooked rugs are cheerful on the hearth when they are clean, and they wear like a stone if they are given the same chance in life that a stone should have; that is, fresh air — an oppor- tunity to breathe — and a bit of sunshine, for even a stone will disintegrate if these things are withheld. CHAPTER VI MAKING RUGS FOR OURSELVES ^ ow with all the revival of the early hand- crafts there is a tremendous call for worth- while hooked rugs. By the same revival there is, too, a strong temptation to those commer- cially inclined to imitate by quick methods those things that are valuable when made by hand stitch by stitch. Nor is this illegitimate in itself, but it is illegitimate to make a thing in whole or in part by machinery and to foist it on a gullible, because not entirely educated, public as the real thing. Ever since the days of Gobelin tapestries those wonderful products have been copied or imitated, yet the real article is still priceless. Genuine hooked rugs, like Gobelin tapestries, and I make no apology for referring to them in the same sentence, must be made one stitch at a time, by human hands; not by machines that push the thread or rags through, making an all too neat surface, nor by the larger ma- chines that turn out duplicate rugs in smoky patterns or garish nondescript scrolls or 87 88 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them mechanically perfect florals. Such rugs may please some folks who have heard that hooked rugs are all the fashion, but their presence on the market serves largely to enhance the value and to inflate the price of the genuine article. This chapter is written in the spirit of help- fulness, of encouragement to our women to return to something which they can do in their own homes, by their own firesides, while father reads his paper or even while he is at the club, and therefore the machine-made products are quite another subject. They may have their place in the commercial world, and they most likely do, for many of them are to be found as one travels over this big cosmopolitan country of ours, but let us stick to the story of hand- made rugs. In reviving the rug-making art of our early American women, I cannot stress too seriously just this point, and I place it in this chapter with pure malice aforethought, whatever that trite but seemingly apropos phrase may mean. Lest I weaken, I am going to tell you right here: do NOT make rugs to sell, make them for YOURSELF. Do not make them for your lover, your husband, your mother, or your friend, for if you do you will not make a really Making Rugs for Ourselves 89 individual rug. Make rugs for yourself. Make the kind of rugs that you like, the kind that appeal to you, the kind of rugs that you would like to keep forever. Then, and only then, the instructions and hints I have tried to give not only here, but through many moons of contact with rug makers, and would-be rug makers, will bear the right kind of fruit. Leave it to the other woman to make her kind of rug. You make your own kind. Put into the first rug that which is you — your own ideas of color, design, and workman- ship — and your finished piece will be a joy. After all, why not get joy out of work? I could not be a slave driver. I could not write a line of instructions or suggestions if I did not know, absolutely, that the thing I try to explain would make women more happy themselves. Why, what is a rug anyhow? If it is just a bit of old rags, and mind you, old rags as a rule are best, why go to all the bother and pains of cutting up material? Why not lay father's old "pants" down in front of the fireplace? Why not? Because that is not the place for father's old nether garments. Such a disposal might result in a family row when father came in and saw the ignominy of such treatment of his belong- 90 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them ings. He would prefer the bare floor to such a makeshift for a rug. I will tell you why ugly, old, worn-out things are turned into articles of virtue and delight. It is because of the joy in the making — the thrill of pleasure and satisfaction that comes to any really good woman when she realizes that her ideas, her industry, her hands, her artistry, her love of a beautiful home, have enabled her to surround herself with things that money cannot buy, because they are hers already. What has this to do with making rugs to sell? Everything. Innately, we are selfish animals. We must have the best for ourselves. So we make our rugs for ourselves, and then, if we must do so, we sell them; but if when we were making them we had a feeling that they were to go out into the big world of buying and selling, I have an idea they would not be so well made. Yea, it is more than an idea; it is a knowledge of human nature, and much as I love those dear souls to the north, the south, the east, and the west whose hands are at this moment indus- triously fashioning hooked rugs, experience has taught me that the finest rugs, those made with greatest care, those with the little loving touches, Making Rugs for Ourselves 91 the streaks of sunshine in them, were made originally for the homes of the makers. When rugs are made for sale and designs copied and carried out under direction, the work may be good, but a thing copied or made under the direction of another becomes, in part at least, the other person's work. There- fore, in my own humble opinion, it does not carry with it that charm that is to be found in spontaneous expressions of the worker's own ideas. As a matter of fact, while rugs of the simpler designs or of geometric figures may be copied, I have never seen two rugs exactly alike either in texture or design. Similar, yes, but not alike unless they were made to sell, and then, most likely, they had close contact with a hand or power machine. CHAPTER VII FOUNDATION MATERIALS FOR HOOKED RUGS 1 he term " hooked rug " is synonymous with pulled or drawn in, because the material from which the design is made is hooked, pulled, or drawn through canvas, burlap, or other material that is woven in straight lines. The early rugs of this type were frequently made on old hand-woven cloth of cotton or linen, and occasionally the rather loosely woven linsey-woolsey was utilized for the purpose. Linsey-woolsey, as its name indicated, had some linen and some wool, but the fiber was short and the material was not really a superior product of the hand loom. Rather it was generally woven from the left-overs from linen weaving. Underclothes and children's winter dresses were made of this material and when the garments were worn threadbare the larger whole pieces were sewn together to form the foundation for a simple-patterned hooked rug. Such goods, however, wiry in texture and dark in color, could be used only for applying the simplest lines to the pattern. Rugs made on 92 Foundation Materials 93 this material were generally all-over hit-and- miss; that is, scraps of all kinds and colors were drawn in with no attempt at a pattern except for a narrow border of plain material, generally of black. These rugs are useful principally as harmo- nizers for use in rooms where there is an abun- dance of color and the floor coverings carry the suggestion of the various basic tones with- out emphasizing any one of them. But to return to the materials on which rugs have been made: The general statement that any material of straight weave, like bur- lap, canvas, and similarly plain-woven fabrics might serve the purpose, is somewhat mis- leading. The sensible housewife used the goods at hand that she deemed most suitable and that adapted itself to her method of hooking. Rather open mesh fabrics like gunny sacks, which were often ripped open, washed and starched and then ironed out smooth and straight, were more suited to the heavier, thick type of rug hooking than for really dainty effects. The finest rugs, those with short stitches and a close, even nap, were generally made on home- spun linen, and such rugs are both rare and beautiful, for the texture of the background 94 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them is close yet strong, and some of the rugs made on this hand-loomed linen are almost as fine as needlepoint. Hand-woven linens are today too expensive to be used in such an inconspicuous place as the foundation of a rug. Nor do our present- day rug workers have to use old sacks or linsey-woolsey, for there is procurable at very reasonable prices burlap of varying weights and widths suitable for rug making. The novice who undertakes to make a hooked rug is advised to make a small mat first and after her hand and her hook work smoothly in unison a larger rug may be designed. I would suggest that five-eighths of yard-wide material be secured for our first effort at rug making. Foundation burlap may be bought at most department stores for from twenty-five to thirty-five cents a yard for the thirty-six inch width. Where such burlap is not obtainable a better grade of canvas such as is used in art needlework may be bought at a trifling cost for a small piece. Since this is to be a rug made from scraps of old and new material at hand, wool and cotton, we shall select a weave of canvas or burlap that is not too close and heavy in texture nor yet too loose and thin. A medium grade Foundation Materials 95 of burlap, rather firm and with a smooth sur- face, is admirable. The burlap should have an inch hem turned in all around and basted down with rather long stitches, using a thread not heavier than number fifty spool cotton. When the hooking is pulled through this double material, the hem stays in place without stitching. Heavy thread catches in the