Some times a rug needs to be rescued from its current “location or situation.” In the case with the Bicentennial Rug picture above it needed to be rescued from a booth in a local antique/collectibles market. Thanks to Julie J. who saw the rug and told me where it was (3 miles from W. Cushing & Co.) I went there and wadded up in the corner of a booth was this wonderful rug.
Don’t you just love the Liberty Bell!
I decided to rescue it for many reasons. . .
- The burlap was not brittle, broken or torn.
- The rug was not very dirty and did not smell
- The repairs need to make the rug “rescued” or nice again were very minimal.
- The entire border and outline is hooked in vintage paisley–I took that as a “sign”
- It is rug hooked in 1976 by HC. 1976 is when I learned to rug hook and will be a great memento
First, I will not wash the rug. I have aired the rug and cleaned it gently with Lemon Joy and a sponge. To wash this entire rug, two colors will bleed –the red and blue pictured above. There is evidence of a little bleeding of the two colors already.
Once the spot cleaning was completed, I took a good sharp pair of scissors and trimmed the excess paisley hairs, extended loops and tails. If the wool strip is long and there is a visible space of burlap showing, the wool was left as I will rehook the spots with the same wool.
After I trimmed what I could, the lint roller came out and cleaned up the rug. Then I rolled the rug looking for extended loops I may have missed and trimmed them.
Next, I turned the rug over to the back and looked to see where the large blank spaces where. I marked them by putting a T pin in for when I repair the area. I will put the rug on my frame but not too tight then hook in the same height as HC.
This is just one pile of about five that I took off the rug. Also as you can see there is a 4″ section where the final row of hooking has unhooked. I may fix it or just cut the wool strip and tuck in the ends.
I have not re-hooked the repairs left yet; but will soon and post another picture of the Bicentennial Rug ready to hang!
Oh and the best part, the cost of this rug was under $40.00!
