About Rug Hooking

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In this page, you will find stories about the history of rug hooking, in both Canada and elsewhere and a glossary of terms' section.

 

About Canadian Rug Hooking
 

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In the Canadian Museum of Civilization you can visit two virtual exhibitions linked to rug hooking. The first is the Hoooked on rugs exhibition that was held at the Canadian Museum of Civilization from April 10th, 1998 to January 24th, 1999. Some of you may remeber our bus trip to Ottawa to see this exhibition? Click on the image to begin the visit.
 

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Bluenose, printed pattern for chair seat designed and printed by Garrett's, late 1940s, 50 x 50.7 cm

Secondly, if you're interested in seeing the Garret's "Bluenose" Hooked Rug, you can visit it in this virtual exhibition called Before E-Commerce, a history of Canadian mail-Order Catalogues. Click on the image.
 
 
 

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Grenfell Mission. 1920-40. Silk and rayon on burlap. 81 x 48 cm.Textile Museum of Canada. T01.24.1

 
 
 
You can find very interesting information at the Canadian Tapestry Web site, which belongs to the Textile Museum of Canada ! Click on the image.
 
 
Do you want to see the Textile Museum of Canada rug's collection ? Click on this link  and type "hooked rug" in the "Search in the collection" tool.
 

A mat hooked by Helen Johnson's mother
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Photo: Anne Nicholson

 

 

To discover Prince-Edward Island hooked rugs, we invite you to read Anne Nicholson’s article at this link.

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We also invite you to visit The Canadian Encyclopedia and read Max Allen's article Rugs and rug making. Click on the link  and type "rugs and rug making" in the Search tool.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Have you ever heard about the Hooked Rug Museum of North America?

Click on the picture for a largest image.
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Peter Cochrane is the architect and chief designer for the museum project

Suzanne Conrod of Chester, Nova Scotia and her husband Hugh began collecting rugs and artifacts that could form the basis for a museum collection. In 2006, the Hooked Rug Museum of North America Society was incorporated. Governed by a Board of Directors with Suzanne as the Honorary Chair, the Society was recognized by the Government of Canada as a legally registered charity which may issue formal receipts acceptable to Revenue Canada for tax purposes. This not-for-profit society is committeed to the long term success of the project.
The Society has developed a two-pronged approach to ensure construction of a modern and environmentally friendly building while providing an endowment fund to ensure the long-term viability of the museum.
 

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Dog Team with Shadows.

To discover the silk stocking mats of the Grenfell Mission of New Foundland and Labrador, we invite you to visit the  Greenfell Hooked Mats Web site. You can read a Paula Loverty’s article in the History page. Don't miss the gallery page! 

Glosary of terms

Contemporary: A more modern design in nature often reflecting a combination of traditional rug hooking and any number of other alternative fiber skills.

 

Cuts: the width of the strands you use to hook starting with  # 2 and ending with # 10    

2 = approximately 2 mm.  -  10 = approximately 1 cm.

 

Cutter: a special cutting machine that allows to cut several strands in 1 operation.

 

Dye Bath:  A pot of hot water (simmering water) sufficient to hold your fabric and to which an amount of dye or a measured amount of dye formula has been added.

 

Dye Formula:  is an amount of 1 dye or a mixture of 2,3,or more dyes in a specific amount of water.

 

Dye Pot: A utensil of glass, or enamel used for only dyeing.

 

Dye Solution: An specific amount of dye (1or more colours) in a specific amount of water (1/2 cup - 1 cup etc.)

 

Florals: Rugs with flowery patterns.

 

Geometrics = Patterns representing, geometric figures such as  squares, rectangles, circles and more that are hooked in a certain way to create a special visual effect like a weave, tumbling blocs, etc.

 

Orientals: Rugs with an oriental pattern, hooked in rows, as if woven.

 

Pictorial: landscapes, portraits, still lives, etc.

 

Primitives: The style of rugs as they were made centuries ago.

 

Swatch: a number of pieces of fabric usually 6 or 8 dyed in different values ex. from pink to dark red, used for the shading and highlighting of flowers 

 

Value: the hue of a color