hook, and short stitches tend to pull or draw the material. After the hem is basted in, the rug should be pressed out with a fairly warm, but not hot, iron and the basic material is then ready for marking in the design or pattern of the rug. I might say here that a thread should be drawn to mark the place to cut the material, for here again care in small things makes the work easier as it progresses, and when this is done the rug will be straight at the edges and the corners will form perfect right angles. THE ODDS-AND-ENDS RUG Making a nice rug from odds and ends, using the materials at hand and then blending them into an harmonious whole, is an art that is not learned from books. It is like making a soup tasty, nourishing, and unusual from the left- overs. There must not be too much nor too 96 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them little of any one thing, and the bits of cotton, wool, and even a touch of silk to form the deep rosy heart of a flower or the sunset glow of the sky are all useful and combine artistically when time has softened their brightness and left the finished rug a textile that no other manner of making can equal. Just a few sentences about laundering: To the careful housewife this instruction is like carrying coals to Newcastle — unnecessary. Nothing that is soiled should ever be put in the rag bag. As long as soap and water are procurable there is no excuse for conserving dirt. All rags, therefore, that are to be a part of our hand-made rugs should be as clean as soap and sunlight can make them. What matters it if some parts fade? They are all the more artistic when blended with the deeper tones. Now using just the right proportions of any one material is, after all, not entirely a hit- and-miss proceeding. The rug that is beautiful, that lasts through sunshine and shadow, that resists the wear of countless seasons, is a rug that is made in an orderly manner. When the impulse to make a rug attacks the housewife it springs from two sources; her rag bag is full and besides, that old rug in Foundation Materials 97 front of the bureau needs to be put where all the thin places and near holes will not be seen. Naturally, then, there is fruition of the sub- conscious wish for a really lovely rug in front of the bureau, and long before the heavy bag is brought forth, mother knows that she is going to use those old trousers of father's for the back- ground. She most likely thinks of them as "pants," and after all she is just abbreviating in good modern fashion a very respectable word, rather a pretty one, too — pantaloons. Now throughout all the ages even the best of homespun wool will fade when it is made up into garments that descend from Sunday best to the place of overalls; and in places where the cloth is almost threadbare, the color, too, has disintegrated; and a once uniformly colored garment, gray or brown or mayhap blue, be- comes like Joseph's coat of many colors. In order to distribute the deep tones with the lighter ones, and to give that pleasing relief by blended shades of the same color, mother just puts in the background in swirls and semicircles, and once in a while she quite by mistake, it would seem to the mechanical worker, puts in a bit of vermillion and to offset its giddiness her skilled fingers pick up a bit of equally bright blue. She knows, this worker 98 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them with rags instead of a brush, that her color combination will give a glow to the picture that is the sure result of judicious use of grays and purples. Mother is an artist — a true artist — and the best of it all is that she does not know it. Why if she followed written rules about so many stitches of brown, so many of blue, and so on all through the spectrum, she would have what she would be quite justified in calling a mess. It is just this method of planning the rug, having a big idea in mind and working it out with individuality, that made the old-time rugs so fascinating. All of which brings me to the very patent thought that it is not so much what the rug is made of as the way it is made. It is, in a sense, like the very delightful French hat that a woman of wealth was trying on in com- pany with a frugally brought up country rela- tive. The price was high and the visitor whis- pered in a none too low tone, "Why, that hat hasn't five dollars' worth of material in it!" and the French lady said quite firmly, and with a characteristic shrug of her shoulders, "But Madame knows, eh, that eet ees not what ees on ze hat, but ze know how to make him!" There are just as many ways to make rag rugs, hooked rugs, even as there are of making Foundation Materials 99 hats. Some folks like one kind, some another, and like the hat it all depends upon what one has to put in the piece, and the skill and taste that are exercised by the maker. Some people are naturally painstaking and others a bit slovenly, and this kind of work produces rugs that reflect the character and mood of the maker. One of the most exquisitely made rugs I have ever seen was done by a little lady whose duties all day long kept her at the beck and call of whimsical folks and serious, so that she did not have a moment to herself until she returned to her own room at night. It is inter- esting to note that this lady was brought up in a section where the more primitive type of hooked rugs was made in almost every home, and yet when she got ready to make her master- piece, and it is such really, she selected an Oriental pattern and worked it up on the most expensive of art canvas. I wish it were possible to portray the beautiful blending of colors and the neatness of the work in this rug; yet it contained a little bit of almost every conceiv- able material that could be hooked in, even old pieces of soft chamois, and the tops of kid gloves were democratically intermingled with rich red flannels in many shades, and old army blue overcoating. 100 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them The primitive element will crop out, however, even in such a rug as this, for instead of making it from a series of patterns cut from paper, she traced the design from several Orientals and ran a basting thread around each design. That rug took years to make, but it is a gem of its kind. Most rag-bag rugs show the originality and the tastes of their maker. They are the real American hand-made rugs that our women in early days coveted, and to covet was to possess then as all through the ages, or at least to make the effort to possess another, and for that reason we have so many varieties that in this chapter we shall not go more into detail, but allow the worker to plan according to her materials and to execute according to her own ideas of what she likes in designs for rugs for her own partic- ular use. CHAPTER VIII MARKING IN THE DESIGN 1 purposely designate this chapter "mark- ing in the design" because my great wish for the usefulness of the book is that we revive the art of rug making as it was in its best days. Then there were no stamped designs as such, but each worker wrought the outline of the thing she wished to picture herself or enlisted the assistance of her family or friends more gifted in drawing than she was. When a particularly beautiful design was evolved it was passed around the neighborhood and each worker endeavored to improve upon the orig- inal, and at last the pattern appeared in com- mercialized form — stamped on burlap, some- times with the colors to be used in hooking in the design more or less crudely indicated. As long ago as the period of the Civil War between the North and South, such stamped burlap was sold through advertisements in the press, and the industry of providing stamped patterns for rug making has grown steadily since them. With the revival of the interest 101 102 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them in early American furnishings new firms carry- ing stamped rug patterns came into existence, and the old firms accelerated their sales and enlarged their facilities for reproducing splendid old designs and inventing new ones combining some of the attractive features of the primitive rugs with elements that made the patterns modern in treatment. Nor is there any word but that of commenda- tion for those who in that way encourage the women of today to make hooked rugs. For those who like to follow a mechanically traced pattern such models are excellent, but I have felt absolutely sure that the love rugs, those that are made from individual designs rather than from copies of the patterns other folks have evolved, will be more attractive even when the design is very crude and simple. Much has been said and written about self- expression. A child is taught to draw an object or to model it as he sees the object, to put into the finished product not a mechanical reproduc- tion of it, but his interpretation of the sym- metry or beauty of the object. And are we not all children? Do we not all love that which we create in love and with hope and aspira- tion? The result of our labor may fall far short of our desires of what it should become, but Marking in the Design 103 in it is effort, aim, hope, and a love that covers as a beautiful mantle all its imperfections. This self-expression of our ideas of beauty, harmony, and an approach to perfection is what makes rug making a pleasure and a bless- ing to those who engage in it. Early in this volume I spoke of the women in rather primitive American homes loving their flower gardens, their hardy, well-tended rose bushes with the luscious big blossoms that literally scattered sweetness to all who came near them. Such