Monday, August 9, 2021

Enjoy Some Old Rugs (EDITED new info)

I'm not working on a plus one so no sidekick to show you an update on.  But I know you do enjoy looking at the vintage rugs so lets get to it shall we?

Horses and Dogs was hooked early 20th century with dimensions of 34 x 38.  Yeah, you have to stare for a few moments to capture the images.
This is a well worn rug of a landscape with a well water source. It is always the edge of the rug which gets beat up worse so make sure to have the edge of your foundation well protected both with pre-binding stitching but also a covered edge.  As you can see that too can get badly worn so change locations so it isn't in the  most used area of the home.
From the estate of Bob Foley and Nancy Sevatson is Flowers and Stars with hit and miss border.  It measures 15 x 35 and said to be hooked 1900s.  Nice and soft of the eyes.
A hooked 
Spotted Dog, 17 x 31 hooked  in the 1900s.  I find it interesting how the women made good use of available textiles to make it appealing to the eye and no formal artistic training on how the eye travels to pull the rug together.  They did this on their own intrinsic nature.
Have you ever been up close enough to a lion to see the color of its eyes?  If so, bet it wasn't a Blue Eyed Lion.  No date given but it measures 21 x38.
A Brown Dog with primitive scrolls ~ it was hooked in the 19th century and measures 19.5 x 38.
Here is a view of the back and foundation used.  Julia brought up a good question and one I didn't think of.  She noticed the zig zag stitch on the edge of the burlap and wondered when that was invented.   Helen Blanchard is said to have invented and patented the first zig zag stitch sewing machine in 1873.  You can read more about it HERE.
Found this rug which conjured up questions in my mind.  Named Hard Times the rug was hooked July 1874.  It has an hour glass and gamblers wheel, or so the auction house said.  Guess that round part of the rug is a roulette wheel.  You can see a few areas where the rug is down to burlap.  The rug  measures 37 x 72. 
One of the questions in my mind was if the woman hooked this because her gambling husband was causing the hard times for the family?  And wonder if those are Roman Numerals above the upside down 1874 date?

Gail commented that there was a severe financial crisis from 1873 to at least 1879.  Thanks to another follower and contributor!   

A very nice winter landscape (tho I'm not looking forward to winter) is the early 20th century hooked rug on burlap.  According to the auction house there is a label on the back from Cooperative dArts Domestiques du Quebec; the rug measures 20 x 29.5.
Hope you enjoyed the show and maybe some of them gave you insight or maybe more questions on what inspired designs on rugs hooked in days gone by.  I find myself wondering what the person was thinking when they hooked a certain rug, just as with the Hard Times rug.

I love it when people have questions or suggestions!!!!!!  Keep them coming ~ thank you Julia  and Gail for your input and making my blog more informative.

Happy hooking.

Saundra

10 comments:

  1. Hard Times. Geez. We could change the date to 2020 or 2021!

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  2. I am absolutely intrigued with the "Hard Times" rug.... I can see a wife sitting home hooking this while her husband squandered money at the local saloon...thinking it's only a matter of time (the hourglass) until they fell on hard times. Or....perhaps "his" time was "up"??? Now the stories in my head begin...it's going to be a long night. ~Robin~ (PS...I also find that striped triangle between the Spotted Dog's hind legs curious???)

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  3. There was a pretty severe financial crisis going on 1873 to at least 1879. And again in 1896, 1929... they look to happen fairly frequently - far more than I remember learning about!

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  4. What caught my attention was the binding in the back of the brown dog with scrolls. I enlarged the photo to get a closer look and the edge of the burlap is zigzagged by machine so I wondered when was the zigzag machine stitch invented and by who. The answer is The zigzag machine stitch was invented in 1873 by Helen Blanchard. It was interesting reading a bit about her. She patented 28 pattens between 1873 to 1915.

    I just thought that the zigzag was an interesting detail.
    Hugs,
    Julia

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    1. And did we learn about her in school? Or the other many female inventors and scientists??? NOOOOOOOO! We got patted on the head and sent to home ec like good little girls and taught about what the men accomplished. The white men at that. :-< Sorry, taking a break from watering before it gets even hotter out, and I'm a bit crabby....
      Yes, I was in school when girls were not allowed in shop, boys not allowed in home ec and history class was pretty much all about white, male, military stuff and names & dates. History was not my favorite class. :-)

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  5. Another fun rug show ! How interesting a woman invented the Zig Zag !!! I love the faded house rug & the Flowers & Stars is so pretty . Hard Times makes me sad , the woman sure put a lot of time & work into that rug . Very interesting post Saundra !

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  6. Thanks for the show!!!love the one from Quebec!!!

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  7. That hard time rug is large she must of had a lot of time to hook that one. I love the winters scenes. But I am not ready yet for winter.
    Cathy

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  8. Always enjoy your hooked rug tour. My fav is the Winter scene one too! Janice

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Thanks for taking the time to visit and I always welcome comments.