Pegging rugscanvas

Think we call these clippy mats up here.

I think they used hessian, or sacking. Not sure where you could buy it, but the kind of shop that sells animal fodder might know. Dad was a spinner in a blanket mill, so he would bring home 'blanket ends' the bit left over when the blankets have been cut from a run of cloth. He would cut it into strips, make different piles of colours, make a design, then attach the hession to a rug frame, and start.

You can buy hessian at Fabricland, www.fabricland.co.uk, for £2.35 per metre.
I've seen rugs made with fabric scraps in a magazine article somewhere, in a beautiful rainbow effect.

NUmber please....if this also goes by the name of Hooky or Proddy....I do it. There is a book out thats jolly good on it 'Rag Rug Making' by Jenni Stuart-Anderson. I've made loads of this, have just finished one for the soon to be arriving (everything crossed) next GC. I get hessian from fabric shops...its usually sold for upholstery jobs. Never very expensive, sometimes there are different qualities, some looser than others, you just have to use common sense to make sure the peg and fabric stips fit snugly enough but not too tight as you cant push it through. I find it ideal to do at the end of the day in front of telly especially now that middle aged eye sight has well and truly set in.

I'd love to have a go at this! A few years ago we went to Beamish Open Air Museum and saw 'rag rugs' being made there, just as numberplease described. How do you do it in front of the telly though, HildaW, if you need a large frame, as you would for a rug?

Greenmossgiel....I dont use a frame. Its not actually neccessary, and I was taught by a lady who did not use it. We all started quite small with something about the size of a tea tray. You must hem the hessian because it frays like mad. If you are doing the peg proddy version (this leaves a lovely shaggy finish) you draw a simple patteren on the reverse of the hessian and work from the back. The proddy does not take a complex design. I cut all the bits of materail ready and keep them in bags according to colour and then can almost do it in the dark! As you get more confident you can go bigger. There is another method called hooky that used a hook a bit like a chuncky crochet hook. This produces a smoother, close finish that can take complex designs. I've heard of a lady who did a stair carpet this way!

We used to make them with the finished (heavy) part lying on the kitchen table. It was not a hook but a sort of pointed pliers thing which would go through a half-inch fold of hessian and open to grip the strips, Working from the right side we would push it through the fold, catch the end of a strip of material about 6 x 1 inch, and pull it half through so that you had two ends on the right side. At the end of a row we'd smooth down the strips against the rest of the worked rows and start a new fold. The edges of the hessian had already been tacked down to the right size, so they did not fray and there was no need to finish them off or back the rug.

Thanks, HildaW!I remember a rug like this in our kitchen when I was little! My mother had made it, I'm sure...? I'm going to see if I can find the book that you mentioned -maybe on Amazon? I'll start hanging on to appropriate fabrics now. Mind you, a tea-tray (cloth) is all that I may manage!!!

Elegran....yes I know the tool you mean, but I don't get on with it, I still use my half a dolly peg. I think they do vary from area to area. I like them because they are the ultimate re-cycling. I go to Acton Scott regularly and also Blists Mill where they have them in the houses there. The old stories tell of them being made from the material that was not good enough for patchwork. Usually a new one was made for the bedroom, then it slowly migrated downstairs as it got older ending up by the scullery door. They weren't thrown away even then though, but were tossed on top the compost heap.

Well, I've just ordered my hessian from Ebay and my book from Amazon! I think I've got a peg......but I don't have any material yet! HildaW - what's the best kind to use?

greenmossgiel I love the Beamish Museum and you are right about the rag rugs displayed in the houses in the pit village and sometimes being made for visitors to discover how it's done. It's one of the places we always take our house guests to and they all love it. If you haven't been for a while, you should try to find time for another visit – new things and changes happen all the time. Latest addition is a coal-fired fish and chip shop which looked massively popular and smelled lovely when we were there (with another house guest) at the beginning of last month.

I wouldn't mind going again, absentgrana First time I went with my friend then the next time with DH. The houses were so very like the one I was brought up in - the backyard, scullery etc! The rug-making fascinated me, because the girl's hands just flew along using a worn old peg! When I came home I nagged at DH to find me a piece of sacking at one of the farms that he called at. He did find me a bit....I think it had been in a cowshed or something....it put me off a bit! However, this time I shall be properly prepared!

