How to Hook a Rug
Rug hooking was a popular pastime in the mid-19th century, when the invention of time-saving domestic appliances gave housewives a little free time to get creative. Using burlap feed sacks and discarded scraps of cloth, women would create their own colorful, original designs for rugs that served utilitariam and artistic purposes. With the renewed popularity of folk art, rag rugs have made a comeback.
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Instructions
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Prepare Your Materials
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Visit a thrift shop, or make a trip to your attic to recover clothing that can be dismantled and used as cloth scraps. Any material will do, but wool is the preferred cloth for rug work.
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Prepare your cloth by removing any loose threads, checking for holes and washing thoroughly in hot water to remove any pests or dirt. Remove seams or other stitching, if necessary.
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Choose your pallet, dye your cloth if necessary, and cut into even strips that parallel the grain of the weave. Tear the cloth into two inch strips first, and then narrow them down as needed. Cut heavy fabrics narrower than lightweight fabrics so that they don’t pull the threads on the backing loose. 1/8 inch is average for medium weight widths.
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For the rug backing, create two lines of running stitches in burlap, linen or wool cloth, running the stitches at least an inch beyond the pattern area and all the way around the perimeter. (Be sure to stitch each corner on a diagonal.)
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Buy a pre-printed pattern, or create your own pattern in the center of the backing, using attached paper and indelible ink. (If you’re feeling bold, you may also choose to draw directly onto the burlap.) You may also draw on light netting, retracing the design onto the backing with a bleed-through pen.
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Tape the front of rug with cotton twill tape, inside pattern-edge. Stitch the tape into place 1/8 of an inch from tape’s outer edge and gathering it a bit around the corners.
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Use a freestanding TV tray, canvas stretcher or an easel frame to hold your rug taut as you work. Tack the backing to the frame using thumbtacks.
Happy Hooking
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Use a short-handled hook and hold the fabric strip beneath the backing. Push the hook through, catching the tip of the hook on the strip.
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Push the hook sideways against the mesh and pull the strip through the backing material. Hook right to left, leaving an occasional hole unhooked so that the mesh does not become too tight.
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Pull the “tail” to the top part of the material when the whole strip of fabric has been hooked and cut the ends to match the height of the previous loops.
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Cut the backing outside of the stitching when the hooking is completed. Fold the tape on each corner on the diagonal a tiny bit in from the edge. Stitch the back of the rug and the tape edges together with overcast stitching.
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Tips & Warnings
Start with straight rows, and once you feel comfortable with these, try hooking curves, which add texture to the background of a piece. Curve hooked rows to the design contour without crossing strips.
Always fill in the design first, and work the outlines afterward.
To speed up the cutting process, you may buy a mechanical cutter.
Resources
- Photo Credit LAURIE RUBINETTI