flowers were perpetuated through the medium of hooked rugs made during the cold winter when roses and their fragrance were but mem- ories. Much of the joy and all of the beauty of the rose rug of other years came in the making of the design and carrying out the beautiful colors with the materials at hand. So today the rugs that are designed by the workers themselves or drawn in by friends whose skill executes the ideas of the rug maker as to form, are individual products. They are rare rugs because they are one of a kind. The basic pattern may be used again and again, but each rug made is unique and a masterpiece because it carries the thought of its architect and builder. All of which may be summarized into this: Design your own rugs, and simple or 104 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them imperfect, quaint or grotesque, the finished piece will not only contain bits of your own clothing and household fabrics, but it will reflect the ideas you may have as to formal or informal patterns. If there were but one way to mark in designs on burlap or canvas there would be a limit to the possibilities, but there are many simple ways of applying designs to the burlap. The simplest form of drawing is by straight lines — making two points and drawing a line to con- nect them — thus exemplifying the definition "a straight line is the shortest distance between two points," and an ordinary yardstick is a useful adjunct to the drawing. Besides the yardstick a piece of charcoal or a marking crayon, some stiff paper from which to cut patterns, and a pair of sharp scissors — good long blade paper shears that cut clean and even — serve honorably in connection with a table large enough to spread out the canvas fully and flatly on its top. Once more, and with no apology for mentioning it in connection with this subject, we might go back to the days of the big clean-scrubbed kitchen tables — the kind with soft pine tops — but if no hutch or tavern tables remain as heirlooms we can very well use the modern pine top kitchen Marking in the Design 105 table that was so popular a few years ago, before the porcelain top supplanted it. After ascertaining the middle of the piece of burlap selected as the foundation for the rug by folding the material crosswise and lengthwise, fasten it to the table with thumbtacks and proceed to put in the design. In speaking of hand-made designs let us treat first of the simple free-hand drawing that any- one can do and yet make effective. The best known type of old-fashioned hooked rug is that known as the floral, having in it a group of three roses near the center with foliage and a few buds. Let us in our imagination then, and for the purpose of this chapter, design a rug of this character. We have our burlap fastened to the top of the table, smooth and neat. Without resorting to tape measure or yardstick let us make three round dots, not large but distinguishable, at an equal distance from the large dot made in the center which the lengthwise and crosswise foldings made. This is not a difficult process, for if one is to make a hooked rug or a dress or a cake, one must use that element which comes into the proper doing of things, good judgment. Therefore, if the three marks are not perfectly equidistant, even that may be a virtue rather 106 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them than a fault. Around these let us draw a circle as nearly round as we can, but if it is flat or oval, that makes no difference. Then let us put in a few dexterous strokes to mark the heart of the rose and add a few lines, somewhat irregularly, to indicate the loose, open petals of a full-blown rose, and lo, the deed is done, the motif has been established, and it remains now for us to design a few leaves, mark in the veinings and the stems, crudely if need be, and yet using again our good judgment in the proper distribution of them, for here, too, what is not perfect is often more pleasing than what is mathematically accurate. Thus we have from our own ideas and by our own hands designed the central figure of the most popular kind of hooked rug — the rose floral. If the drawing was a task instead of a pleasure it is not at all necessary to go any further. A rug with a mottled background carrying the same color in varying shades, put in in swirls, is very nice. If, however, as will most likely be the case, the design for the center of the rug has been successful, our industrious worker will no doubt add some floral corners to the little rug, making perhaps a bud in one corner with a leaf or two, and a half-blown rose in the other two diagonally opposite corners. This Marking in the Design 107 triple rose design is simply a suggestion of others that may be worked out with a single rose in the center or two roses towards the ends with sprays of leaves and buds connecting them. It is not necessary to go further into the subject of free-hand drawing because those who have any skill at all in handling the crayon will be able to evolve beautiful designs in central medallions and to formulate floral borders more or less intricate. Let us revert again to the yardstick and take for an example the simple block pattern such as one finds in oilcloths and linoleums. The lines may be drawn diagonally and the blocks semi-divided, making little triangular figures which can be worked out by the use of well selected colors. Animal rugs that would seem to be rather difficult are simply an application of a pattern cut from paper. The art of paper cutting, which in the earlier days developed until it reached the artistry of the silhouette, is today almost obliterated. The little folks have mechanical toys procured from the five and ten cent store or the more expensive shops, and there is no longer any necessity for mother or grandmother or grandfather to cut toy dogs and dolls, kittens and rabbits from paper. 108 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them In the early days of rug making, however, grandma's nimble scissors created fascinating figures of prancing horses, shaggy dogs, roosters and geese and other domestic animals, mak- ing a menagerie that was just as pleasing to the child as the more elaborate and more costly toys of today. And it was just this facility of cutting out paper animals that was back of the animal designs found on hooked rugs. The paper patterns were laid on stiff card- board and the outlines traced and cut out, and the cardboard applied to the rug, smoothly tacked, as we have said, to the kitchen table. Cutting a paper pattern for scroll corners Marking in the Design 109 If a pair of animals was desired the pattern was reversed and thus we have such fascinating twins as those shown in the pair of squirrels illustrated. The scroll which played such a large part in the scheme of decoration in many of our Amer- ican hand-made rugs was also formed by a pattern from paper and applied to the four corners of the rug. While any kind of design might be copied by means of tracing paper, the Oriental patterns were perpetuated with extreme accuracy by this method. In the earlier days of the craft, tracing papers such as are now easy to procure from stationers or artists' supply stores were not in common use, and the thin, very fragile tissue paper was made to serve the purpose. Placed directly over the wrong side of the Oriental rug to be copied the lines of a border were drawn with broad strokes, a section at a time. This, in turn, was pricked into cardboard with a stout pin or needle and the designs cut out one by one, and laid on to the homespun or canvas foundation material of the rug to be made. The reason designs were sketched from the back of the genuine Orientals is obvious when we recollect that the design is very dis- tinct on the wrong side and the process of 110 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them drawing is much easier because of the firm, smooth texture there. To attempt to transfer a design from the front or pile side of a rug or carpet, using light- weight paper, would not have resulted success- fully. It would seem, in this connection, that this method of copying Oriental designs would account for the exactness of pattern on Amer- ican hand-hooked rugs of Oriental pattern. By the same argument, however, we can readily understand that when a lovely imported floral carpet furnished the inspiration for the design, free-hand had to be used because the thick pile on the right side and no distinct pattern on the wrong, left the designer nothing but his eye and his hand with which to measure size, place, and proportion. When all is said, however imperfect though the floral and other free-hand designs were, they have outlived in popularity the rugs that were made as a duplicate of the Orientals. CHAPTER IX GETTING READY TO WORK THE FRAME 1 he larger hooked rugs are put into frames to hold them taut during the process of hooking in the design and the background. Such frames are used in rug making in the same way that embroidery hoops keep the work straight and prevent the stitches from puckering. Some embroidery workers do not find it necessary to stretch the material on which they work out flat, but by a dexterity of manipulation they do beautiful needlework without using a frame. In like manner some hooked rug makers taboo a frame, and hook in their designs evenly and skillfully by simply holding the burlap on the lap. Large rugs, however, cannot be handled successfully unless the burlap is fas- tened into a frame. Like the quilting frames of other days, the frames on which to stretch the embryonic hooked rug are simply four pieces of wood of sufficient length and