Resources on the Craft of Area Rugs

Rag Rug Making from the UK
Over the last 25 years Heather Ritchie has developed and refined rag rug making skills to the highest standard and is one of Britain's most experieinced rugmakers and teachers of rug-making. She now travels widely running workshops and is internationally recognized for her skills. Her site includes a gallery of rugs, as well as rug making tools. Learn about rug making workshops, which include the use of proddy techniques and wool dyeing. Also offered is a selection of rug hooking products, including spring hooks, wooden prodders, wooden lap frames and carding grippers.

Unsewn Braided Rugs
This Web site gives a time-honored traditional feel to rug making, as one rug-maker shares tips that her grandmother used when making braided rugs. She calls it Grandma’s Four-Strand Braided Rug, as her grandmother showed her a way to interlock the rows of braid, which eliminates the process of sewing the rug together, and it also gave her better color control when it came to which scraps would show. The rugs are made from inexpensive cotton or blended fabric scraps, so they don't cost much to make and are washable. The article touches on what tools you need, the techniques to use, how to braid and how to keep a rug flat while braiding it.

Penny Rug Background, History
They don't lie on the floor, and pennies aren't used to make them. But many rug makers have adopted penny rug making into their creative mix. Penny rugs are decorative coverings for beds, tables and mantles. They were even used as wall hangings. They seemed to have started around the time of the Civil War in the United States, and are made out of felted wool scraps that are appliquéd with a blanket stitch to a wool background. Some designs feature circles (or pennies.) Coins such as pennies were used as templates for the circle appliqués, thus the name penny rug." This webpage gives some history into penny rugs, and is very informative.

Rug Hooking
Rug hooking information and a photo gallery of some hooked rugs, includes links to more rug hooking studios, a creative shop, rug hooking designs, rug carnivals, hand hooked rugs and tapestries. Browse sample rug patterns to inspire better rug hooking, from simple designs and landscapes, this website provides rug making ideas and patterns.

Rug Hooking Information
A rug hooking studio based out of Maine. Website includes a perfection acid dye color card, rug hooking tools and equipment, a rug hooking book shop, a rug hooking kit list, rug hooking designs, a hooked rug gallery, hand dyed swatches, links to other rug hooking websites, and articles about rug hooking that include onion skin dyeing, over dyeing for beautiful hooked rugs, binding rug edges, origins of rug hooking, hooking leaves, and more.

Design a Navajo Rug
This project is archived from the University of Arizona and is devoted to the exploration of Navajo culture as expressed through their weaving and other art forms. Create an original symmetrical Navajo rug-like design by completing a "learning template" based on graphic design elements from other linked-to pages.