the resource for traditional rug makers since 1984

Rag rugs have always been the specialty of women living in the country or on the frontier. The rugs haven't really ever been recognized or appreciated by the needle work 'elite'; in fact they have more often than not been snubbed as not worthy of attention. So there really is only the sketchiest history available for most types of rag rugs. Many types indeed have no written history at all and what is known is a matter of oral tradition passed down through families.

In general though, rag rug methods were brought to the shores of North America with immigrants to the new world. With some rugs, they were made only in particular regions of the country or only by certain ethnic groups. As settlement of the frontiers pushed westward in the 1800s, the rug making traditions were dispersed, and sometimes modified, to take advantage of the locally available materials. During this period, it appears that creative pioneers may have created new techniques for making rugs as well.

Different techniques flourished in different sections of the country, with the various woolen rugs becoming well established in New England because of the proximity of the woolen mills. It was not until the railroads provided cheap transportation, that wool and cotton fabrics produced on the east coast were available for rug making in other areas. Prior to that, indeed the rugs were mostly produced by recycling worn clothing or other textiles.
 
From about 1890 to 1910, rag rugs experienced a period of popularity, influenced by the "Arts and Crafts" movement. Designs became more elaborate, and many types of rugs were widely made. With the coming of World War I and the "Roaring Twenties", interest in traditional rug making waned, to the point where many rug making traditions were forgotten (see letters at end). During the Depression of the 1930s interest in rag rug making gained again, but the techniques used were by that time pretty much limited to hooked, 3-strand braided, loom woven and crocheted rugs, and the emphasis on the practical aspects of the rugs over rode most of the artistic developments earlier in the century.

The specific history of particular types of rugs varies widely from place to place, depending on the ethnic traditions of the population and the materials that were available. What was happening in the southeast was quite different than what rugs were being made in the northern states and Canadian provinces during the same period, so no broad general statement about the history of rag rugs will hold true everywhere.

Compounding the regional differences in trying to determine the history of rag rugs is the astonishing array of names. Some types of rugs have a dozen different names by which they were called. In other cases the same common name meant one type of rug in one place and a completely different sort of rug in another place. As if that weren't enough, from the 1920s on, entrepreneurs attempted to promote various rug making gadgets and often renamed the traditional rug with a new title to make it seem more exotic. (This is still going on.) Because of these business practices the confusion over rug names has been exacerbated. In recent years craft publishers have adopted the same tactic, using a "made up" name for a traditional rug for marketing purposes. I use only traditional names and/or descriptive names for all of the types of rugs, classifying them in groups with similar constructions. Other common names will be listed only as secondary. And "made up" commercial names are only used in order to clear up the confusion they have caused.

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Occasionally, there is a cryptic or indirect reference to a rug making technique in an old cookbook or magazine. (See the "Articles" page for several examples.) And sometimes people wrote to the “experts” of their day asking for information.

 

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