strength to hold the rug firmly. The four pieces of wood may be ill 112 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them wrapped with two-inch strips of unbleached muslin, or heavy cotton cloth such as drilling or bed ticking may be folded double and tacked to the inner edge of the frame. The edges of the rug are sewn to the cloth of the frame with strong cotton thread or light twine. The corners are clamped together with the inex- pensive metal clamps procurable at any five and ten cent store. It is best to attach the burlap to the frames at the ends first, then the rug is stretched out to its full length, the clamps fastened, and the rug is ready for its initial stitches in the hooking process. Frame, clamp and burlap foundation Flat joining for wrapping of frame Getting Ready to Work 113 Another kind of frame is nothing more nor less than an adaption of a quilting frame to the purpose of rug making. Like the frame just described, there are four strips of wood of suffi- cient length to permit the ends of the rug to be fastened to two of them, and as the work pro- gresses it can be rolled up. This manner of working is necessary when a large rug is being made in a small room. Small rugs may be hooked by resting the frame across the backs of two chairs or other pieces of furniture of the right height for the comfort of the worker. In this connection I must speak a little further on the subject of comfort while making the rug. There is wisdom in selecting a spot in the home where the light comes over the left shoulder, and if the worker has a sensation of discomfort or annoyance while hooking, the chances are that the frame is too high, which would cause the shoulder to ache, or if too low a "crick in the neck," as the old-time rug makers designated muscle strain from bending over, is a reminder that we are handicapping ourselves through carelessness in seemingly little things. Another suggestion that may not be entirely amiss in encouraging the would-be rug maker, is the matter of keeping her work together and 114 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them yet avoiding the unpleasantness of having the living room or sun porch where the work is done present a disorderly appearance. Work- ing with pieces of old material, tearing away strips and clipping the ends from the pieces hooked in cause dust and litter under the frame, but this can all be avoided by spreading down an old sheet or a discarded cretonne curtain or couch cover. When the work is put aside for the day the sides and ends can be folded over and the bits of material already prepared for hooking will be available when the sheet or whatever is used for the purpose is opened up for the resumption of work. THE HOOK Hooked rugs are made by pulling strips of material through burlap with a hook pushed down from the upper or right side. The left hand holds the strip of cloth and catches it into the notch or hook, bringing the strip up to the right side in the form of a loop. The needle or hook bears a relationship to the work being done. For fine hooking a small needle, sharp at the point and with a small notch or hook, naturally gives best satisfaction; while for the heavier kinds of rugs a larger needle is used. Getting Ready to Work 115 The old-time hand-made steel hooks are rather heavy and not at all suitable for making small rugs of medium weight. The smaller hook is generally procurable at the art counters in department stores for twenty-five cents. The advantage of the smaller short-handled hook is that it fits into the palm of the hand and is more easily manipulated than the heavier ones with long handles Another thing that should be observed when selecting a hook is that it is sharp at the point, making it easy to push down through the mesh of the canvas or burlap. A little practice will soon accustom one to handling this little first cousin to a crochet hook dexterously and efficiently in bringing up the loops of material evenly and in con- formity to the design of the rug. In this con- nection it may be well to say a few sentences about the use of any form of hooking con- trivance more intricate than this simple steel hook with its little wooden handle. With it the material being worked into the rug is always held under the rug and the stitches pulled up as has been said. A contrivance, several contrivances indeed, are on the market by which the process of hooking is accelerated and the work done very evenly. The idea 116 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them embodied in these little hand machines is gen- erally very seductive and the labor of hooking is reduced to a minimum, but rugs made with a mechanical implement of that kind are not real hooked rugs. They are machine made and if folks desire that sort of floor covering well and good. This volume is designed for awakening a wider interest in the real old-time hand-made floor coverings. ^Ifeifcs CHAPTER X HOOKING IN THE DESIGN In detail the subject of materials for the foundation of rugs has been treated and in like manner our ambitious novice has been ad- monished to use materials at hand rather than to purchase new goods for the designs and back- ground. The subject of designing and pre- paring all materials to be used, it is believed, has been comprehensively explained, and with a comfortable chair and our rug materials at hand, with a good hook and a steady hand we are now ready to start the process of actually making a hooked rug. There seems but little more to say, for the truth is, "well begun is half done." Many pages have been devoted to the preliminaries and incidentals and now when the big event is at hand there is nothing more to tell other than to apply the ideas that have evolved from this treatise and — get to work. But where shall we start? Here is the material and the equipment and the willingness to make a present-day hooked 117 118 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them rug by the best of old-time methods, yet the hands lie limp in our laps and we gaze at our lovely floral design and the straight line border, and all that we have read and all that we have tried to treasure in our memories have simply evaporated. We have a feeling of our own inadequacy — we are lost — and for the moment our good resolution to make a rug has also taken to itself wings. We can see one thing only, that expanse of canvas, and although it is but a little mat of not more than six square feet we gaze on it as though it were the Sahara Desert. Such a feeling of mental blankness comes over us, mayhap, as that which attacked the author when she stood in Mount Auburn Cemetery gazing at the gray stone on which was the name of her favorite poet, Longfellow, and as she gazed she tried vainly to recall some quotation from one of the many poems which, until that moment, had been perfectly familiar to her. Try as she did she could not recall even the title of a single thing Longfellow had ever written. All she saw was the stone that marked the spot where his body reposed. The illustration may be far fetched, but the blankness of intellect, the obliteration of mem- ory, is something akin to the feelings an inex- perienced rug maker has when she is at the Hooking in the Design 119 threshold of her ambitions. So it may be that if she is told to begin at the outside or edge of the rug and work towards the center, the sug- gestion may bring her from the temporary aberration of memory into which she allowed herself to lapse. That little suggestion is worth much more than most workers realize, for working from the outside edge or hem of the rug has a tend- ency to keep the work smooth, whereas if great care is not taken to avoid puckering, a rug with the center design put in first and hooked en- tirely from the center to the outside edge may be bulky and full in places. The outer row of hooking should start very close to the edge and the work proceed from right to left as in sewing a seam. Hold the strip of material firmly in the left hand under the rug. Push the hook down from the top with the right hand and catch material. Pull it up in a loop and release the hook. Take the next stitch on a line with design and as close to the loop stitch just finished as possible. Novices are advised to make a rug with the loops uncut and the design will come out more distinctly if the loops are quite small rather than long. When a few rows of edge or border are com- 120 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them pleted the center motif may be hooked in and later the background worked in either in straight lines or swirls. These broken circles and semicircles add to the attractiveness of the rug and, as has been said before, they pre- vent the monotony of a flat background. Machine-made rugs rarely have swirled back- grounds, but this does not argue the point that straight line hooking in a background is not done with the regulation hand hook. Many women are inclined towards making their rugs as neatly and with as much precision as if they were sewing on a dainty garment, and such rug makers generally put their backgrounds in with meticulous exactness. Practice and patience are the elements that spell success in rug making and when these are seasoned with good judgment and a love of the craft, each succeeding rug turned from the frame will be a little nicer and more workman- like than its predecessor. CHAPTER XI KINDS OF HOOKING 1 o the uninitiated a hooked rug is a hooked rug, but those who have studied and analyzed the textures of hooked rugs from every section of the country where they are made find that there is a vast difference in the methods of hooking. I am