I started a doormat size rag rug some months ago just before 3 of my grandchildren ( two boys and a girl) came to stay, and they took it over. I made a tidy start, but now the back is a mess. However, as I use 2 colours randomly, the top surface looks great! I shall let them finish it then fill in any large gaps.
If a 6 year old can do it anyone can, and they even enjoyed cutting the strips which I find rather tedious. I recommend it for keeping the little ones occupied.

Greenmossgiel. I use old t shirts (it does not fray) I get from family and friends and then on the sale rails in charity shops. I belonged to a group back in Oxfordshire (where I learnt) everyone used different things for different purposes. Our teacher even used old plastic carrier bags to make a design on a basic hessian bag, sounds 'rubbish' but was very effective. Others used old blankets, those that have worn thin are sometimes even better. Others went down the whole natural dying route boiling up berries in old saucepans!! We would bring any excess fabric in and swap it around. There would be yelps of 'oh thats just the colour I wanted'. The book is full of inspiration, I do hope you have a go and enjoy it.

Thanks - I've no doubt my efforts will compare with the back of shysal's, but what a good idea it is to use t shirts! I shall get on to my daughter and order her to throw no more of my granddaughter's t shirts away (as she is prone to do, rather than sort them for the charity shop bag...!

About 15 years ago our local museum held free classes in the art of rag rugging. I was totally hooked (excuse the pun). I use old hessian sacks which I come across on my travels and fabrics vary from old cotton t shirts to old coats and blankets. Would love to try dyeing my own colours.

I made several then had a long break. Recently I got the urge again and have made one for my grandaughters bedroom. Now I'm hooked again. Great for stress busting too!

Sook, yes they are a good stress buster......also good at stopping you nibbling whilst watching tv!

I have not thought about this for ages until the other day, having a sort out, I found a pegging tool that someone gave to me. I have never used it but my mother used to peg rugs all the time - big ones for the kitchen, little ones for the bedrooms (lino was cold on the feet!). Like Numberplease's mum, she saved old coats and dresses and I used to help her cut them into strips. Perhaps I'll have a go one day, if I can remember how she did it!

My hessian was delivered yesterday, and my book should be here soon! I'm already eyeing up possible t shirts for cutting up!

Greenmossgiel......any sign of the book yet?

It arrived today!!!! I've been looking out materials - unfortunately the charity shop bag has had to be raided, and stuff I was going to put on ebay (to make myself a little cash, hopefully), has been thinned out and put aside for cutting up! Tell me HildaH, how do you do your cutting? The book shows a special block to do the cutting on, but I haven't got one of those - can I just use scissors and get on with it?

Oh yes Greenmossgiel. I just use sissors and sit there infront of trashy tv (it will be Strictly soon)and get on with it. Some people do demand that everything is of same length etc but I've always felt that was just not me and I wanted to be true to the old ideas of make do and mend. I try to get them all similar but sometimes the fabric is thin and the strips can be a bit wider somethimes its a thick bit of sweatshirt and needs to be a bit thinner. I tend to sit and cut the clothes up into panels first, you know cut the seams and hems off so I have just 'pure' fabric. Then I cut it all into strips and then into the lengths I need. A bit of trial and error lets me know how long I want them (the longer the shaggier) but then I just sort of 'get my eye in' and I'm off. Can mean a sore thumb if I do too much at any one go tho!
Have fun X

I can't wait to get started! I'm going to do it 'random' - a bit like my mind...

Rag rugs or proggy mats as they were called in my corner of the world were a common sight in houses. You were considered very well off if you had proper carpet. My grandmother constantly had a mat part done in the frames and if you lingered too long when visiting you got a mat hook in one hand and a bundle of rags in the other and pointed in the direction of the mat frame. I always became very absorbed in the process and never complained about having to do it (would never have dared anyway). I remember once my mother had just finished a proggy mat, a big one, and laid it out on the lawn in the garden to flatten it out one morning before I went to school. At lunchtime I came home for dinner and asked what she had done with the rug as it was not in the garden, only a big square of hessian. (We had geese at the time and they usually kept themselves to themselves at the bottom of the garden). My mother let out a yelp and ran to the back door and you can guess the rest, they had unpicked the mat completely and eaten quite a bit. Needless to say we had goose for Sunday lunch that week!
Happy days!!