Old American rugs

Our forebears even produced homemade chenille rugs. Little bias pieces of cloth were strung through the middle, pulled tightly together and twisted.

These fuzzy strings were then sewed firmly to a heavy cloth foundation. There were also button rugs and tongue rugs.

Button rugs were made by cutting three circles, one-half inch, one inch and one and one-half inches across. These were fastened one on top of the other with a buttonhole stitch.

Then each fat , little button was placed tightly against its neighbor on a woolen backing and buttonholed down.

Tongue rugs were made by cutting small tongue-shaped pieces and sewing them onto a backing so that each row over­lapped the next.