almost tempted to say that there are as many varieties of hooking as there are of dahlias, and during a visit to the horti- cultural section of the New York State Fair I was told that there are seven thousand varieties of this beautiful flower. Perhaps that was an approximate estimate, but when looking at the countless specimens assembled under the one roof I could readily accept the statement as a fact, marvellous though it seemed. When I recall the rugs from Canada, New England, Pennsylvania, and the South and knowing as I do that each of these rugs has a char- acteristic texture that indicates its birthplace, and then multiply the big sections by innumer- able individualistic touches that the various rug makers acquire as the hall mark of their 121 122 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them wares, I feel that, like the dahlias, there are seven thousand varieties. We are further im- pressed with the thought that while there is enough difference to make seven thousand varieties there is yet sufficient similarity to make them all belong to one family. There are big stitches and little stitches, coarse stitches and fine ones. There are long stitches and short stitches and stitches of medium length on the right side, and short on the wrong side, and vice versa. In brief, there are so many kinds of stitches and combinations that it were folly to attempt to classify them or to describe any except those of the most ordinary kinds of rug hooking. Making a comparison that is really more apropos than the floral one, I might say that stitches and texture in hooked rugs are as nu- merous as are the stitches in sewing and em- broidery. The kind of stitch varies in accord- ance with the weight and quality of the thread or material forming the stitches. In rug making a heavy, deep pile is formed by drawing the strips of material up on the right side, making long loops, and in like manner the tight, close texture of a rug is determined by rather short loops or stitches. A type of rug that is very much admired Kinds of Hooking 123 because of its soft texture is the clipped rug. In this the stitches are drawn up to the re- quired length, sometimes a half inch or more, and the work is made very close, so that the flower or figure so treated stands out in high relief when the tops of the loops are trimmed off and the flower molded or raised above the surface of the background. In making rugs with varying designs different kinds of stitches are used. For example, in the flowers and veinings of the leaves a short, tight stitch may be used, while in the body or background of the rug a looser stitch is per- missible. Thus, we have occasionally found almost all the innumerable kinds of hooking in one rug, but such a rug is the exception rather than the rule. Most rugs are made with a uniformity of stitch and when this is done it is not at all difficult to determine the classification, by the sense of touch. Beginners, however, must practice again and again before their work has that regular finished look that makes it a unit of its type. For this reason it is not entirely amiss to make the first rug mostly of cotton; that is, use cotton for borders and background and put wool into the flowers only. I strongly suspect that some energetic rug 124 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them worker whose hands are itching to get to work at her beautifully designed rug, may find her- self wondering why instructions as to the thickness of the strips of material were not given before she was initiated into the kinds of stitches that may be used. Again, I may be pardoned for referring to the old-time methods of working when it is recalled that hereditary rug makers, those who come by the art natu- rally, because their mothers and grandmothers have practiced it, never prepare all their mate- rial before setting to work at the actual process of hooking. They pick up a bit of material, perhaps a fragment of a dress, and by the feel of it they know just how thick or wide to cut or tear the strips for the part of the rug on which they may be hooking. This process continues throughout the entire rug. The bits of cloth are generally kept right on top of the rug and like an artist reaching for the proper tube of paint, the master of rug making puts a firm hand on the exact piece she wishes to use, and her fingers tell her whether the goods shall be trimmed off to about an inch, or left much wider. This is something that I cannot teach any worker, for it is what has before been alluded to as "judgment," and be it known that a really well-made hooked rug has in its Kinds of Hooking 125 depths that something which although unseen is yet present during the making, and which remains all through the long life of the rug. It is the individuality of the maker. The component parts are of many kinds, yet they are blended and molded and formulated into a perfect whole by using the mind as well as the fingers and eyes. But do not be discour- aged. Just as the average woman meets the emergencies that make up her daily life, some rough, some smooth, some flimsy and others harrowingly coarse, intermingled with the beautiful and the fine, so when she attacks her self-imposed task or pleasure of making a hooked rug, she will adjust the elements com- posing it, and out of the chaos of what before seemed like refuse and useless bits of rag there will emerge a thing of enduring satisfaction — a rug of her own making, a treasure trove. CHAPTER XII ROUND, OVAL, AND SEMICIRCULAR HOOKED RUGS In the chapter on materials for the founda- tion of rugs mention was made of putting in the hem, but since round, oval, and semicircular rugs are often made, another method will have to be devised for finishing them. When a rug having a circular or curved edge is large enough to make it necessary to stretch it into a frame, the square or oblong material from which the curved rug is to be cut should be sewn into the frame with strong thread or cord leaving the edges unhemmed. The rug will of course be designed just as any ordinary shaped square or oblong rug, and the outline of the round, oval, or curved side, if a Welcome mat is being made, will be marked in distinctly. To preserve the shape, hook a row or two around the outer edge before attempting to make the center motif. Then later proceed as in ordinary hooking and when the rug is com- pleted, take it from the frame and cut around the edge of the hooking, leaving an inch of the 126 Round, Oval, and Semicircular 127 plain material to turn back on to the wrong side. Baste this in place, using light-weight cotton, to prevent pulling out the border stitches and finish the raw edge with a piece of tape or old-fashioned skirt binding, which is easily adjusted to curves. Sew the binding down neatly, using the diagonal or ordinary hemming stitch. Such a finish is neat and durable. Many otherwise careful workers spoil the appearance of their rugs by giving too little attention to the under side and the edge. Good hooking is even on the wrong side and the burlap is well covered. The edges should be hooked with quite heavy strands of material since they are the first to show hard wear. Many antique rugs are bound around the edges, but this manner of finishing the edges was rarely on the original rug. When edges become frayed and the burlap breaks away, binding the edges prolongs the wear and if care is used in selecting a color that matches or harmonizes with the edge of the rug or its border, the little inconspicuous binding of satine or other firm fabric does not in the least detract from the appearance of the rug. CHAPTER XIII MAKING HOOKED RUGS FROM WOOL RAVELLINGS Any floor covering that is individually made stitch by stitch from selected material has good wearing qualities. We might say in broad terms that there is economy in using hand-made floor coverings of almost any kind — whether we refer to the splendid Oriental products or the simple rugs of our American ancestors. Econ- omy was the watchword in the construction of these early rugs, even an economy of time, for they were made after the more strenuous household duties were accomplished. Scraps were utilized from the family rag bag, the long strips fashioned into the braided rugs, and the smaller pieces put into the quaint designs of the hooked rugs. No matter how small these pieces were they fitted in some little corner. The brilliant bits often brightened the heart of a flower or gave color to the jasperlike back- ground of a home-made mat. Materials are not so scarce today as when hand spinning and weaving made the household goods and clothes of our forebears things to 128 Hooked Rugs from Wool Ravellings 129 be kept and cared for while there was a thread of them left. Yet we in this present day may- make beautiful rugs from scraps, have infinite pleasure in our economical task, and supreme satisfaction in the results. Hand-made floor coverings are an economy any way we look at the subject, but when an exceptionally fine type of wool rug may be made from wool ravellings it seems quite worth while to speak of the method of utilizing cast-ofF knitted garments. This, then, is the story of a very old kind of hooked rug and yet it is today a rather unusual type of that lovely form of hand-made floor covering. All good housekeepers know that wool wears better than cotton when used con- tinually under the feet of the family. Although many of the old-time hooked rugs, and modern ones also, are made entirely of cotton, others have a mixture of wool and cotton, but a really fine type of hooked rug is that made of wool exclusively. Many of these are what are called rag hooked