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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: raggybaggylin on Monday 15 August 11 22:09 BST (UK)
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Does anyone have any handed down hooked rag rugs, mats, tools, stories, from within their family?(particularly if they have farming, mining, fishing backgrounds/ancestry?)
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Welcome to Rootschat. :) Perhaps there'll be a better chance of a response if you explain why you are interested in the subject.
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I am interested because I am researching currently for a book based on the topic.
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Welcome from me, too.
I don't have any old stuff - all worn out years ago but I do know of a very talented group who still make these mats. They operate out of Woodhorn Museum - the home of Northumberland Archives.
Here in Northumberland we call them proggy mats or hooky mats, depending upon the technique used. When I was very young my job was to cut up the fabric into the right size ready for my mother and grandmother to put into the mat which they made on winter evenings.
Christine
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Thanks a lot Christine. Really helpful!
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Beamish Museum in County Durham has quite a lot of proggy mats, and also run workshops on making them.
Just google Beamish + proggy and you'll get lots of results. As you will if you just google 'proggy mat' or 'hooky mat'.
There are still quite a few individuals and groups in the north-east who are keping this tradition alive.
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Many thanks for that! Very helpful! Yes I know of both Beamish and the Woodhorn Colliery Museum, and have visited both in the past. I am wanting also to connect with individuals who might have old rag rugs, stories, memories, tools etc. Anyone out there??
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I remember rag-rugs very well from my childhood in the 1950's in West Yorkshire. By that time these rugs tended to be relegated to use in the kitchen ( to prevent the cold stiking through from the stone floor when Mum was standing in front of the stove or the sink).
The rugs were always made bits of woollen worsted cloth, such as was manufactured in our area- presumably folk cut up old suits, trousers and skirts to make the rugs.
Given that during the war worn-out men's suits were regularly re-modelled into skirts etc for the girls in the family + kiddies clothes too, one must assume that being re-cycled into rugs was the last of possibly many reincarnations for the fine worsted cloth which my family members have made for generations.
I recall also that there used to be in the 1920's and 30's a local system of sharing the frame-device on which the rugs were made in people's homes. It was passed around during the Winter months so that each family could make rugs, as a communal passtime.
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Many thanks for this. You remember all this very vividly.May I be really cheeky, and ask how old you are? I think probably once they got demoted to the far corners of the privvy, that was their very last reincarnation!! Do you mean that your family were wool cloth manufacturers? Is the cloth you mention still being made? Might you remember who made the rug frame? (It often seemed to be the man of the household.) Do you think that this was more of a pastime, or an "art of necessity?" Would you remember it as people, by and large enjoying doing a rug together, or was it felt to be a tedious chore? Again thanks so much for your valuable recollections!
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I recall it being a pastime - something to do in the dark winter evenings in the days before TV. It could well have been a necessity in some households but not all.
It sprang from the old motto of 'waste not, want not'. Bykerlads is right - when a garment could not be used for anything else it became part of a rug. After all the buttons etc. had been removed and saved for re-use, of course.
I don't know who made our frame - possibly my grandfather but it could have been 'shop bought'. The hessian could be purchased with a pattern already stamped on it. I can remember one with a big red flower in the middle but you could buy plain hessian and draw your own pattern or just put the colours in randomly to give a mixed effect.
Like Bykerlads my childhhood was mostly in the 1950s - born in 1947.
I think I might know where there is an old progger but it doesn't belong to me.
Christine
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Hello
I remember one of those rugs in our house. My grandmother and mom used our cloth diapers that were no longer needed. The cloth had been dyed a few different colours, cut into strips, stitched into long lengths and braided into the rug. Gran's left Scotland as a child with her parents and siblings. Her mother's side were miners and father's gardeners. In Canada she lived through the depression of the 30s and WWII with a husband overseas and raising her two small children. You made the most out of things you had.
Linda
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Raggybaggylin- To answer your questions:
I was born in 1949.
My family were not manufacturers in the sense of being textile mill owners but most of my ancestors were clothiers/weavers of textile workers right back to the 1700's.
The cloth I remember being used was the stuff that men's suits were/are made of- fine worsted woollen.
I'll have a look at a memoir that my late father wrote about his childhood which talks about rug-making and get back to you with the details. My recollection is that rug-making was partly a necessity but also a social + annual routine passtime in Winter.
I think a bit of rug-making was still done when I was a child but it was done with wool onto a canvas backing with holes- a tool with a wooden handle and a kind of hook with a little flap was used - amazing what one remembers from all those years ago!!
