WOOLEN RUGS.
There are two conditions which will make home weaving valuable. The
first is that the material, whether it be of cotton or wool, should be
grown upon the farm, and that it could not be sold in the raw state at
a price which would make the growing of it profitable. In wool crops
there are certain odds and ends of ragged, stained and torn locks,
which would injure the appearance of the fleece, and are therefore
thrown aside, and this waste is perfectly suitable for rug weaving.
In cotton there is not the amount of waste, but the fibre itself is
not as valuable, and a portion of it could be reserved for home
weaving, even though it should not be turned to more profitable
account.
The next condition is that the time used in weaving is also waste or
left-over time. If housekeeping requires only a quarter or half of a
woman's time, weaving is more restful and interesting, as well as
more profitable, than idleness; and in almost every family there are
members to whom partial employment would be a boon.
There is no marketable value for spare time or for individual taste,
so that the women of the family possessing these can start a weaving
enterprise, counting only the cost of material at growers' prices. If
they can card, spin, dye and weave as well as the women of two
generations did before them, they have a most profitable industry in
their own hands in the shape of weaving.
If materials must be purchased the profit is smaller, and the question
arises whether spare time and personal taste and skill can be made
profitable. This depends entirely upon circumstances and character.
When circumstances are or can be made favourable, and there is
industry and ambition behind them, domestic weaving is a beautiful and
profitable occupation.
There are many neighbourhoods where the conditions are exactly
suitable to the prosecution of important domestic industries--localities
where sheep are raised and wool is a regular product, or where cotton
is grown and the weaving habit is not extinct. This is true of many
New England neighbourhoods and of the whole Cumberland Mountain
region, and it is in response to a demand for direction of unapplied
advantages that this book is written.
I am convinced that the weaving of domestic wool or cotton rugs might
be so developed in the mountain regions of the South as to greatly
decrease the importation of Eastern ones of the same grade.
An endless variety might be made in these localities, the difference
of climate, material and habits of thought adding interest as well as
variety, and it is safe to say that the home market is waiting for
them. Housekeepers have learned by experience that a rug which can be
easily lifted and frequently shaken is not only far more cleanly, and
consequently safer, from a sanitary point of view, than a carpet, but
that it has other merits which are of economic as well as esthetic
importance.
A rug is more durable than a carpet of equal weight and texture
because it can be constantly shifted from points of wear to those
which are less exposed. It can be moved from room to room, or even
from house to house, without the trouble of shaping or fitting; and
last but not least, it brings a concentration of colour exactly where
it is needed for effect, and this is possible to no other piece of
house furnishing. In short, there seems to be no bar to its general
acceptance, excepting the bad floors of our immediate predecessors in
building.
It only needs that cost, quality and general effect of the home-woven
rugs should be shaped into perfect adaptation to our wants, to make
them as necessary a part of ordinary house-furnishing as chairs and
tables.
These three requirements are within the reach of any home-weaving
farmer's wife who will give to the work the same thought for
economical conditions, the same ambition for thorough work and the
same intelligent study which her husband bestows upon his successful
farming.
As there is already one American rug which fulfills most of these
conditions, it is well to consider it as a starting point for
progress. This is the heavy Indian rug known as the Navajo blanket.
Originally fashioned to withstand the cold and exposure of outdoor
life, it has combined thickness, durability and softness with
excellent colour and weaving and perfectly characteristic design.
In the best examples, where the wool is not bought from traders, but
carded, spun and dyed by the weaver, the Navajo blanket is a perfect
production of its kind, and I cannot help wondering that the
manufacture of these rug-like blankets--some of which are of great
intrinsic value--should have been so long confined to a primitive
race, living at our very doors. The whole process of spinning, dyeing
and weaving could be carried on in any farmhouse, using the coarsest
and least valuable wool, and by reliable and well-chosen colour, good
weight and careful weaving bringing the manufacture into a prominent
place among the home productions of our people.
One can hardly imagine simpler machinery than is used by the Indians.