rugs; that is, they are made by hooking cut or torn strips of material through a foundation as already described in the foregoing chapter. The rugs described in this chapter, how- ever, are not rag rugs, but rugs made from 130 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them ravelled-out yarn, made in the same way that our rug makers of an earlier day used up the good parts of woolen socks, stockings, and mittens, and the once fashionable knitted wool leggings that were drawn over the shoes to protect the wearer from the winter's snows. Some such lovely old rugs are still tucked away in secluded neighborhoods, and what a delight it is to find them with their colors toned down from the brilliant reds and cobalt blues to the softness that melts into an harmonious unit. The wearing qualities of such rugs, if they have been protected from the ravages of moths, are so lasting that it is rare to find a ravelled wool rug with a hole in it. Best of all, such rugs may be made at home today with practically no expense, and we may have much pleasure in their construction. Very naturally, then, the first essential is to secure a sufficient quantity of old sweaters and other knitted garments. Have them laundered at home, adding a few drops of olive oil to the light rinsing suds, and the garment will come out soft and pliable. Ravelling knitted and crocheted articles is easy when one can break the yarn as often as it is inclined to become kinky. As the wool is ravelled out it should be loosely rolled around the hand, and but a few Hooked Rugs from Wool Ravellings 131 yards put into one of these small balls or hanks. Do not wind on big balls even if it is wool that is not to be dyed or it may twist in hooking. When all the ravelling is accomplished and our work basket is filled with its multitude of loose balls of yarn, we are ready for the sorting, preparatory to dyeing the yarn. If the sweaters we have accumulated and ravelled out were of khaki color or gray, we might plan our rug so as to utilize a good part of the yarn with- out redyeing it, and the colors of the two branches of the service, tan and gray, make a pleasing combination when used together in a background. The actual coloring or dyeing is something that may be done in various ways. Our ances- tors obtained splendid and lasting results from the use of wild roots and berries, but there are now on the market inexpensive prepared dyes which give satisfaction when the directions on their labels are faithfully followed. We shall, therefore, allow our economical and efficient housekeeper to decide upon her favorite dye, and shall add this suggestion only — in this case be sure to get a dye intended for wool. The process of coloring ravelled wool is simply to immerse the loosely wound balls or little skeins in the dye, and follow the directions 132 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them as to time necessary for boiling when that is a part of the method of producing the required color. Here we see the advisability of having rather small and quite loose balls since it is essential that the dye penetrates to all the strands. Let me whisper a secret, however, about the lovely shaded effects that are so often found in old rugs. It is produced by uneven dyeing. Thus the prime color comes out in a variety of shades that when assembled harmoniously in a rug are delightful and seem to be a studied effect, when in truth such acci- dents as using a wool dye for cotton, or vice versa, may bring out tones and tints that could scarcely be duplicated by study and care. Here is a hint that may serve an ambitious rug maker when using wool and cotton or when making a rug from rags. This method is par- ticularly effective when one plans a background that is mottled, or like jasper. Such back- grounds are put in in swirls and circles, instead of in straight lines. The basic rules for making a hooked rug from rags may be used in making one from wool ravellings. That is, the frame, hook, and method of taking the stitches are identical in both kinds. The main difference lies in this fact, that in making a rug from wool ravellings Hooked Rugs from Wool Ravellings 133 two or more strands of the yarn are picked up with the hook at every stitch. In making a wool yarn rug quite a coarse, sharp-pointed needle or hook is used, and the hook part should be rather deeper than that used for wool or cotton rags in order to hold the strands of wool firmly. JUTE AND HEMP RUGS Another kind of rug that is splendid for durability is that made from ravelled-out jute, canvas, or burlap. Jute is the fiber obtained from the inner bark of the jute plant, a species of linden originally grown in Asia, but now cultivated elsewhere also. It is used in the manufacture of bags and canvas. Hemp, a similar substance used in making cords, rope, and coarse cloth, serves the rug maker in the same way. When jute or hemp bagging is to be used it should be cut into strips lengthwise of the fabric. The soft filling is then easily pulled out, leaving long, strong threads. Four or five of these threads are occasionally used together and hooked through in one loop. This kind of rug is appropriate for halls, porches, sun par- lors, and door mats, but it is not really soft e nough for bedroom or living-room use. This 134 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them ravelled-out burlap is occasionally used in con- junction with wool and cotton, and its glossiness and firmness of texture add a pleasing touch to some of the handsomer, heavier rugs. Again, because of its strength and durability, this material is used for an outside edge or border on wool or cotton rugs. Since I have gone to some length to explain the method of making hooked rugs from wool ravellings I will say here that the same kinds of rugs may be made from new wool yarn. The stores and art shops carry wool for the purpose, but such an expenditure is not advis- able. The cost of a rug made from new yarn is excessive and the finished product is not so artistic as when ravelled-out wool yarn is used. CHAPTER XIV THE THREE STRAND BRAIDED RUG jdepore taking up the subject of the method of construction of the various other types of American hand-made rugs, I wish to emphasize a few thoughts on the subject of materials. The idea back of a hand-made product is that of utility and economy combined to make an at- tractive rug. Therefore, the big point for con- struction is what materials does the would-be rug maker have at hand? Every home has its scrap bag of cast-offs — garments and household fabrics that have served their original purposes and are now ready to be converted into the much- to-be-desired hand-made rug. In addition to wearing apparel, sheets and pillow cases, blan- kets and towels are most adaptable for use in rug making, and since the hooked rug may be made from small pieces, short lengths and odds and ends of various kinds, distributed over a background of plain or variegated effect, one should plan to make economical use of the longer strips from these heavier, larger pieces of household textiles. 135 136 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them No better use can be made of them than to select those that are suitable for a braided rug. In this form of floor covering both wool and cotton may be used alone or in combination. The very characteristically old-time braided rugs were composed largely of cotton materials. Naturally, the bits used in this type of rug must be of a rather firm and substantial character and for this reason old blue overalls, parts of them faded to almost a grayish azure and others deep with the indigo dye, had a very conspicuous place in the motif. The designer of these old-time rugs usually assorted her materials a moon or two before the start of the actual work, sorting the small pieces for hooked rugs and sewing together even the short pieces of the heavier material for use in braiding. Let us turn back, then, to the old-time method and construct a braided rug out of cotton materials. Gather together our cast-off sheets, workaday dresses, gingham aprons, and over- alls and we have the nucleus, indeed we have the entire material, for a very good old-fashioned rug. A braided rug should be substantial, heavy enough to lie flat and of sufficient size to cover the space to which it is assigned. One of the very early uses of this type of rug was before the old Franklin stoves and a rug about The Three Strand Braided Rug 137 one and one half yards in diameter is amply large to protect the carpet in such a spot. Now preparing the rags for braided rugs is materially different from the preparation of rags for an old-fashioned rug made on a loom. In braiding a rug the strips may be torn the desired width, but they need not all be of uni- form width, because when they are folded together the light-weight materials will neces- sarily have to be wider than the heavier cotton such as bed ticking or the drilling used for overalls. In this, however, as in any other kind of needlework, a standard should be established. Let us say the pieces of heavy material are three inches wide, those of lighter weight would have to be cut perhaps four inches, and some a little wider. No absolutely hard-and-fast rule can be set down, but after a little practice the fingers will become accustomed to judging weights and it will be an easy matter to make the pieces so that when the three strands are braided together each is about the same weight. In starting a rug of this character let us take for example two strands of heavy material cut from a pair of old blue overalls, and one strand of soft material — an old sheet dyed