Traditional Hooked Rugs

Materials and Tools

• Hooked rugs require three basic supplies: Fabric scraps or yarn, burlap and a hook. A rug stretching frame, which holds the backing taut while the rug is made, is helpful, but isn't required. In early America, old burlap sacks were cut open and reused for the foundation of the rug, and the rug hooking tool was a bent nail. Today's hooked rug makers use the same materials and tools, but they are found at retail. Fabric and yarn is readily available in numerous colors and fiber contents, and tools like a rug frame and rug hook are created especially for the job. Crochet hooks are sometimes used in place of a rug hook. Burlap is available by the yard. Other foundation materials besides burlap are sometimes used, including monks cloth, but many still prefer burlap's open weave and stiff hand.

Technique

• Traditional rug hooking is accomplished by pushing the tip of the hook through a space between the fibers of the burlap, catching a strip of fabric or yarn held beneath the burlap and pulling a loop through to the surface. Repeated across the burlap, this creates a series of small loops which ultimately covers the burlap and transforms it into a dense rug. The finished texture resembles modern berber carpeting. Many artisans use 1/2-inch strips of fabric in lengths varying from 1 to 2 feet, or yarn scraps in similar lengths. Hooked rugs are finished by folding the raw edge of the burlap under and stitching it down or sewing rug binding to the raw edge.

Patterns

• Primitive American examples of hooked rugs used nature for design inspiration, according to Country Living. Some artisans drew an outline of a bird, cat or simple landscape on the burlap to use as a pattern. The background or body of the rug was completed with a solid color, and the image was filled in with colored fabric or yarns. With the range of colored materials available to modern rug makers, it is possible to create images that are quite lifelike.

Care

• Vacuuming hooked rugs is safe, but not with a spinning brush vacuum. If the rug has a glued backing, gently shaking the rug can loosen dirt without damage. Dry cleaning a rug with a glued backing is not recommended because the glue will eventually fail, warns The Saturday Evening Post. Machine washing is rarely safe for any hooked rug because the loops will loosen, the burlap will lose its stiffness and colors may fade.