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                        Creating Heirlooms

Featured Rug of the Month

July 2010

Antique Persian Hooked Rug, 24.5"x37" circa 1970's?

Shown unfinished and finished

Last summer I was teaching a class and a student asked me if I would be interested in an unfinished rug she'd come across on E-bay.  Actually, the item she was most interested in was the antique wooden frame that the unfinished rug was attached to.  She showed it to me and I flipped!  I bought the rug from her and we both went away very happy with our treasures.

It is very difficult to date the rug.  From the signs of light fading on the part of the rug that was exposed, it would seem that the rug had been on the frame for a couple of decades at least.  The frame may have been much older, and depending on how it was stored, the rug could be many years older as well.  The design seems to me to be an oriental design, probably from the Caucases.

It was hooked with wool strips on burlap.  The burlap had suffered some deterioration, and required a bit of patching, but it held up to the hooking.  I just won't be putting this rug on the floor, because I'm afraid the burlap would break down with wear and tear and washing.

Since yarn is really my thing, I thought I'd do the finishing with yarn.  I first went to my "stash" to match the 13 or so colors in the rug, then I went to the yarn store for the few colors I didn't have.  Amazingly, I didn't have to dye any yarn for this project.  Everything was "as is" or off the shelf.

If I had tried to finish this rug with fabric strips, I doubt I could have done it without endless attempts at the dyepot to match colors, and eventually settled for the best that I could get.  By using yarn, it is hard to tell where the fabric section ends and the yarn begins.

I so enjoy the design, and I am so glad the rug has a real life now where it can be enjoyed by all!

Do you have a rug you would like to see featured on this website?  E-mail me!  Every rug has a story and we love to hear all about them.  If your rug is featured, you will receive your choice of a free half yard of linen, or our "I'm a HOOKER and PROUD of it" totebag!  Visit our archive to see the many rugs that have already been featured on this site!