American Sewn Rugs - Sauder Village

A trip to Sauder Village for rug hooking week is looked forward to each and every August.  I had hoped to get in a class, but did not.  Hooker friend Melissa and I headed to Archbold, Ohio, bright and early, arriving before it opened.  There we met up with friends Bobbie (The Evening Stitcher), Ann (1803 Ohio Farm Baskets) and blogless Sheila.  I also got to say hi to many other hooker friends.  

One of the featured exhibits was the American Sewn Rugs.  It was wonderful!  The following is taken from the Sauder website.

"American Sewn Rugs - A distinctive collection of fine early American needlework created primarily in New England from the late 18th century into the second quarter of the 19th by women of education and privilege.  Unlike hooked rugs, these yarn-sewn, shirred, and patchwork rugs were not casually used as utilitarian floor coverings, instead, they were expressions of gentility, imagination, and skill.  Making them required large amounts of leisure time and expensive materials.

Jan Whitlock, notable antique textiles dealer, and Tracy Jamar, reapected textile restores, conservator and fiber artist, researched for three years in order to put this historic collection together and write the book: American Sewn Rugs: Their History with Exceptional Examples (published Oct. 2012).  

In the Autumn of 2014, the book will accompany an exhibit of these rugs at the Winterthur Museum.  Whiterthur, founded by Henry Francis du Pont, is the premier museum of American decorative arts locatedin Wilmington, Delaware."

The rugs are amazing and none of them were hooked, even though some appeared to be.

Here are contemporary examples of the techniques.

A contemporary rug by Jan Whitlock.  In person, the colors are not washed out.

I have not yet had a minute to even flip through the book.  If you are interested, it is available on Amazon.

I have LOTS more rugs to share.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Pug hugs :)
Lauren