How to Care for Vintage Hooked Rugs
To care for vintage hooked rugs, handle them gently, do very little cleaning, store them correctly and hang them carefully. When you use antique textiles in your home, you need to balance your desire to enjoy and use them with preserving them. Perfect care of historic textiles would place them in the dark, away from temperature and humidity extremes and where they are not touched. Part of the joy of collecting antiques, however, is to display them, use them and share them. The long life of an antique necessitates a balance between daily use and preservation measures.
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Things You'll Need
- Vintage hooked rugs of your choice
- Orvus conservation soap, or other mild liquid soap
- All-cotton sheets
- Vacuum cleaner
- Piece of window screen
- Dowel rods
- Wall hooks
Instructions
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Use your vintage rug gently. Hooked rugs, designed for the floor, live a rough life. Walked on, dragged around and kicked, they suffer from hard use. Place vintage hooked rugs in low traffic areas away from severe wear and tear. Avoid areas that receive lots of sunlight because sunlight fades colors and deteriorates fibers.
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Clean your hooked rug only minimally. Vintage hooked rugs will not survive dry cleaning or complete submersion in water. To clean an antique hooked rug, gently shake it out on a regular basis. For spills and stains, create a mild soap (Orvus or another conservation soap) and water solution, and gently wipe up the spill. Wipe again with water only to remove any soap residue. Vacuum your antique textiles through a protective screen. Wrap the edges of a piece of window screen with cotton tape. Place the screen over the rug, and using gentle suction, vacuum carefully.
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Store your vintage hooked rug with care. Typical home storage locations, such as attics and basements, are not friendly to vintage textiles due to extremes of temperature and potential bugs. Flat storage is preferable. If you cannot store your vintage hooked rug flat, role it with the hooked yarns facing out, and wrap it in an all-cotton sheet. Do not stack things on top of the rolled textile as this will cause bends and creases that damage the fibers and the backing.
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Hang your hooked rug with preservation in mind. Rather than placing hooked rugs on the floor, some people prefer to display them on the wall. This is not recommended for large or particularly heavy textiles. For smaller lightweight textiles, sew a narrow sleeve made of cotton across the complete width of the rug. Run a dowel rod wider than the width of the rug through the sleeve. Use wall hooks placed close to the outside edges of the rug to hold the dowel rod. Even appropriate hanging places put stress on the vintage hooked rug. Remove it occasionally to let it rest, or sew a second sleeve on the other end and reverse it. Pick a location to hang your antique textile away from sunlight and dampness.
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Tips & Warnings
For extensive damage or dirt, contact a textile conservator to care for your vintage hooked rug. A conservator is extensively trained and will have access to techniques and supplies that the average person does not have.
