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| Designed and hooked by Ruth Robinson |
Using rag-rug techniques for artwork for walls and elsewhere - sometimes even for on the floor
2 January 2011
Not a 'how to' book, but a tremendously varied collection of contemporary rugs from all round the world (though mostly USA and Canada) in wide variety of styles: Contemporary Hooked Rugs - Themes and Memories - by Linda Rae Coughlin - published by Schiffer. Available from Amazon, but cheaper if you buy from one of the other sellers on Amazon (or support your local bookshop by ordering it through them...)
1 January 2011
History
The earliest forebears of hooked rugs were the floor mats made in Yorkshire, England during the early part of the 19th century. Workers in weaving mills were allowed to collect thrums, pieces of yarn that ran 9 inches (23cm) long. These by-products were useless to the mill, and the weavers took them home and pulled the thrums through a backing.
(More information - about development of the craft in North America - is here.)
This site (from which the photo of the weaving mill comes) continues:
Because yarn was expensive, and always saved for knitting sweaters, poor families without access to thrums usually made their hooked rugs using scraps of ordinary cloth. But no matter what fabric was used, the hooked rugs were more attractive than the common alternative at the time: inexpensive mats woven from coconut fiber, straw, or corn husks.
Photos of very old rugs are hard to come by - mostly they got used till they wore out!
Rag Rug Inspirations book
Rag Rug Inspirations by Juliet Bawden, published in 1996, has quite a few pages on "designers working".
Handcrafted Rugs book
This book is one of the best for clear illustrations of technical details that I've seen, and covers lots of techniques including, braided, felt rugs, needlepoint, prodded, hooked, locker-hooked , tufted, knitted and woven rugs: "Handcrafted Rugs" by Sandra Hardy. On Amazon - price from under £3 + postage - published back in 2001.
Base fabrics
Mary Dayton at Rag Art has a really good range of base fabrics for hooking, including hessian, 100% wool even-weave, linen, cotton, polyester and rug canvas: www.ragartstudios.com
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