My mother made a large number of braided rugs which were scattered about my parent’s home, our relatives’ homes, and our own home in Huntsville and in Jenkintown.
Braided rugs have a long history dating back to the Colonial era. Braided rugs were also referred to as “rag rugs” for obvious reasons. The popularity of the “arts and crafts” movement in the 1890-1910 period stimulated a renewed interest in this craft. Braided rugs were popular around the woolen mills of the Northeast in the early 1900s, utilizing the cast-offs of the local textile industry.
I don’t know what prompted my mother to take up the craft of rug making but it might have been suggested by a good supply of starting material. Mom’s rug making was made possible by the fact that my Aunt Gertrude worked for many years as a seamstress at a mattress manufacturer (Serta, I think). Aunt Gertrude would bring remnants of mattress cover fabric to my Mom. Mattress fabric is very tough material and creates rugs that are practically indestructible.
The first step in braided rug making is to prepare the strands that will be braided. Mom would cut the remnant fabric into strips about 2 inches wide. These strips are folded in two steps to make braiding strands. The first step is to fold each strip edge in to the center of the strip. Then, the strip is folded on its center. In this way, the fabric edges, which are prone to unravel, are incased within the folds. The bi-folded strand is then ironed to make the folds stable. The remnant strands are sewn together to make one continuous length. Three such strands are needed before braiding can begin.
Braiding of the strands is the next step. The strands often were not made from the same remnant material. Hence, there is the opportunity to select combinations of three remnant sources to create rugs with different color designs. Here the judicious selection of contrasting or complimentary colors ultimately determines the aesthetics of the rug. All three strands of fabric could be the same color, or two the same, or none the same. However, the selection of the color choice of the strands was often primarily determined on what was available from Aunt Gertrude at the time.
To start braiding, Mom would tie the three selected strands and secure them under a heavy rock* on the table, and proceed to braid in the conventional manner. As the braid became long enough to approach her body, she would lift the rock and secure a finished section under the rock. She would proceed in this manner until it was judged that the braid length was sufficient to complete a rug. This braiding process often took many days, and depending on other activities, might be spread out over a month’s time.
Finally, having enough material for one rug, the assembly process begins. The braids are snaked together and secured by heavy butcher’s twine using a strong, flat crocheting needle that weaves the twine between the loops of the braids. The twine becomes virtually invisible. The length of the first straight braid ultimately determines the size and shape of the rug, in this case an oval rug. If a circular rug is desired, there is no first straight braid; the braids start making a circle from the very beginning.
We had one braided rug in Jenkintown which eventually was relegated to the basement and then to the garage. But, alas, when the garage was converted into an artist studio the light orange braided rug, still sturdy and strong but now quite soiled and water stained, it had to be discarded after some 40 years of ‘rugged’ service.
* This is a very special rock: This was a dark grey rock I picked up on the shore of Lake Erie because of its near perfectly round shape, about the size of a grape fruit, and because it contained a cream colored vein in a delicate bird’s foot design.
