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Show Needlecraft Newsc- by NniHOaxter Americans have always liked color, warmth ad comfort in their XX homes. From the country's earliest beginnings, we have tried to introduce this trio into our daily living. The women who helped estab- , lish this nation's first homes did their part by making bright rugs for their floors and colorful patchwork quilts for their beds whenever materials mate-rials were available. EARLY AMERICAN If 1 ' T - RUGS ' N ! J Today, we tend to take fc x ''TH your fine selection of needle- ' -a i work materials for grant- h V ' ed, but the early American " 1 colonist prized everything C 1 and wasted nothing. With v ' 1 inventiveness and nimble t 1 fingers, brilliant - colored rugs were made of any ASSlfefi crude materials at hand. , 5$J;W';sfciSrs? Cloth scraps were utilized ; 1 by the first American : yVu, 1 needleworker. Cloth of ff (tiff (y) ') I If H tsi very kind and color was ";r XvZfJ fz-if cut into strips, sewed to- t1 gether and wound into j 'SSi'jr , balls to be made into rag ''i i rugs. Some of the floor I JfS1 1 ' coverings were crocheted, ; "rTTiTV J others knitted, braided or i ' ViJ&l M fel hooked. The crocheted rugs ' " were usually fashioned with bias cotton strips and large hook, and were round or ova'I. Knitted rugs were made in various sizes by using woolen rugs and large needles. Strips of about six inches wide we're formed and sewed together. When rags in the desired colors were unobtainable, the ambitious homemaker brewed pot3 of dye from fruits, vegetables, tree bark, flowers or roots. COLOR-BRIGHT CROCHETED RUG Early American in design, yet modern American in quality and texture, this round, crocheted rug is made in nine different colors oi rug yarn. Vivid yellow, red, turquoise, lilac, rose, bronze, gold, dark green and black yarns are used intermittently and .worked in rounds of single crochet. A double strand of yarn is used throughout. Without the knotted fringe, the rug measures 33 inches in diameter. If you want to perk up your home with color and gain lots of pleasure by doing so, I would like you to have the instructions for making THE CROCHETED CRO-CHETED ROUND RUG. Just send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to the Needlework Department of this paper for Leaflet No. 93.1. |