COTTON RUGS.
The warp-covered weaving which I have described in a previous chapter
as being the simplest and best method for woolen rugs, is equally
applicable to cotton weaving. It is, in fact, the one used in making
the cotton rugs woven in prisons in India, and which in consequence
are known as "prison rugs." They are generally woven in stripes of
dark and light shades of indigo blue and measure about four by eight
feet. They are greatly used by English residents in India, being much
better adapted to life in a hot climate than the more costly Indian
and Persian rugs, which supply the world-demand for floor coverings.
In our own summer climate and chintz-furnished summer cottages they
would be an extremely appropriate and economical covering for floors.
The warp is like that of the Navajo blanket, a heavy cotton cord, the
filling or woof of many doubled fine cotton threads, which quite cover
the heavy warp, and give the ridged effect of a coarse _rep_.
As I have said, they are woven almost invariably in horizontal stripes
of two blues, or blue and white, with darker ends and a warp fringe.
Simple as they are and indeed must be, as they are the result of
unskilled labour, they are pleasant to look at, and have many virtues
not dependent upon looks. They are warm and pleasant to unshod feet,
and therefore suitable for bedroom use. They are soft to shoe tread,
and give colour and comfort to a summer piazza. They can be hung as
portieres in draughty places with a certainty of shelter, and can be
lifted and thrown upon the grass to be washed by the downpour of a
thunder shower, and left to dry in the sun without detriment to colour
or quality.
Surely this is a goodly list of virtues, and the sum of them is by no
means exhausted. Their durability is surprising; and they can be sewn
together and stretched upon large floors with excellent colour effect.
They can be turned or moved from room to room and place to place with
a facility which makes them more than useful. The manufacture is so
simple that a child might weave them, while at the same time, by a
skilful use of colour and good arrangement of border, they can be made
to fit the needs of the most luxurious as well as the simplest summer
cottage. In short, they are capable of infinite variation and
improvement, without departure from the simple method of the "prison
rug."
Of course the variation must be in colour and the arrangement of
colour; and in studying this possible improvement it must be
remembered that cotton will neither take nor hold dyes as readily as
wool or silk, and that certain dyes which are very tenacious in their
hold upon animal fibre cannot be depended upon when applied to
vegetable fibre. There are, however, certain dyes upon which we can
safely rely. Indigo blue, and the red used in dyeing what is called
Turkey red, are reliable in application to both wool and cotton, and
are water and sun proof as well. Walnut and butternut stains will give
fast shades of brown and yellow, and in addition there is also the
buff or nankeen-coloured cotton, the natural tint of which combines
well with brown and blue.
In giving directions for rug colourings in cottons, I shall confine
myself to the use of black, white, blue and red, because these colours
are easily procurable, and also because rugs manufactured from them
will fit the style of furnishing which demands cotton rugs.
The examples I shall give call for graduated dyeing, especially in the
two tints of red and blue.
Any one expecting to succeed in rug weaving must be able to procure or
produce from two to three planes of colour, as well as two mixtures in
each. These would be as follows:
In blue:--1st, dark blue; 2d, medium blue; 3d, light blue.
After these three tints are secure, three variations of blue can be
made by knotting the skeins more or less closely and throwing medium,
light blue and white together into the dye-tub. Here they must remain
until the white skeins show an outside of light blue; the light blue
skeins are apparently changed to medium, and the medium to dark. When
they are untied and dried they will show three clouded mixtures:
1st, the medium blue clouded with dark; 2d, light blue clouded with
medium blue; 3d, white, clouded with light blue.
Here we have six variations of the one tint. Red can be treated in the
same way, except that a rather light and a very dark red are all that
can be counted upon safely as plain tints. A very light red will not
hold. Therefore we have in reds:--1st, dark red; 2d, light red; 3d,
light red, clouded with dark; 4th, white, clouded with light red.
This gives ten shades in these two tints, and when we add the
variations which seem to come of themselves in dyeing, variations
which are by no means subject to rule, we shall see that with these
two, and black and white, we are very well equipped.
The more irregular the clouding, the better the results. The yarn may
be made into large double knots, or small single ones, or into more or
less tightly wound balls or bundles, and each will have its own
special and peculiar effect. Perhaps it is well to say that in
clouding upon white the colours should be kept as light as is
consistent with the tenacity of tint.
After clouding, still another process in cotton mixtures is possible,
and this is in "doubling and twisting," which has the effect of
darkening or lightening any tint at will, as well as of giving a
mottled instead of a plain surface.
Having secured variety by these various expedients, the next step is
to make harmonious and well-balanced combinations, and this is quite
as important, or even more so, as mere variety.
There is one very simple and useful rule in colour arrangements, and
this is to make one tint largely predominant. If it is to be a blue
rug, or a pink, or a white one, use other colours only to _emphasize_
the predominant one, as, for instance, a blue rug may be emphasized by
a border of red and black; or a red rug by a border of black and
white, or black and yellow.
The border should always be stronger--that is darker or deeper in
colour--than the centre, even when the same colour is used throughout,
as in a light red rug, with dark, almost claret-red ends, or a medium
blue rug with very dark blue ends.
White, however, can often be used in borders of rather dark rugs in
alternation with black or any dark colour, because its total absence
of tint makes it strong and distinct, and gives it _force_ in marking
a limit.