It is scarcely more than a parallelogram of sticks, supported by a
back brace, and yet upon these simple looms an Indian woman will
weave a fabric that will actually hold water.
The clumsy, old-fashioned loom which is still in use in many
farmhouses is fully equal to all demands of this variety of weaving,
but there are already in the market steel-frame looms with fly
shuttles which take up much less room and are more easily worked. I
was about to say they were capable of better work, but nothing could
be better in method than the Indian rug, woven on its three upright
sticks; and after all it is well to remember that _quality is in the
weaver_, and not in the loom. The results obtained from the simplest
machinery can be made to cover ground which is truly artistic.
As an example of what may be done to make this kind of weaving
available, we will suppose that some one having an ordinary loom, and
in the habit of weaving rag carpet, wishes to experiment toward the
production of a good yarn rug. The first thing required would, of
course, be material for both warp and woof.
The warp can be made of strong cotton yarn which is manufactured for
this very purpose and can be bought for about seventeen cents a
pound. This is probably cheaper than it could be carded and spun at
home even on a cotton-growing farm.
The wool filling should be coarse and slack-twisted, and on
wool-growing farms or in wool-growing districts is easily produced. If
it is of home manufacture, it may be spun as loosely or slackly as
possible, dyed and woven without doubling, which will be seen to be an
economy of labor. The single thread, slackly twisted, gives a very
desirable elasticity to the fabric, because the wool fibre is not too
closely bound or packed. On the other hand, if the wool as well as the
warp must be bought, it is best to get it from the spinning machine in
its first state of the single thread, and do the doubling and twisting
at home. In this case it can be doubled as many or as few times as it
is thought best, and twisted as little as possible.
The next and most important thing is colour, and it is a great
advantage if the dyeing can be done at home. There is a strong and
well-founded preference among art producers in favor of vegetable
dyes, and yet it is possible to use certain of the aniline colours,
especially in combination, in safe and satisfactory ways.
Every one who undertakes domestic weaving must know how to dye one or
two good colours--black, of course, and the half-black or gray which a
good colourist of my acquaintance calls _light black_; indigo blue
equally, of course, in three shades of very dark, medium and light;
and red in two shades of dark and light. Here are seven shades from
the three dyes, and when we add white we see that the weaver is
already very well equipped with a variety of colour. The eight shades
can be still further enlarged by clouding and mixing. The mixing can
be done in two ways, either by carding two tints together before
spinning, or by twisting them together when spun.
Carding together gives a very much better effect in wool, while
twisting together is preferable in cotton.
Dark blue and white or medium blue and white wool carded together will
give two blue-grays, which cannot be obtained by dyeing, and are most
valuable. White and red carded together give a lovely pink, and any
shade of gray can be made by carding different proportions of black
and white or half-black and white. A valuable gray is made by carding
black and white wool together (and by black wool I mean the natural
black or brownish wool of black sheep). Mixing of deeply dyed and
white wool together in carding is, artistically considered, a very
valuable process, as it gives a softness of colour which it is
impossible to get in any other way. Clouding--which is almost an
indispensable process for rug centres--can be done by winding certain
portions of the skeins or hanks of yarn very tightly and closely with
twine before they are thrown into the dye-pot. The winding must be
close enough to prevent the dye penetrating to the yarn. This means,
of course, when the clouding is to be of white and another colour. If
it is to be of two shades of one colour, as a light and medium blue,
the skein is first dyed a light blue, and after drying is wound as I
have described, and thrown again into the dye-pot, until the unwound
portions become the darker blue which we call medium.
In a neighbourhood where weaving is a general industry, it is an
advantage if some one person who has a general aptitude for dyeing
and experiments in colours undertakes it as a business. This is on the
principle that a person who does only one thing does it with more
facility and better than one who works in various lines. Yet even when
there is a neighbourhood dyer, it is, as I have said, almost
indispensable that the weaver should know how to dye one or two
colours and to do it well.