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Not sure how widespread your interests are but the last post reminded me of the looped wool rugs on hessian that I would have helped make in the 1960s (on an island off the New England coast). My grandmother, who had grown up on another island in a different area talked about making rag rugs as a child (as her mother had done in Canada in the 1870s) so I expect it was a very common thing.
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As promised the bit about rag rugs from my dad's memoir, written on the eve of the new millenium, recounting life over 3/4 century, from his birth in 1926. He gives many, many details and invites the younger readers to ponder the question-"the good old days?were they?"
"Rugs were plentiful and homemade from old clothing, always wool, cut up into pieces 4 inches long and 1 inch wide. These were inserted into a canvas type backing using a pointed piece of wood.These rugs were warm and long lasting.They were known as "pegged rugs".They were used all over the home, the more colourful as heaarthrugs, the plainer ones as doormats. Most families shared the use of a rug-making frame on which the canvases were held taut, enabling rugs of all sizes to be made. The frame was used by relatives in turn, especially duringthe winter months."
Dad's account runs to about 100 pages in total and really makes one realise that we all ought to write about our pasts - the domestic side of life is so often neglected by historians and yet trells us such a lot about ourselves and our families.
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I think a bit of rug-making was still done when I was a child but it was done with wool onto a canvas backing with holes- a tool with a wooden handle and a kind of hook with a little flap was used
These days it's called latch hook work. I still do some now from time to time but mostly lighter weight things like cushion covers - just finished one a few weeks ago.
How wonderful to have those memoirs! I wonder whether those rugs were called pegged rugs because they used broken pegs to make the wooden tool? That's what they did here. The old style peg (the kind you made peg dolls with) broke regularly. The remaining bit would be sharpened to a point and used to make the mats
Christine
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How strange. I was talking to some one today about making
these rugs and now I've spotted this topic.
This is what we used to do. We would gather all the old coats,
trousers etc. that we could find. Many of these had been passed down
from family member to family member until they were no longer of any use.
Coats were normally better because the material was thicker. The material was
cut into strips about 1/2" wide and a couple of inches long. A good quality hessian
sack would be obtained from one of the local greengrocers ( usually by begging and
and looking shy and coy.) We called these tatie sacks. The sack would be cut down
one long side and along the bottom . This would the open up to a fairly large hessian
rectangle. All the edges would then be doubled over and sewn to prevent fraying.
( p.s. They were called tatie sacks because that's how potato's were delivered in bulk)
Then a few wooden clothes pegs were sacrificed to make the brodding tools.
One of the legs of the peg would be cut off and the other sharpened to a point.
Starting at one corner, the peg would be pushed through the hessian making a hole.
One of the strips would be fed through that hole for about half its length. Another hole would be
made at he side of that and the other half fed through. This would be repeated and repeated.
Several people could work on the rug at the same time. When you got a bit more skilful you would
make the hole and push the strip through at the same time by using the point of the peg.
We would also randomly select different colours and textures so that the rug didn't have a pattern.
But as you got more skilful then you could introduce a variety of patterns into your rug making.
The problem with that, of course, is that you needed a fairly large amount of strips, of the colours
for the required pattern.
The sacks we used were of a very tight weave. If it wasn't , then it would be useless as it
wouldn't hold the strips.
Tomkin ;D ;D ;D ;D
Happy days :D :D :D :D :D
P.S. Later we got posh and made ReadiCut rugs. I don't think that we ever finished one,
and I guess that you could have fitted the whole house with carpets for the price of one
of those things.
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It would appear that Readicut rug kits are still available.
Our American Cousins call it Latch Hook rug making.
Click on link:-
www.shillcraft.co.uk/
Tomkin
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I have a very modest rag rug a shaggy one in shades of mauve that I was given by and old lady years ago.
But if anyone wants to look at fab rugs look at this old couples work - Lewis and Louisa Creed, they really are superb!
http://www.louisa-creed-ragrugs.co.uk
Copperbeech5
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Just adding to the re-cycling of rag-rugs theme:
having checked with an elderly relative, I found that the rugs would be gradually relegated to more lowly uses as they became more worn - from livingroom to kitchen to inside doormat, and thence to outside mat in the porch/passage. Sometimes the rugs would then be used as extra insulation in winter on hen-hut roofs and cold-frames before finally being thrown onto the compost heap ( not sure if they ever bio-degraded sufficiently to become garden compost!!)
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Have just had a word with my mother ( b. 1928) about rag-rugs:
As newly-weds in 1948, she and my dad used to spend evenings in their 2-room rented house ( lucky to get even that, as housing was in short supply after the war), making rag-rugs together using the family's communal frame.