a light brown. The best results come from basting 138 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them the three ends to be braided together and clamping them to the side of a kitchen table. Select strands of varying lengths, two rather long and one short, let us say, to start with and then sew the pieces together as the braiding proceeds. In other words, do not sew a number of strips of material into one long one, as in the method of making the old-fashioned carpet rugs. If this were done the material would twist in braiding. Indeed, it is almost impos- sible to dexterously make a good piece of hand braiding from strips longer than a yard or a yard and a half. Add to the length of the strip being braided as the work proceeds, in this way picking up some long and some short strips. The braiding process itself is quite easy since the short strip slips through and is more readily interwoven than the longer ones. Here again as in hooking, the individual method of workman- ship will soon manifest itself. Many of the really nice old-time rugs were made without any effort to fold the material before braiding it, the strands being simply crushed in the hand with the edges turned in. Such a method makes a rather round braid, thick and some- what resilient when new. Continue the color scheme started, sewing brown to brown and blue to blue. This rug The Three Strand Braided Rug 139 will naturally have the blue color predominat- ing, as the rug will be two-thirds blue and one- third brown. For the border use three strands of the blue and make two rows of the solid color. This is surrounded by a row of the two- color combination and three outside rows of the plain brown. This color combination makes a rug that blends nicely into natural colored wood floors. Braiding the strands is simply laying the foundation of our work and whether we make a rug or a basket or a ruffle from our braiding depends entirely upon our manipulation of the work. It is not at all necessary to braid the entire number of yards required to make a rug before starting to sew them together. Since the rug in question is a round one, let us take the end of the braiding which was first fastened to the table, as our starting point, and lay the braid flat on the table upside down. When braiding care must be taken to keep the right side up, for although the under or lower side of the braid should be neat, the side next the worker is essentially smoother and more carefully executed. The braiding process is the same as that used in braiding the hair; that is', weaving up and down from side to side. Starting with the end 140 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them that was first fastened to the table, place the right side down and wrap the braid around the end, working from the center to the circumfer- ence of the rug. Patience and the exercise of care and judgment are essential in keeping the rug flat, but if it is made on a table there is no reason why anything but a rug should result from the worker's efforts. There is one element, however, that is almost magical in keeping a rug flat when sewing it over and over, and that is to place the needle directly across the two pieces of cloth — thus making the stitch diagonal. When this is observed there is no tendency to pucker or full. A needle of sufficient size to thread easily number eight or ten or twelve spool cotton, or linen thread of about the same weight as thread in those numbers, should be used. The weight of the thread should depend, of course, upon the coarseness of the goods being used. As a general rule number ten is very satisfactory and cotton thread is easier to work with than linen because the fibers do not pull apart. A double thread, waxed, is better than a single, and one sews easier with a length of one-half to three-quarters of a yard than with a longer thread. Use dark or light thread according to the color scheme. The Three Strand Braided Rug 141 The old-fashioned method of sewing carpet rags was to lay the end of the strip that was being added on top of the strip attached to the ball on which the yards and yards of sewn rags were wound. The ends lapped from a half to three-quarters of an inch, depending on the weight and width of the strips, and a running stitch through the center joined the pieces securely. That is, they were secure if the thread was fastened by several back stitches taken neatly and ending by throwing the thread over the needle making a loop or knot that grandma and her cohorts considered the one and only method of sewing carpet rags. This same method is as good today as in times past and carpet rags sewn by this formula will stay nice and flat when woven. But braided rugs, as has been explained, are not made from rags wound on balls. Moreover, the process of braiding is such that the raw ends of the strips must not show. Hence we shall sew our rags as we braid the strands by a plain seam, putting the right sides of the goods together, and sewing neatly and with a weight of thread suitable to the goods. Fasten the thread firmly as grandma did when sewing her carpet rags, and let the work go gaily on. 142 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them FIVE AND SEVEN STRAND BRAIDING The process of braiding five and seven strands is simply the interweaving of one strand up and down in the same way as three strand braiding, but the turn at the edges should be flat. The process of sewing the wider strips of braiding is the same as when three strands are used. Besides the round and oval shapes, some makers sew their braided pieces into circles and join them, but such rugs are neither so easy to make nor so practical as the simpler shapes. Another shape that is possible when a large braided rug is desired is to make the center oval and then construct a pair of long oval rugs, sewing them on at the sides as "wings." A unique rug is of seven strand braiding with the center strip of the wings made by weaving fourteen strands into a long flat strip. This rug may be made by combining a black border with a variegated center. CHAPTER XV WOVEN RUGS AND RAG CARPETS Jliand-woven fabrics are today in great de- mand and with this revival of interest in loom products, very naturally we have with us again our old-fashioned woven rag carpets. Unlike hooked rugs which are most satisfactory when made from the original formula, many modern woven rag carpets are lovelier and better than those made by our ancestors. But before discussing relative merits of old versus new let us turn back to grandma's days and analyze a few of the loomed strips of carpet that were stretched lengthwise of the room, their edges overlapping instead of being sewn together. Thus when one breadth became worn it was transferred to a more sheltered space under a couch or other large piece of furniture. Rag carpet, as this woven floor covering was called, generally had one or two double or triple threads of wool chain or warp forming brilliant red, green, blue, or orange stripes a few inches from the edges of the strip. Most carpet was woven a yard wide although 143 144 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them some looms were large enough to weave strips a yard and a quarter wide. Since the work was usually done by the women folks, the labor involved in shifting the implement carrying the rag woof or filling was too heavy if a piece wider than thirty-six inches were attempted. It is not the purpose of this book to enter into an explanation of the mechanism or manipula- tion of the looms that were used in other years or the more modern and lighter weight looms that are on the market today. Woven carpets are like other loom-constructed fabrics. In the somewhat primitive forms looms were a sort of harness on which the chain or warp — the lengthwise running threads of the fabric — were strung, and the woof or crosswise threads woven or interlaced through these lengthwise strands, one up the next down, and so on across the width of the piece being constructed. In carpet weaving the loom was first threaded with the chain or warp — a soft twine manufactured for the purpose — and then the carpet rags pre- viously sewn into strips many yards long were threaded into a shuttle and the little instrument was dexterously drawn or thrown as it was called. When the carpet rag was interlaced or woven into the warp, one thread up and the other down, all through the process, it was then Woven Rugs and Rag Carpets 145 knocked in by shifting the set of teeth in the loom so as to push up the line of woof close to the preceding row. This with variations and elaborations was the loom on which rag carpets were woven. The rags for old-time woven carpets were cut or torn in strips of from a half inch in width to three times that width when a heavy service- able carpet was to be made. In sewing the rags, the ends were placed together overlapping a good half inch, then the two inner edges folded together in the center and sewn with strong cotton or linen thread by a running stitch. Some carpet rags were sewn together in a hit- and-miss way with no attempt to keep colors separate, and when woven these made a mottled background for the gay wool stripes that ran a riot of color from end to end. Other designers of woven carpets sewed their rags with five or six yards of similar or dark-colored materials alternating with the same length of lighter colored rag strips, and when these were woven they gave a cross-stripe effect of five or six strands alike. Naturally as in most other woven fabrics, the weight and worth depend upon the number of chain or warp strands to the inch. Loose, flimsy 146 