74/131/6

This is a home-made hook for use in making rag rugs out of strips of fabric. It consists of a filed and shaped metal bolt set in a round wooden handle. It was used to pull the strips of fabric through the backing of the rug in small even loops. 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 consisting of filed and shaped metal bolt set in a round wooden handle. (The bolt may have been filed and shaped by a local smith). The hook is used simply for pulling the prepared narrow strip of fabric through the backing (hessian, sacking) in small loops.’, 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