The floors were stone covered with lino and the only way to get rugs was to make your own.
Mum and Dad came a long way from that set-up in 1948 ( 2 rooms, outside earth closet toilet + water from pump in the yard) to a centrally-heated, fully, fitted carpeted bungalow by the mid-1960's!
Well done, Mum and Dad!
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Rag rugs were also made in Australia!
I remember as a child, in the war years, we learnt to make them, but not with hessian that I remember. They were just made on a frame and closely interwoven, not in woolen cloth but cotton cloth (it's hotter out here). When they were cut off the frame they ended up with a nice little fringe.
Usually only to a size of a doormat and used also for Mum to stand on the cold floor in the laundry which is also where we did our washing up.
:D :D :D :D
Dawn M
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thank you for this. Are you also able to tell me any more about rag rugs in Australia? Do you think it was introduced by the British people? Did you use rug hooks? What period/decade would you be talking about?
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I have no idea who 'introduced' it, but seeing that a lot of Aussies at that time (more so than now) had UK ancestry, I guess that's probably where it came from.
I had always thought it was a product of the war years when we couldn't get carpets and lots of other things, but maybe it was a way of 'making do' from way way back, by the sound of it.
Period? I was at primary school in the 1940s, during and just after WW2. I vaguely remember using large crochet hooks to pull the pieces through.
Dawn M
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Many thanks,Dawn.
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I've just seen this thread. We had a 'peg rug' (as they were called here in Northamptonshire) in the 1950s that I remember vividly. We had others of course, made by my mother, but I remember that particular one. It depicted a thatched cottage with a colourful front garden and a path leading to a gate in the hedge. The sky was blue and a few birds were flying. Mum made up the design herself. It was made from worn-out clothing on a base of a (washed) hessian potato sack. The tool she used was home made and was made from half a gypsy peg* cut to a thinner point. She also made plaited rugs where the old clothes were cut into long strips and plaited together. Then the plait was coiled and stitched into an oval shape. I think I had one on my bedroom floor (on top of the lino). They were very heavy and almost impossible to wash, just a surface clean.
* These were pegs made by proper Romanies who came round every year. They would take willow twigs of about half an inch in diameter and cut 3-4 inch lengths which were cut in half lengthways and whittled to a rounded point at one end. With the two flat sides together, a narrow band of tin was put round the non-pointed end had held in place with a small tack. When the tin band broke, the two halves could be whittled to a narrower point and used for rug-making. It was definitely a make-do and mend thing.
Gypsy pegs: http://gallery.nen.gov.uk/asset78002-.html
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It seems that rag-rugs are in fashion again!!
I noticed some today in a shop- they were made out of rather flossy looking fabric pieces, maybe nylon. Rather nice looking in pastel colours, not at all like the heavy, oily woollen cloth rugs of my childhood.
Maybe I should buy one for old times' sake, a bit of nostalgia.
I wonder if the modern ones are made by hand or machine- must go back to shop and have a closer look.
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Just a little memory - my maternal grandmother had a rag rug in front of the big grate in their back room. I remember staying there in 1947 and being fascinated by the materials in the rug. The one I remember best was a navy blue with a very narrow white stripe. Many years later I realised that I had seen my grandfather in a suit of this material some years earlier!
I still have a 'rug hook' in my workbox, and a woollen rug I made for my bedroom when I was a teenager in the early sixties.
giraffe
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thankyou Giraffe. Would this 60's rug have been hooked/prodded, or done by the readycut method with ;latchhook and yarn/woollen thrums?
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Likewise Rancegal, would this rug (with cottage design) have been hand hooked or a readycut design? Do you still have this in your possession? Thankyou for your info.
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My rug came in a kit, with:
1.ready-printed design on the backing.
2. the wool was not ready-cut.
3. a latch-hook which I still have.
I now remember it was about 1956 when I made it, it's still in the loft acting as extra insulation for the water tank. The design was an 'abstract' one, in bold colours - grey, yellow, red and black, which I loved as a teenager, but prefer more traditional decor now!
giraffe
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RBL, you didn't read my original post properly!!
My mother made up the design herself. The rug was made by the 'prodding' method, and it was all from what we would now call 'reclaimed materials', ie potato sack and bits from discarded clothes.
Because it could not be washed, it eventually got too grimy and was discarded.
She did also make a 'Readicut' rug on a pre-printed canvas in an abstract design of colour blocks. Or rather, she started one, but never finished it. The wool was not cut into lengths but came in hanks. She used to wind it around a piece of wood (which was kept for the purpose) and then cut along the top and bottom to get lengths of the right size.