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them carpet has as few as eight or ten strands of warp to the inch and fine, close carpet may have from twenty-five to thirty strands to the inch holding the finely cut carpet rags or woof in place. Quality of the finished woven carpet is deter- mined by evenness of surface and tightness of weave. Most of our carpet weavers today taboo the old-fashioned method of sewing carpet rags and simply lap the ends of the rags as they are woven, giving them a twist to prevent the loose ends from protruding. This is one element of construction that makes our modern woven rag carpets of nicer quality than those made from sewn rags, for there are no knotty places to indicate where one color is discontinued and the next put in. I am touching this subject lightly because even hand-woven carpets have the mechanical element of the loom to be considered. Many old looms are still in existence, some in attics or wood sheds but others serving their hereditary owners for weaving carpet for the neighborhood. There is, however, one strong plea I must make to the weavers of carpets and rugs throughout the United States. Put some thought and skill into the work. Dye the faded, ugly rags that have no beauty or character Woven Rugs and Rag Carpets 147 into varying shades of a good basic color. Blues blended with wood tones and a touch of amber or orange are delightful when woven evenly and with some attempt at regularity of cross stripes. A plaid effect may be obtained by threading the warp on the loom with two colors. Narrow stair carpet or hall runners are done in fine, close weaving. The real charm of these lies in coloring — for example our Sunrise pat- tern. The entire effect is that of the promise of a clear day as we look to the east just at sunrise. There is the deep blue of the cloud- less sky and the clear golden yellow that we love to designate as colonial when we use it on walls or painted houses. Then here and there is a stripe of alternating ivory white and buff that spells harmony and cheerfulness. The chain is dark blue and orange, x^though it is made entirely of cotton it wears well and is equally appropriate for floor or couch coverings. A wider piece of carpet is of the same tex- ture but has the richer reds and purples of a glorious sunset, and it is no stretch of imagina- tion to understand why this is our Sunset textile. Some pieces have touches of green that partake of the tones of the forest. Indeed, there are innumerable color combinations pos- 148 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them sible in these hand-woven carpets that our old- time rug weavers never thought of attempting, and one wonders why this is so. They found ways of expressing themselves through the medium of hooked rugs, but ploddingly they proceeded with weaving rag carpets that were mongrel, mostly. Naturally there were ex- ceptions, among them the gorgeously brilliant wool warp carpet worthy of a futurist in color. Here we have rich reds running the scale to deep mahogany, brown, and greens that tone down to grays. This particular carpet is not made from rags but with a filler of hemp. This type of woven carpet was known in some local- ities, particularly among the Pennsylvania Dutch, as Gerthen carpet. It has an Indian flavor and would be delightful in a camp or rural lodge where its brightness would not tire us by being with us always. There are many possibilities and much pleasure as well in experimentation with color combinations in weaving carpets. They cannot be set down here as rules, for it has been truly said that color is felt. It is not a theory, it is experience, but it seems appropriate to say a few sentences here in reference to color — as a whole. To understand the subject one must be a student and an experimental worker. Woven Rugs and Rag Carpets 149 While writing this book it was my good for- tune to hear an authority on color, Mr. Ralph Pratt of Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, speak on the subject of the spectrum, and the words I pass on as suggestions only, are: "Blue is cool — or cold. Green, Nature's mantle, is restful. Violet is shadowy and mysterious. Red symbolizes life and vigor — passion — heat — and even revolution, and yel- low is pure light." Volumes, libraries indeed, are devoted to this subject and our rug weaver must work out her own idea of beauty along her own lines. And here, as in the instructions about making hooked rugs, let me again emphasize the thought: Make your textile beautiful for yourself. You will be sure, then, that if you cannot please every one who may see it you have pleased the one most vital to its success — you — your own self. KNITTED RUGS This is not a lesson in the manipulation of a set of knitting needles. It is presupposed that the woman who undertakes to knit a rug knows the simple stitches that are necessary in making a smooth, firm, knitted fabric. If the reader would like to make a knitted rug she must 150 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them first learn to knit. Then she may sew her strips of rags as for woven carpet and roll them on balls and proceed to make her rug, using her ingenuity in fashioning it well and blending colors harmoniously. Knitted rugs may be round, oval, square, or oblong. Round or cart-wheel rugs are made by knit- ting a circular mat about six inches in circum- ference. Then a piece three or four inches wide is made and the outer edge widened so that it lies flat when sewn around the circular center piece. The next row may be five or six inches wide, keeping a regular scale of increase of two or three inches until the rug reaches the re- quired dimensions. Square or oblong rugs are made in strips and permit of many color combinations. Such rugs are nice for bathrooms, when made of cotton, as they launder well. Knitted edges were occasionally put on hooked rugs. One example shows a dull green field on which a frisky horse cavorts, and the knitted border shows the basic colors of the rug. CROCHETED RUGS I shall not devote much space to crocheting rugs for the reason that the process is an ex- Woven Rugs and Rag Carpets 151 tremely simple one. Some of our ancestral rug makers used the crochet hook to make a lace border for their hooked rugs. Such a one is shown in Plate XVI. In this case the twine used in making the lace was dyed a soft rosy hue to blend harmoniously with the predominant colors in the rug. Those experienced in the use of the crochet needle can formulate a variety of designs in the rugs they undertake from following patterns illustrated in any book on crochet work. Care must be taken to sew the rags neatly and to join them in exactly the right place or an uneven pattern will result. Crocheted rugs are suitable for porches, bathrooms, and bedrooms. A very durable kind of rug is made by cro- cheting wool rags over a rope. FUR RUGS Rugs made from fur are not designed for floor coverings but for wall hangings and the one illustrated is an elaborate piece of work made from many pieces of different kinds of fur. Such a rug naturally would not be at- tempted by the novice in handling fur, but it is shown as an example of what the experienced worker may accomplish with scraps of fur. 152 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them Our early fur trappers' homes were adorned with some of these patched fur rugs of simple design. The untrained rug maker of today may have a hint for utilizing the accumulation of scraps of furs that may be interesting, but she will hardly attempt anything very elabo- rate. CHAPTER XVI THE RUG MAKERS OF THE FUTURE JN ow that I come to the final chapter I hear a multitude of intelligent voices asking "who shall continue the revival of the art of American hand-made rugs? ,, Naturally the same type of home-loving housewives who originally made rugs will continue to do so, and in addition there are many folks in cities and towns who will feel the urge to leave this kind of handwork to posterity. I have found, too, that active, alert women who direct reconstruction work in institutions see in these little mats the possi- bility for constructive, blessed work among those who because of physical or mental injury need employment. Many of those who give their time, their intelligence, and their energy to reconstruction work have come to me asking for a book that tells how real hooked rugs are made by hand. Conscientiously I have tried to cover even seemingly patent facts about rug making in order that dear souls, who have within them all the desire to dare and do that is flowing 153 154 Hooked Rugs and How to Make Them through the veins of the physically and men- tally sound, might not stumble or become dis- couraged for lack of definite instructions. I have tried to show how the work may be made a joy, and I leave those who are interested to carry out the work in their own way. In the making of woven rugs and carpets and in the knitted and crocheted varieties some of the best examples of workmanship I have seen were made by the sightless. All institu- tions giving work to the blind include weaving, and most of them produce both crocheted and knitted rugs as well. There is joy in work; and to create a thing of beauty ourselves or to help others to express their ideas of the things that are to them lovely and of good repute is, to put it mildly, soul satisfying. Out of darkness cometh light, out of chaos cometh order, after sorrow cometh joy. STERLING & FRANCINE CLARK ART INSTITUTE NK2800 .P45 stack Phillips. Anna M. L/Hooked rugs and how I ill illinium I II iiiii iiii nil ill!!!!! imiijT!!!!! !!!!!!! 1 1 ii Him in 111 1 ii mil mi mi i 3 1962 00074 1243