Supposing that the material, in the shape of coarse cotton warp,
black, red or white, has been secured, or that a wool filling in the
colours and shades I have described has been prepared for weaving; the
loom is then to be warped, at the rate of fifteen or less threads to
the inch, according to the coarseness or fineness of the filling.
It is well to weave a half-inch of the cotton warp for filling, as
this binds the ends more firmly than wool. Next to this, a border of
black and gray in alternate half-inch stripes can be woven, and
following that, the body of the rug in dark red, clouded with white.
After five feet of the red is woven, a border end of the black and
gray is added, and the rug may be cut from the loom, leaving about
four inches of the warp at either end as a fringe. If the filling
yarn is of good colour, and has been well packed in the weaving, _so
as to entirely cover the warp_, the result will be a good, attractive
and durable woolen rug, woven after the Navajo method.
In this one example I have given the bare and simple outline by
following which a weaver whose previous work has been only rag carpet
weaving can manufacture a good and valuable wool rug. The difference
will be simply that of close warping and a substitution of wool for
rags. Its value will be considerably increased or lessened by the
choice of material both in quality and colour and the closeness and
perfection of weaving.
The example given calls for a rug six feet long by three feet in
width. To make this very rug a much more important one, it needs only
to vary the size of the border. For a larger rug the length must be
increased two feet, and the border, which in this case must be of
plain or mixed black--that is, it must not be alternated with stripes
of gray--must measure one foot at either end. When this is complete,
two narrow strips one foot in width, woven with mixed black filling,
must be sewed on either side, making a rug eight feet long and five in
width. It is not a disadvantage to have this border strip sewn,
instead of being woven as a part of the centre. Many of the cheaper
Oriental weavings are put together in this way, and as many of the
older house-looms will only weave a three-foot width, it is well to
know that that need not prevent the production of rugs of considerable
size.
Endless variations of this very simple yarn rug can be made with
variation in size as well as in colour. Two breadths and two borders,
the breadths three feet in width and the borders one foot and six
inches, will give a breadth of nine feet, which with a corresponding
length will give a rug which will sufficiently cover the floor of an
ordinary room. If the centre is skilfully mottled and shaded, it will
make a floor spread of beautiful colour, and one which could hardly be
found in shops.
[Illustration: ISLE LA MOTTE RUG]
The border can be made brighter, as well as firmer and stiffer, by
using two filling threads together--a red and a black; or an alternate
use of red and black, using two shuttles, will give a lighter and
better effect than when black is used exclusively.
After size and weight--or, to speak comprehensively, _quality_--is
secured in this kind of simple weaving, the next most important thing
is colour. Of course the colour must be absolutely fast, but I have
shown how much variety can be made by shading and mixing of three fast
colours, and much more subtle and artistic effects can be produced by
weaving alternate threads of different colours. Indeed, the effects
obtained by using alternate threads can be varied to almost any
extent; as, for instance, a blue and yellow thread--provided the blue
is no deeper than the yellow--will give the effect of green to the
eye. If the blue is stronger or deeper, as it will almost necessarily
be, it will be modified and softened into a greenish blue.
Red and white woven in alternate threads upon a white warp will give
an effect of pink, and with this colour for a centre the border should
be a good gray.
Of course, alternate throwing of different coloured yarns makes the
weaving go more slowly than when one alone is used, and something of
the same colour effect can be produced by doubling, instead of
alternating. It is, of course, not quite the same, as one colour may
show either under or over the other, and the effect is apt to be
mottled instead of one of uniform stripes.
The end in view in all these mixtures is _variation_ and liveliness of
colour, not an effect of stripes or spots; indeed, these are very
objectionable, especially when in contrasted or different colors. A
deepening or lightening of the same colour in irregular patches, as
will occur in clouded yarns, gives interest, whereas if these
cloudings were in strongly contrasted colours they would be crude and
unrestful. For this reason, if for no other, it is well to work in few
tints, and use contrasting colours only for borders.
