A FUN PERSONAL CHALLENGE (updated)

Want to play along with a couple of us and challenge yourself on hooking an antique looking mat?  This isn't a competition, it is intended to be a personal/individual challenge.  

I love antique rugs and love replicating them but would like to improve by doing what our foremothers did...use alternative textiles.  As mentioned in my previous blog post I tried that but didn't choose my fabrics wisely.  This time they will be more hand friendly.  I will share what I've learned on my own so far.  And hope even new hookers might feel comfortable to join in the fun and feel comfortable to ask plenty of questions.     

Okay, so in my previous blog post shared what I'll be working on (the Little Lamb) and here is the messy table with the drawn pattern and some of the textiles I'll be using.

I'm not using burlap and wanted to use a looser weave piece of Belgian linen I have left but it was way too small.  I drew my lamb at 16.5 x 16.5 and I'm using primitive linen.  Note that I utilize every piece of linen and for MY USE if the sides don't fit on the frame I sew fabric on the short sides so it works.  That large group of wool above the pattern will be used for some of the background and will be the perfect color.  Those were leftover worms which I overdyed and you can read about it HERE.  

Over to the right of that pile of wool is yarn, cotton knit, cheese cloth  and vintage seam binding.  Below the Little Lamb photo is a piece of green nylon stocking from who knows where.  But I plan to use it in this mat before it is lost.

I just started hooking that cheese cloth in my sweet li'l lamb and not sure if I've enough or will need to hook in a few loops of wool.  Have pulled my loops about every 3rd or 4th hole so far and may change that if it appears the loops are too close.  

While I'm attempting to hook this a little differently than normal, note that some antique rugs don't have those bits of foundation showing and appears to have bulky loops in their rugs.  So guess everyone had their own rhythm back then too so not necessary to pull low and far apart.  Here is an example of bulky  loops.  I see woven cotton, some knit and what could be wool yarn.           

The update:  Nancy asked me how wide I was cutting my cotton strips and I wasn't sure since I didn't measure, just started cutting.  But here they are lined up ~ first 3 from the left are cotton knit, then the cheese cloth and then a piece of cotton flannel.  Hope this helps.

In the previous post I provided some ideas for your project so I'll put new ones and the others here again.  You may choose one of these or another of your choice.  If you'd like to peruse my previous antique rug shows,  just type those words in the blank spot at the top left of the blog post, hit return and you will see many posts.

  

Again is Li'l Lamb.

Black Kitten.

Black Lamb.

Lone Flower.

 BUS the Dog.

Early Bird.

A pretty flower.

I think there is plenty to choose from and feels good for me to have something new on my frame...if I can sit down for a little while to pull more loops; happy hooking.  

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

MY MOJO

Think my mojo is back.  Maybe it was there all the time but only revealed itself again when communicating with a loyal reader/follower yesterday.  So my next project is going to be another small antique adaptation and personal challenge.  This time I'm going to use various textiles not just wool and very little if any woven cotton.  And it will be opened up to anyone who wishes to join me.

For those who have followed me for a while you might remember when I hooked Lone Flower and hooking somewhat different than my normal.  My normal rhythm and instruction I read when teaching myself to hook and in the first structured class was to pull loops up as high as the width of wool.  And close enough that you can see thru the top of the loop, not squished closed.  

Here is the finished Lone Flower and love how it turned out but only wool was used, no alternative textiles.  If you'd like to see an older blog post during the process you can find it HERE.  

In early rugs the hooker didn't have lessons and didn't care about the aesthetics of the rug, they just needed a floor covering.  Therefore if you look closely at antique rugs you will glean all the info needed to hook a rug which looks antique.  Take, for instance, this antique Star rug  ~ ooh, look at that wonderful blotchy background.

Now look at a close up of two sections of that rug and the distance between loops.  You can see it was hooked on burlap which has become brittle, a natural occurrence of old burlap.

Also notice no wool appears in these two photos.

Plus you can see foundation peeking thru loops on a Magdalena Lollipop Bouquet rug too.

Then 2021 I hosted an alternate textile challenge on my blog and had several people join in.  My choice to hook was the Tattered Tulip.

Below was my poor rendition and my choices of textiles was not so great as I chose mostly homespun and woven cottons.  This next challenge I'll make much different choices. 

I'm not quite ready to start yet as there's just a little more to hook on the Comstock rug and want it out of the way and clean up the rat's nest I've developed first.  If any of you are interested in joining in I'll be doing another blog post in a day or two.  Meanwhile, here are a couple ideas for you choose from.  This first one will be my choice.....Primitive Lamb.

Then I looked thru my files to find other pieces which could be hooked smallish.  One I also hooked is this original antique Black Kitten.

Another good and easy project could be this Black Lamb.

Below is an original antique dog rug but of course I had to hook him too.

So guys and gals, the next couple days think about joining in to make an olde looking mat and challenge yourself.  You can choose one of the rugs I've posted here or something else that floats your boat.   Finally I'm getting excited for the next project to go on my frame.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com