One successful combination of colours will suggest others, and the
weaver who has taken pains to provide herself with a variety of
shades, and will follow the rules of proportion, will be at no loss in
laying out the plan of her weavings.
The examples for fifteen weavings given in the paper on wool rugs are
equally available in cotton. I will, however, add a few variations
especially adapted for cotton rugs:
No. 1. _Colours blue and white._ Border six inches of plain dark blue.
Six inches of alternate half-inch stripes of dark blue and white. Four
to five feet of clouded blue, border repeated, with four inches of
warp fringe as a finish.
No. 2. _Colours blue and white._ Border eight inches wide of plain
medium blue. Centre, six feet of light blue, clouded with medium. Two
side borders eight inches wide; finish of white warp fringe.
No. 3. _Colours black, white and red._ Border twelve inches of
alternate half-inch stripes of black and white. Centre, four feet of
light red, clouded with dark. Repeat border, and finish with warp
fringe.
No. 4. _Colours red and white._ Border, twelve inches of dark and
light red, in twisted double thread. Centre, light red and white
twisted double thread. Repeat border and finish with four-inch fringe.
No. 5. _Colours butternut-brown, walnut-yellow, red, and white._
Border of six inches of brown and yellow, twisted together. Centre,
five feet of light red and white, twisted together. Repeat border, and
finish with fringe.
No. 6. _Colours brown, blue, and clouded-white._ Border, half-inch
stripes of medium blue and brown alternated for six inches. Centre,
five feet of light blue, clouded with medium. Repeat border and finish
with warp fringe.
These six examples may be varied to any extent by the use of clouded,
plain or mixed centres. Borders, as a rule, should be woven of
unclouded colours.
A natural development of the cotton rug would be the weaving of coarse
cotton yarns into piece lengths which could be cut and sewn like
ingrain carpet, or like the fine cotton-warped mattings which have
been so popular of late years. They would have the advantage over
grass-weavings in durability, ease of handling and liveliness of
effect. Indeed, the latter consideration is of great importance, as
cotton carpets can be woven to harmonize with the chintzes and cottons
which are so much used in summer furnishings. This is especially true
of indigo-blue floor covering, since so few things are absolutely
perfect as an adjunct to the blue chambrays, striped awning-cloths,
denims, and India prints so constantly and effectively used in
draperies. Indeed, such excellent art in design has been devoted to
blue prints, both foreign and domestic, that one can safely reckon
upon their prolonged use, and this being taken for granted, it is well
to extend the weaving of mixtures of white and blue indefinitely.
Although the warp-covered method described for woolen and cotton rug
weaving can very well be used for carpets, the still simpler one of
the alternate thread, or basket-weaving, when warp and filling are of
equal weight and size, can be made to answer the purpose quite as
well. In fact, there is a certain advantage in the latter method,
since it makes the warp a factor in the arrangement of colour.
It is necessary in this style of weaving that the filling should be a
hand-twisted thread of the same weight and size as the warp, and of a
lighter or darker shade of the same colour. If the warp is dark, the
filling may be light, or the reverse. It should be warped at the rate
of about twenty-four threads to the inch.
In this kind of weaving the colours must be plain--that is,
unclouded--as the variation is obtained by the different shades of
warp and filling. Still another variation is made by using a closer
warp of thirty threads to the inch and a large soft vari-colour
filling which will show between the warp threads with a peculiar
watered or vibratory effect. A light red warp, with a very loosely
twisted filling of black and white, or a medium blue warp with a black
and orange filling, will give extremely good results.
[Illustration: GREEK BORDER IN RED OR BLACK]
[Illustration: BRAIDED FRINGE]
[Illustration: DIAMOND BORDER IN RED OR BLACK]
What I have said thus far as to the weaving of woolen and cotton rugs,
and of cotton carpets, gives practical directions for artistic results
to women who understand the use of the loom in very simple weaving. Of
course, more difficult things can be done even with ordinary looms, as
any one who has examined the elaborate blue-and-white spreads our
grandmothers wove upon the cumbrous house-loom of that period can
testify. In fact, the degree of skill required in the weaving of these
precious heirlooms would be quite sufficient for the production of
rugs adapted to very exacting purchasers.
Perhaps it is as well to add that the directions given in this and the
preceding chapter for rug weaving are designed not only or exclusively
for weavers, but also for club women who are so situated as to have
access to and influence in farming or weaving neighbourhoods.
Home manufactures, guided by women of culture and means, would have
the advantage not only of refinement of taste, but of a certainty of
aim. Women know what women like, and as they are the final purchasers
of all household furnishings, they are not apt to encourage the
making of things for which there is no demand.
I am often asked the question, How are all of these homespun and
home-woven things to be disposed of? To this I answer that the first
effort of the promoters or originators must be--_to fit them for an
existing demand_.
There is no doubt of the genuineness of a demand for special domestic
weavings. Any neighbourhood or combination of women known to be able
to furnish such articles to the public would find the want far in
excess of the supply, simply because undirected or commercial
manufactures cannot fit personal wants as perfectly as special things
can do. It must be remembered, also, that the interchange of news
between bodies of women interested in industrial art will be a very
potent factor in the creation of a market for any domestic specialty.
In fact, it is in response to a demand that these articles upon
home-weavings have been prepared, and a demand for technical
instruction presupposes an interest in the result.