To show how much variety is possible in weaving with the few dyes I
have named, I will give a number of combinations which will produce
good results and be apt to harmonize with ordinary furnishing. By
adding orange yellow, which is also one of the simplest and safest of
dyes, we secure by mixture with blue a mottled green, and this
completes a range of colour which really leaves nothing to be desired.
No. 1. _Colours black and red._ Border, alternate stripes of black and
dark red, as follows: First stripe of black, one and a half inches;
second stripe of red, one inch; third stripe of black, one inch;
fourth stripe of red, one-half inch; fifth stripe of black,
three-quarters inch; sixth stripe of red, one-half inch; seventh
stripe of black, half-inch; centre of light red clouded with dark red;
reversed border.
No. 2. _Colours black and red._ Border one foot in depth, of black and
red threads woven alternately. Centre dark red, clouded with light
red. Woven six feet, with one-foot border at sides as well as ends.
No. 3. _Colours red and white._ Border seven inches of plain red.
Centre of red and white woven alternately.
No. 4. _Colours red and black._ Border black and red, threads woven
alternately, one foot in depth; centre of alternate stripes, two
inches in width, of dark red and light red; eight feet in length, with
foot-wide side borders, woven with alternate threads of red and
black.
No. 5. _Colours red and black._ Border eighteen inches in depth, of
alternate red and black, half-inch stripes. Centre of dark red,
clouded with light.
No. 6. _Colours gray, red and white_, to be woven of doubled, slightly
twisted threads. Border one foot in depth at ends and sides, woven of
red and gray yarn twisted together. Centre of red and white yarn in
twisted threads.
No. 7. _Colours red and white._ Border of plain red, twenty inches in
depth. Centre in alternate half-inch stripes of red and white.
No. 8. _Colours blue, red and black._ Border four inches deep of
black, two inches of plain red, one inch of black. Centre of clouded
blue.
No. 9. _Colour blue._ Border eight inches of darkest blue. Centre of
clouded medium and light blue.
No. 10. _Colours blue and white._ Border of very dark and medium blue
woven together. Centre of blue and white yarn woven together.
No. 11. _Colours blue and white._ Border of medium plain blue. Centre
of blue, clouded with white.
No. 12. _Colours blue and white._ Border of medium blue. Centre of
alternate stripes of one inch width blue, and half-inch white stripes.
No. 13. _Colours blue and white._ Border twelve inches deep of dark
blue, clouded with medium. Centre of alternate threads of medium blue
and white.
No. 14. _Colours blue, black and orange yellow._ Border eight inches
deep of black, one inch of orange, two of black. Centre, alternate
threads of blue and orange.
No. 15. Border of doubled threads of dark blue and orange. Centre of
alternate stripes of inch wide light blue and orange woven together,
one-half inch stripes of clear orange and white woven together.
In the examples I have given, wherever doubled threads of different
colours woven together are used, it must be understood that they are
to be slightly twisted, and that the warping for double-filling rugs
need not be as close as for single filling. Twelve threads to the inch
would be better than fifteen, and perhaps ten or eleven would be still
better. Doubled yarn of different colours produces a mottled or broken
effect, and this can often be done where the colours of the yarns do
not quite satisfy the weaver. If they are too dull, twisting them
slackly with a very brilliant tint will give a better shade than if
the original tint was satisfactory, but in the same way yarns which
are too brilliant can often be made soft and effective by twisting
them together with a paler tint. Minute particles of colour brought
together in this way are brilliant without crudeness. It is, in fact,
the very principle upon which impressionist painters work, giving pure
colour instead of mixed, but in such minute and broken bits that the
eye confounds them with surrounding colour, getting at the same time
the double impression of softness and vivacity.
These examples of fifteen different rugs which can be woven from the
three tints of blue, red and orange, together with black and white, do
not by any means exhaust the possibilities of variety which can be
obtained from three tints. Each rug will give a suggestion for the
next, and each may be an improvement upon its predecessor.