There are also rugs of heavy cotton, such as denim in its dull reds, blues, yellows, greens, and browns.
The size of a rug for general use is usually one yard wide by two yards long, the yard width being the limit of the ordinary loom. Smaller rugs are woven in different proportions: a runner for the hall is three-quarters of a yard wide and of any required length, and door-mats half a yard wide by one yard long. Squares for the centre of the room can be made by having two breadths woven exactly alike and then sewing them together.
You who possess a loom of even the clumsiest design have a field open before you full of interest, for freedom to experiment in pattern and manner of weaving will lead to continually new results and there will be increasing originality[originality] and beauty in your productions.
Color Schemes for Rugs
Collect all your available material, plan your combination of colors, and then decide whether it will be necessary to put some of the rags into the dye-pot. If you have a handsome vase in your room it is a pretty idea to take that for your keynote and reproduce its color in your rugs.
Solid colors are the best unless you wish to have part of your rug what is called “hit or miss.[miss.]” For “hit or miss” any short pieces may be used and sewed together indiscriminately; then again, if you have a good deal of checked, plaid, or mingled material, it may be used by itself for centre or border. It is upon the solid colors, however, that you must principally rely, as there is less of the element of chance in their use, and your calculation as to the result of your color combination will be surer.
Making a Priscilla Rug.
A favorite design is a “hit or miss,” or a solid-colored centre with striped ends. A more unconventional effect is produced by making the rug in stripes of unequal width and in daring color combinations; some of these latter are startlingly barbaric and artistic in appearance and are well adapted to studio use. Again, more harmonious effects are produced by using various tints and shades of one color. Very narrow stripes of black and of white often separate wide stripes of different colors, sometimes singly, sometimes together, and when used with discretion they give a certain decision and finish to the whole. You will naturally want to exercise your own taste and originality in designing your rugs, so a description of one all-wool rug will be amply sufficient as a guide.
This rug is one yard wide by two yards long. The centre is exactly one yard square and is of solid dark cardinal red. The two ends are precisely the same and the stripes of the border follow each other in this order: Next the centre comes a very narrow stripe of old gold, then one of the same width of white. These are made by putting the strips of color only once through the loom, or once across. After these comes a five-inch stripe of old blue, again the narrow yellow and white stripes followed by a two-inch stripe of moss green, a three-inch stripe of dull light blue, a five-inch stripe of light brown, a two-inch stripe of old blue, and next the fringe a one-inch stripe of dark cardinal red. The fringe is simply the warp allowed to extend beyond the rug about a quarter of a yard at each end.