User:TrudiJ/Bed rugs
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Bed rugs are embroidered bed covers made primarily in the United States during the 1700s and early 1800s. The earliest were made in Eastern Massachusetts. They involve wool stitching on either wool or linen backings. They differ from other embroidered coverlets in that rug embroidery covered the surface.
Description and derivation of the term
[edit]Bed rugs (or "ruggs") were rough handwoven and hand-decorated textiles meant to serve as the topmost layer of bedding, particularly in cold weather. Bed rugs are heavy, feature pile or smooth face, that might have shaped ends, and were worked in multicolor wool yarns on a woven foundation.[1] They were used in the 17th through early 19th centuries.[2]: 105 According to the Oxford English Dictionary, one of the definitions of "rug," which was first used in 1591, is "A thick woollen blanket or wrap, esp. used as bedding or worn when travelling."[3] Bed rugs began as carpet-like textiles, and were more common in 18th century than floor rugs.[4] In his Draper's Dictionary (1882), William Beck noted that the term rug was only used in America to describe the coverings for ordinary beds.[5]: 1 Many of the surviving bed rugs have been found in the Connecticut River Valley, but others were produced elsewhere in New England, including Vermont, New Hampshire, and beyond.[6]: 36
Bed rugs vs. coverlets vs. quilts
[edit]There is difficulty in determining exactly what the earliest bed rugs looked like in America, and how they differed from a coverlet, because no examples have survived from the 1600s.[4]: 25 Indeed, when Homer Eaton Keyes, who edited Antiques magazine, first came upon a bed rug in 1923, he described it as "a wool-on-wool bedcover " and thought that the example he had encountered was one of a kind. [7]Another type of bed covering, quilts, were thought to be popular. Researchers examining wills and probate records from New England, however, found that pieced quilts were rare due to their expense. Bed rugs and coverlets were far more likely to be listed in these inventories.
Existing bed rugs were sewn with a running stitch using using multi-plied yarn on wool or linen woven fabric.[4]: 25 The stitches were formed with loops on the top of the fabric and running stitches on the back. The front loops could be cut to form pile, which caused them to be confused by some with hooked rugs.[2]: 107 Some examples have rounded corners for the bottom of the bed, and a straight edge for the top.[8] They were often signed or initialed and dated, possibly due to the large amount of work required.[4]: 34 [2]: 107
XXX they morphed into more elegant, hand-embroidered items, with designs selected and executed by the owner of each bed rug.[9]: 1 There is a difference between embroidered bed rugs and other embroidered covers: bed rugs are entirely covered with embroidery. They served as a testament to the needlework abilities of the lady of the house.[9]: 149
Categories
[edit]These three types are those worked with a needle through woven cloth, often depicting flowers, and frequently signed by the
Materials
[edit]Designs
[edit]Artifacts
[edit]See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Collections Database". museums.fivecolleges.edu. Retrieved 2024-12-04.
- ^ a b c Bogdonoff, Nancy Dick (1975). Handwoven Textiles of Early New England. Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books. ISBN 0811720691.
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “rug (n.3), sense I.2.a,” June 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/3096073820.
- ^ a b c d Weissman, Judith R.; Lavitt, Wendy (1994). Labors of love: America's textiles and needlework, 1650 - 1930. New York: Wings Books. ISBN 978-0-517-10136-0.
- ^ Allen, Gloria Seaman (Summer 2004). "Rugs-The Colonial Chesapeake Consumer's Bed Covering of Choice". The Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts. 30 (1): 1–86 – via America: History and Life.
- ^ Kogan, Lee (2007). "The Great Cover-up: American Rugs on Beds, Tables, and Floors". Folk Art (Spring/Summer): 35–45.
- ^ Peto, Florence (1949). American Quilts and Coverlets. New York: Chanticleer Press. p. 13.
- ^ Lord, Priscilla Sawyer; Foley, Daniel J. (1975). The Folk Arts and Crafts of New England (Updated ed.). Radnor, PA: Chilton. p. 92.
- ^ a b Marshall, Jessie Armstead (2000). Bed rugs: 18th and early 19th embroidered bed covers: Expressions of the American Spirit. Storrs, CT: J. A. Marshall. ISBN 0-9708930-0-0.
External links
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