74/131/5

This is a home-made hook for use in making rag rugs out of pieces of wool. It consists of a filed and shaped metal hook set in a round wooden handle. It was used to draw the pieces of wool up through the backing of the rug. This hook is part of the Hemeon Collection of rug-making tools and thrift rugs, and is associated with the samples 74/131/60.

1 hook: wood, metal

MERL Catalogue Form (temporary) – ‘Object name: HOOK // … // Notes: This is a home-made hook – with a filed and shaped metal hook set in a round wooden handle This hook is used in the following way:– // “In this rug the ball of yarn is kept below the frame with its tight canvas foundation of horn [?], burlap, hessian or pack sheet, and a sturdy metal hook is inserted through the material, picking up the yarn in small loops, about one third of an inch in length – to the upper side of the canvas. These loops must be closely packed and as regular as possible.” // ‘THE HOOKIE RUG’ from The Country Woman’s Rug Book by Ann Macbeth’, MERL Miscellaneous Note, Greta Bertram, 10 December 2013 – The Hemeon Collection of rug-making tools and thrift rugs (74/131/1–74) was put together by Maidie F. Hemeon. Mrs Hemeon was interested in the tradition of ‘thrift’ rugs – rugs made using old fabrics and home-made or home-adapted tools. This type of rug has many names, including ‘rag’, ‘proddie’, ‘peggie’, ‘hooky’, ‘proggy’, ‘clippy’ and ‘bodgy’ rug. These rugs became widespread during the Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century, but by the 1920s the craft was dying out except in areas of poverty or where tradition had a stronger hold. The necessity for thrift during World War II brought a brief revival, but it did not last long. Mrs Hemeon published a letter in the June 1970 edition of the Women’s Institute ‘Home & Country’ magazine in which she expressed her ambition to trace and preserve all the tools used in the craft before it was industrialised. She hoped to build up a display of samples, materials, tools and coloured photos of finished work in use, for demonstration, exhibition and educational purposes, and to simulate interest in making rag rugs as a living craft rather than as the remains of a dead one. She received many donations in response to the article, and in due course the collection came to MERL. It is likely that some of the samples in the collection were made by Mrs Hemeon. Further information can be found in the MERL Archives, D79/31.

Wood, Metal