So: is this rug I so admire (from a recent arts/crafts show on the Square) a Zapotec jaguar from Mexico or possibly another beastie entirely from Thailand? I trust you, too, will admire it while you ponder your answer. I, in turn, am heading back to my kitchen to ponder the mysterious overseas Asian-English instructions which accompanied my new portable air conditioner. With any luck, I may be cooler tomorrow morning.
Showing posts with label rugs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rugs. Show all posts
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Handsome rug from ????
So: is this rug I so admire (from a recent arts/crafts show on the Square) a Zapotec jaguar from Mexico or possibly another beastie entirely from Thailand? I trust you, too, will admire it while you ponder your answer. I, in turn, am heading back to my kitchen to ponder the mysterious overseas Asian-English instructions which accompanied my new portable air conditioner. With any luck, I may be cooler tomorrow morning.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
A pair of rag rugs
As I've often mentioned in the past, my mom loved to make things. A Christmas angel. Her own wedding dress. A toy dog. A ceramic frog. My clothes. Slip covers for an old sofa. Drapes. You name it, she made it. Rag rugs are no exception. One year was the year of the giant crocheted rug of many colors. No, the rug pictured here was not made by Mom, but by my ex-sister-in-law (we're divorced) who saw Mom's work and made her own which I photographed on my visit to Memphis this past summer.
Back in the early aught-40s, there was no Internet, chockablock full of instructions and Mom was on her own. At that time, most homemade rag rugs were braided; Mom figured, why not crochet instead. That way she wouldn't have to take the extra step of sewing the plaited strips together. It worked quite well, though washing that heavy, 6-foot-diameter monster was a big of a problem.
One day at her favorite fabric store (Phelps by name, back in Jax Florida), she came across a new rug-making gizmo that enabled her to use small pieces of cloth for a type of knotted rug. We both worked on this project, though it wasn't nearly as rewarding as the crochet. Took a lot more time to cover the same amount of floor and the result was really quite shaggy. I had never seen another such rug until this summer over on McCormick Street in an antique shop (above, below). Mom's rug was much more colorful, BTW; as I recall, it didn't hold up as well as the crochet.
My own rug-making was limited to a series of pictorial hooked rugs, but that was in another time and another world. I do have pictures however and might just post a two or three one of these days. In the meantime, if you are interested in rag rugs in their many manifestations, a visit to the Rugmaker's Homestead is a must.
Back in the early aught-40s, there was no Internet, chockablock full of instructions and Mom was on her own. At that time, most homemade rag rugs were braided; Mom figured, why not crochet instead. That way she wouldn't have to take the extra step of sewing the plaited strips together. It worked quite well, though washing that heavy, 6-foot-diameter monster was a big of a problem.
One day at her favorite fabric store (Phelps by name, back in Jax Florida), she came across a new rug-making gizmo that enabled her to use small pieces of cloth for a type of knotted rug. We both worked on this project, though it wasn't nearly as rewarding as the crochet. Took a lot more time to cover the same amount of floor and the result was really quite shaggy. I had never seen another such rug until this summer over on McCormick Street in an antique shop (above, below). Mom's rug was much more colorful, BTW; as I recall, it didn't hold up as well as the crochet.
My own rug-making was limited to a series of pictorial hooked rugs, but that was in another time and another world. I do have pictures however and might just post a two or three one of these days. In the meantime, if you are interested in rag rugs in their many manifestations, a visit to the Rugmaker's Homestead is a must.
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