Dienstag, 6. Mai 2008
Musings on a braided rug
« The pyschology of knitting | Hauptseite | The Seven Sisters Quilt Show »I‘m visiting my dad at the moment. Since we live so far apart I only get to see him once a year (I do phone him regularly) and then I usually stay for 2 or 3 weeks. I don‘t do much when I‘m here. The main object is to see my dad, talk with him, etc. Of course, I always help him a little with housework and repairs while I‘m here. One repair that is almost always needed is to sew up holes which have appeared in one of the braided rugs that he has on the floor.
The braided rugs were made by his grandmother (my great-grandmother). My dad says he can remember her working on them when he was a boy, so he figures that they must have been made sometime during the 30‘s. When I was sitting on the floor yesterday, repairing one of the rugs (and trying to remember to hold my back straight in the process), I started thinking....
I wonder what my great-grandmother would have thought to hear that her rugs are still being used (and still in fairly good shape – they wear like iron!) in 2008. And I‘ll bet that she would have been pleased to know that her 60-year-old great-granddaughter was willing and able to repair them to help them survive a little longer.
In case you‘re not familiar with braided rugs, here‘s a photo of the one I was working on yesterday.
To make such a rug, you first cut fabrics (all wools in the case of our family rugs) into strips of a particular width. The strips are then each run through a metal device (a little like the bias strip folders/pressers that you can purchase today) which folds the strips. Three folded strips are then braided together to form the basic unit of the rug. When one strip ends, it is tapered (to reduce bulk) and overlapped with the tapered end of the next strip (some people sew the ends together) and the braiding continues.
In the next step, the braid is sewn (actually laced) together, from the center out, in flat, spiralling concentric circles or ovals (our rug). The first straight section of braid in the center of the rug that I was working on measures 58 cm (23 inches). Around this center line are 52 concentric ovals. The first oval around the center line measures approx. 1.20 meters (48 inches) around and the outer oval measures a total of 8.30 meters (9 1/8 yards)! The rug is 2.90 meters (3 1/4 yards) long and 2.35 meters (2 5/8 yards) wide. So how many total meters/yards of braid were needed to make the rug? The mind boggles! If each round were only 1 meter around, that would be 52 meters, but they keep increasing up to 8.30 meters so she must have braided several hundred yards! And that was just for this one rug. My dad says she made many more than the two that he still has.
Then she laced the braids next to one another, around and around, until the rug was the size she wanted. Depending on the colors of the fabric strips used, patterns appear when the strips are sewn together.
I mentioned that these rugs wear like iron. Despite the age and constant usage, no braid loop has worn through. The upper one or two fabric layers of some of the folded strips have been worn away, but that‘s all. The reason they need repair is that the cord used to sew the braids together has become weak with age so in some sections, the braids are no longer sewn together. Even so, not much repair is needed. This year I only had to re-sew 6 or 7 sections for a total of maybe 1 meter (a little more than a yard).
These are the things I know about these rugs. Some of the things I don‘t know are: Where did my great-grandmother get the fabrics for her rugs? Did she use new fabric or was it all “re-cycled”? How did she sew them up? (Hopefully not sitting on the floor....my back aches at the thought!) How long did it take her to make the rug I‘ve been describing? (Probably impossible to answer because she most likely worked on the rugs in her “spare time”.)
Despite the threat to my back, I don‘t mind helping my dad with this job. Ours is not a family that has accumulated family jewels in the sense of gold, diamonds, etc. Our “treasures” are more in the nature of the rugs that my great-grandmother braided. By taking care of them I feel that I am honoring my heritage and preserving it for my children and grandchildren. I just have to remember to teach some of them how to fix the holes!
So lovely! That is such a wonderful tribute to your great-grandmother that you still USE and cherish things she made with her hands. I have quilts my husband's grandmother made out of recycled family clothing, and his mother, who is in her seventies, can identify her little brother's cowboy pajamas, one of her mother's dresses, etc. That is the great part about the thriftiness of the Depression era housewives...they thought they were having to "make do" by salvaging every scrap of cloth, but they were stitching up memories to wrap their children in. My mother-in-law was always comforted as a child to snuggle down under a handmade quilt and look at all the familiar bits and pieces sewn into it.
I really want to make a braided rug, but have never had the time. Maybe this lovely piece will be just the motivation I need! Thanks for sharing it!
Thank you both for your comments. How nice that my great-grandmother's braided rug is now also being appreciated and enjoyed by others – and also generating similar textile memories!
I am impressed by how durable the rugs are, and by the fact they have been kept and mended. I like to design and make things that are durable, but I guess they will only be kept if they are useful and they are loved by their owners.