Hooked Art – Sue Anne Bottomley

Historians disagree about where hooked rugs were first made, but there is evidence of the craft in Europe, especially Scandinavia, and also China , and Egypt. Sailors made rugs on long voyages, and the women left at home made them as well, mostly during long winters. In the 1800’s the craft and art of rug hooking flourished in New England and the Maritime Provinces of Canada. And it still does, although the pleasures of the craft are now international. Originally it was a craft of poverty, thrift and recycling. The better designers turned it into storytelling and art. People, mostly women, could reuse worn clothing, blankets, even uniforms by cutting them into strips and pulling them through a backing to create a dense warm covering for beds, knees, and floors. In the 1800’s the burlap from feed sacks was generally used as the base. (Many artisans today use linen as a more durable substrate.) Most early rugs are 2”x3”, the size of the burlap sacks. An itinerant peddlar named Edward Frost printed patterns on burlap, followed by a host of other pattern makers, of varying artistic skills. The hook is a simple notched nail or hook resembling a crochet hook. It is not a hinged latch hook. Many rugs today are intended to be hung on the wall.

Some of this information was gathered from www.thegavel.net