Moving Encounters by Jan Eubanks
Rug Show
A brief history of antique rug hooking:
Antique hooked rugs were created on burlap after 1850 because burlap was free as long as one used old grain and feed sacks. Every and any scrap of fiber that was no longer usable as clothing was put into rugs in the United States. Yarn was not a fiber of choice if one did not have access to "thrums", a fringe of warp threads left on the loom after the cloth was woven and then removed.
Making a durable and beautiful rug requires patience and nimble fingers. The basic technique is to hold a thin strip of wool on the backside of a coarsely woven fabric like burlap, cotton or linen. It is then drawn up in small loops of the woolen strip through the openings of the weave using a hand held hooking tool.
The backing fabric is usually stretched out and secured on a small frame and the design of the rug is sketched out on the fabric beforehand. Today there are many manufactured patterns for purchase from many sources, rug hooking teachers and designers.
In New England, the designs of hooked rugs were often florals, still a huge favorite subject for hooked rugs today.
Early colonials introduced the tradition of hooked rugs to American.
The technique of hooked rugs as we know it today, gained popularity in England over 400 years ago. At that time, it was called "brodding" or "thrumming".
Antique hooked rugs were created on burlap after 1850 because burlap was free as long as one used old grain and feed sacks. Every and any scrap of fiber that was no longer usable as clothing was put into rugs in the United States. Yarn was not a fiber of choice if one did not have access to "thrums", a fringe of warp threads left on the loom after the cloth was woven and then removed.
Making a durable and beautiful rug requires patience and nimble fingers. The basic technique is to hold a thin strip of wool on the backside of a coarsely woven fabric like burlap, cotton or linen. It is then drawn up in small loops of the woolen strip through the openings of the weave using a hand held hooking tool.
The backing fabric is usually stretched out and secured on a small frame and the design of the rug is sketched out on the fabric beforehand. Today there are many manufactured patterns for purchase from many sources, rug hooking teachers and designers.
In New England, the designs of hooked rugs were often florals, still a huge favorite subject for hooked rugs today.
Early colonials introduced the tradition of hooked rugs to American.
The technique of hooked rugs as we know it today, gained popularity in England over 400 years ago. At that time, it was called "brodding" or "thrumming".
