Page:Embroidery and Fancy Work.djvu/298

294 with fringe, felt or serge of the color used in painting can be employed.

SCRAP RUGS.

Reference has been made, in the chapter on knitting, to rugs made out of scraps of woolen cloth. Another kind can be made very easily as follows: Out your scraps (which may be of all varieties of material only taking care that woolen pieces form a large proportion) into inch squares. Take a piece of twine three or four yards long and a needle sufficiently coarse to carry the twine; thread your pieces of cloth on the twine as though they were beads. When you have a sufficient number threaded, taking care to crowd them on the string, fasten your twine well into the last two or three stitches. Now roll the string of scraps round and round, taking long stitches through and through to keep it flat. When it is quite firm, lay the mat on the floor or a table and pare away the rough edges on both sides until the rug is about half its original thickness. If an oblong mat is preferred, it can be made by making a number of strings of pieces, as long as the desired width of the rug, sewing these strips firmly together. A border can be arranged without much trouble. It is worth while to try a little yellow or orange colored flannel to mix with the other scraps, because it adds so greatly to the effect. The patent dyes can be used for old white flannel. Some white is also an improvement, time turning it down to a harmonious gray.

I have seen very handsome rugs made of pieces of woolen cloth cut to a uniform size and then sewed on to a ticking foundation. In some, quite elaborate designs had been attempted but the prettiest were those which were made with a centre of mixed colors and a border of black. In many places, materials for these rugs can be obtained at a very moderate cost, at a tailor's shop.