PROBLEM: MAKING A RUG
The Design.—This problem, like all others in house decoration, involves in its initial stages questions of design. Before planning the rug it is necessary to know what use the rug is to have—whether it is to be for a hall, a living room, a dining-room, or a chamber, and whether it is to be used upon hard wood floors or with a carpet. This is a question of colours, and of materials; for the designer must avoid too sharp contrasts in colour, not only in the rug itself but in its relation to the other colours with which it should harmonize, and the materials used must not display glaring inconsistencies of texture. Unless the beginner has special talent as a colourist it is not wise to attempt the introduction of too many colours in one piece of work. If the warp is dark it is usually better to use light or medium woof. If several shades are used in the body of the rug, better results are obtained by using for the border or end decoration one or more plain colours which match or readily blend with the principal colours of the body of the rug.
Hand-Made Rugs
[Plate IX]
Materials: Denim.—There are many materials suitable for rug making. Denim in moss or forest green makes a rug fit for a queen. This should be woven on a blue or green warp thread of carpet size. In preparing the woof it will be necessary to cut the denim on a true bias into strips from 1⁄2 to 3⁄4 of an inch wide. The latter width is better. In cutting, the best method is to fold back one corner of a square cut end along the selvedge, forming a fold across the cloth at an angle of 45 degrees. Crease this fold carefully and make the first cut along the fold. With a yardstick or a straight edge of some kind rule off lightly with a piece of chalk or soft pencil strips of the proper width for the succeeding cuts, taking great pains to maintain a true bias. When a sufficient amount has been cut, the pieces should be ravelled or fringed on each edge by drawing them quickly through a button hook. There is a certain knack in this, but it is soon acquired. The fringed strips should then be fastened together at the ends by means of overhand stitching, trimming off neatly all projecting corners. The moss-like effect when woven is improved if the woof, as soon as it is prepared, is not rolled into balls but left in suitable lengths for filling the shuttle. A special form of shuttle without a bobbin or spool is used for carrying the woof cloth for rug weaving. Its simple construction is shown in the illustration. The woof is wound endwise and unwound in weaving by turning the shuttle.
Shuttle for woof cloth
Another good material for rug making is found in various kinds of woollen cloth. Warm, durable, and handsome effects may be obtained by using a gray wool with catawba or some other warm shade of red as the end decoration, with set figures for the body of the rug. Geometric designs, arrows, swastika, the pine tree, and many other forms are possible. Very dainty colours also may be combined in rugs for chamber use. Materials for these may be obtained from worn lawn dresses, discarded silkaleen and mull, which work up beautifully with one or two plain colours reserved for use in the borders.
Combination of Blue and White.—Blue and white is always a happy combination; and exceedingly dainty creations may be woven, to be placed perhaps in the guest chamber, by using a woof of old blue with a white warp, combined with white borders and a white knotted fringe. A vine-like effect may be obtained in the border by twisting blue and white together in opposite ways and weaving in a plain thread of white or blue between the two. Another happy combination of blue and white results from weaving on a blue warp a woof of white outing flannel, cut and fringed as described for the moss rug of denim, with a border of old blue and figures of the same colour. For a chamber or for a bath room in white such a rug as this will leave nothing to be desired.
A Weaving Design.—It has just been said that design in rug making is a question of colours and of materials. It is already apparent that it is more than that. It is largely a question of procedure in the process of weaving. That this is so may be shown in the following account of the making of a blue and white rug. The thought was to produce a rug with five stripes of blue running lengthwise, with white figures at regular intervals through the middle of the rug. To accomplish this result two threads of white warp were removed from the reed and harness every two inches for a space of ten inches on each side, thus making what may be called a weaving design; for the blue stripes, it will be easily seen, had to appear to the number of five on each side when the rug was woven. The white figures were formed by first throwing the blue cloth or woof through the warp by the usual throw of the shuttle and, before beating it up, threading into the warp white cloth in the desired pattern, after which the woof and pattern were beaten up together. For the pattern five threads or pieces of white cloth were used, two of which were 6 inches in length and three 2 inches, the two longer ones being placed between the shorter ones as illustrated. A space of 7 inches was left between the white figures, the location of which was carefully determined by counting the threads, both of warp and of woof, so that in weaving the figures should appear at the right place. The result of this weaving design was a very beautiful rug.
White figure in blue rug
Another Example of Weaving Design.—This feature of rug designing is capable of indefinite expansion. Perhaps one more example may be given. The object was to produce a rug of medium dark centre with an 8-inch border all around of a darker colour. This effect was produced by first weaving 8 inches of the dark end border, which was of mixed goods showing several dark colours contrasting happily. Having reached the place where the medium centre was to begin, a woof thread of this medium colour and of the right length was joined each time to short pieces of woof of the border colour so that, as the weaving progressed along the length of the centre, not only the centre colour appeared in its proper place but 8 inches of border on each side. When the proper length of the centre had been woven, the rug was finished by weaving another 8 inches of the border colour. The result was a rug of individuality and charm.
Great Variety of Material.—Endless combinations will occur to any one who becomes interested in this captivating art. The field for colour design is almost without limit. No material is so old and useless as to be despised by the clever rug maker. Old bed ticking with its blue and white stripes cut on the bias makes a very desirable combination when woven on a blue warp with a plain blue border. A charming mottled effect in one instance was produced by a yarn which was ravelled from an old raw silk portière of a mahogany shade and wound into balls with finely cut strips of tan cloth, the balls being rewound several times. This was used as the woof for the centre of the rug. The border was made of a weaving thread of the unravelled mahogany yarn, doubled several times to give thread of a size equal to that of the tan cloth. Discarded clothing in which the prevailing colours are red, when made up into woof threads and woven on a white warp, gives a charming effect which may be strengthened or toned down by a border combination as desired. Dyes may, of course, be used if the colours of the weaving threads made up from old cloths and discarded clothing are not suited to the design that is to be worked out.
Weaving the Rug.—When the design for the rug has been thoroughly worked out, determining the colours, materials to be used, and the method of procedure, the warp and the woof threads should be prepared and the warp attached to the loom, as already explained in the discussion of the general process of weaving. Further details of procedure are not needed here. The thing to do is to weave a rug as designed. The next thing to do is to design and weave another rug, and then another and so on. As in most crafts so in weaving, experience is the great teacher—a teacher who demands faithful work, who finds lessons of value in every failure and abundant satisfaction in every success. Some of these successes were found in the rugs illustrated opposite [page 252].
Rug weaving is probably the simplest of all weaving and therefore a good problem with which to begin. After serving a satisfactory apprenticeship in this field the amateur will have acquired sufficient knowledge of design and sufficient skill in the art to pass to more difficult problems. This will take her out into a large field of opportunity. Portières, window draperies, table scarfs, bedspreads, and covers for pillows and cushions in endless variety will suggest themselves to the ambitious worker. In all these, as has been seen in the case of rug making, design is all important. The management of the loom is much the same in all plain weaving. What differences there are will be found, for the most part, in the weaving designs. In the following problems are described some of the special features involved in the other forms of weaving.