Classes  2025

The bottom rug was made in the 1920s from what we call thrums, this was wool waste from the mills, the wool was held in bundles and hooked through in bunches , this shows the innovative ways rugs were made from whatever scraps that could be found, the rug corner on top  is a newly made version of the favorite woolen cloth scraps cut into strips and hooked through a hessian backing, this is a wonderful method for using up old blankets and clothing , here we have used an old white blanket and various old tweed skirts and jackets,  unpicked and given a rough wash in the machine to lightly felt the cloth . this is a simple way to use up old cloth and  make beautifully warm bedside rugs or something to chear a cold stone floor.

Very effective patterned rugs can be made from hooking long continuous strips of coloured rag, this works very well with soft cotton cloth that can be torn which safes the bother of cutting all the strips, however as the effect is so nice cutting  strips on soft wool is well worth the effort, this also works very well with t shirt cotton which will roll into a bouncy cord so will make a lovely soft rug .

It is not so common to find pictorial rugs amongst the old English and Welsh examples however in America Pictorial rugs seemed to be very popular and are a much loved part of their folk art tradition which has been carried on until this day. basically the finer you cut your strips the finer detail you can add to your rug.

Very nice effects can be achieved using waste wool hooked through in small bundles using the simple geometric patterns found in Moroccan nomad rugs and also geometric patterns found in the many types of kilim., these styles can also be carried out with soft rag using one of the hooked methods. many historic examples of  Rag Rugs were made to emulate expensive hand woven rugs 

There are also many kinds of Braided Rugs some rely on plating strips then joining them together using a needle, others can be stitched or Crocheted, Crochet is a nice method for making easily washable rugs of course you can do Round Square or Rectangular, you can use thin strips of Cotton rag , denim for a hard wearing rug or wool for something a little softer.

Waste Wool often turns up in old rugs, simply because Nothing was thrown away, old knitwear was unraveled and if there wasn't enough to knit a new garment or if the wool was past its best for knitting then into the rug it goes. nothing wasted and great fun can be had deciding what to do with your favorite colours.

Denims and heavy drills also make interesting textures, these heavier cloths work well for Braided and Crochet Rugs and make excellent rugs for stone floors or areas that will get heavier usage you can rely just upon the natural indigo and use it in contrasting shades or you can introduce another colour in any drill of a similar weight 

T Shirt cotton is a wonderful material for creating pictorial rugs, one of the best tings about it is that it tears into strips which curl back on themselves and being a little stretchy the tufts contract into nice neat bobbles when tightly placed together this makes a very pretty  decorative  rug

This peacock rug is being worked in T shirt cottons. The Peacock is a symbol of good fortune used frequently in Indian and nomadic rugs, it is also in eastern European folk art, this peacock was taken from a piece of Romanian folk embroidery often these pieces were made as part of the wedding textiles which were worked by the women for their daughter to take to their new home ,