She kept it for years, and then I 'inherited' it and I had it for several years, always intending to finish it but never did so, and eventually, when we moved house, it was thrown away.
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The rag rugs I made as a child were not on hessian or whatever backing.
They are interwoven materials which are then stitched together at points, to keep them in place.
Dawn M
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Thank you.Would you mean braided rugs?
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Braided rugs? Don't think so.
They are done in a sort of lattice pattern
Dawn M
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I don't suppose you still have any, Dawn, or pics of them?
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I wrote about rag rugs on another thread - can't work out how to put a direct link here, but it was the TOTB thread entitled 'Make do and mend', post #38!
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I don't suppose you still have any, Dawn, or pics of them?
Sorry, no I don't
Dawn M
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There is a group of rag rug makers in Wolverhampton who may be able to help you: contact details here:
http://wolverhampton.talis.com/engage/showrecord/1289448373652
Cati
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We had braided rugs, which I called 'plaited rugs' in my original post.
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Many thanks, Cati. Very useful!
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Received this vintage rag run from my mother recently, since they are selling the farm where they live. I remember this rug growing up, and I assume it's from the 1950's or thereabouts. I love the "maple surgaring" scene. I haven't seen very many rugs that are of sceneries - have others?
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What a wonderful rug! A real piece of folk-art.
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That's lovely, a very special heirloom :)
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Hi,
If you want to see stunning examples of rag rugs that are being made today, by an elderly couple who are part of a fantastic rug group in York, look at this website, I have been to several of their exhibitions, and they really are mind blowing!
http://www.louisa-creed-ragrugs.co.uk/
Copperbeech5
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About 1980's I made a few latch hook rugs here in Oz. There was a lattice backing onto which I hooked the wool, with a properly made latch hook. In all cases the pattern was out of my head. The first few were abstract patterns, but the two i am most fond of are of a wattle pattern. The were made with a thick wool, and the number of young ones who get their shoes and socks off to go bare foot on them is satisfying.
A Chesters
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I am about to embark on a proddy rug, having seen them at Beamish and other such museums. I have an old washed hessian sack, some old T shirts, and a proddy that my son carved for me (he usually makes crochet hooks). I think I will just do a simple spiral pattern at first for the cats to lie on in front of the stove, and if that works, do a proper pattern for the lounge hearth! Rather too ambitious I suspect ;D. Any tips and advice would be welcome :)
Helen
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Make one of those small ones first, the ones women stood on at the sink. Black border and mixed colours for the rest. They have them at Beamish. I turned to my granddaughter and told her my grandma had one just like it in front of the sink (in Northants)
I then told her about the 'cottage with garden' fireside rug that my mother made, without any pattern, she just made up the design. When I had finished, the lady behind me said,'Thank you, I did enjoy that, it was so interesting' Once a teacher, always a teacher, it seems! :-[
The trouble was, once they got grubby they could not be cleaned, they were too thick and heavy, at least the larger ones were, so they had to be thrown away.
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I remember my mum standing on a small rag-rug in front of the kitchen sink- to stop " the cold striking up" from the stone -flagged floor.
Also, if you look on bbc i-player for yesterday Mon. 14th, on "Antiques Road Trip", you'll find a rather nice short piece on rag rugs made nowadays by a lady in North/West Yorkshire, if I recall correctly.
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Thanks for the advice Rancegal. I have started on an oblong one to go in front of the rayburn, so not too big. Its in dark colours so it does not show the dirt, tho when it will get to go on the floor goodness knows. It does take time, and I cant do it while watching telly as I always have a playful kitten on my lap ::).
I'll see if I can find that on I player BL - thanks. I'll post a picture on here if I ever get it finished, but don't hold your breath ;)
Helen
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I was born in 1936 and still find the war-time 'waste not, want not' philosophy impossible to shake off. When my youngest child outgrew clothes and there was no one to pass them on to I made them into peg rugs. (have to confess my children go boy, girl, boy, but they got hand-me-downs none the less!)
I get sacks from the pet shop. Would recommend a large crochet hook works better for me than a latch hook. I cut the clothes 1/2 inch wide and as long as possible, just pull a loop through from the back until you reach the end of the length. I did 'flowers' (just blobs really) as you can do a different colour when you get bored.
I made one with old blanket dyed with blackberry juice, lovely natural shades of colour.
I have one from 1970 and still very good.
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Does anyone have any handed down hooked rag rugs, mats, tools, stories, from within their family?(particularly if they have farming, mining, fishing backgrounds/ancestry?)
My mother got into terrible trouble once when she cut up her mother's lodger's best Sunday coat for a proggy mat! ::)