The Washington bee., 1908-03-14
RAG RUGS POPULAR
ADMITTED TO HAVE BEAUTY AND
ARTISTIC CHARM.
Perfection of Weave and Design Also
Gives Them an lnterest-Some
Ideas for Furnishings in
Proper Blends.

Hand woven rag rugs are no longer
confined 10 country house and bunga-
low use. Their beauty and artistic
charm have won for them a place
among the unpretentious apartment,
studio and bedroom furnishings. Their
rare tones and blendngs Of colOrs
make them a harmonious note in any
but really elegant surroundings, and
the perfection of their weave and de
sign gives them an interest that is
lacking in many of the more eXpeG-
/. sive styles of floor covering.
Now that some of the city settle
ments have taken up the rug weaving
'craft, and other institutions are turn
ing out hand-woven rag style rugs in
their own designs and in patterns
made to order. there is an excellent
chance TO obtain rugs OF any desired
size, coloring and style. They are in
expensive and when made by reliable
weavers the dyes are all vegetable and
the material of the best suitable for
the purpose.
Vegetable dyes are used exclusively
for these rugs when they are properly
made, and when certain tints are re-
Quired the greatest care is given to
their reproduction in the firm cotton
cloth used in rug weaving. Other
dyes are said not to withstand the
light and the general wear and tear.
while the cleaning necessary to keep
almost any kind of floor covering look
ing well is apt to prove disastrous TO
all but vegetable dyed rag rugs.
The peacock blues and green's, the
browns. ycllows and green's dyed after
this method are exquisite and. what is
equally Important, the colOrs are last
ing. Some of the rugs of a solid tone
with heavy white warp have striped
borders in imitation of the weaving
patterns in use half a century or more
ago. Others are made in checks,
while still others have a hit and miss
design that is quaint, to say the least
If one has bedroom wall on which
butterflies or certain varieties of flow
ers predominant as a decorative figure.
then rugs. following this same idea.
are easily made to order at any of the
places where this work is done A
genuinely effective and unusual rag
rug seen the other day at a rug ex-
hibitiOn had butterflies of pale yellow
and brown across the border of a vel
iOwish brown rug. The butterflies
looked as though they had been
worked in afterward, for they were e
closer weave than the body of the rug
The same idea was carried out in a
bird design for a border on a studio
rug. For dens and studios these quaint
sOOr mats are most attractive. In the
dun rich green's and dark tones ia
vOTed by owners of studios and dens
they are more satisfactory and harmO-
nious than an inferior Oriental rug.
For bedrooms and bathrooms a rag
rug has few equals in the way of floor
coverings. The most delicate pinks.
blues, violets and yellows may be had
Tor bedroom use To match the color of
the other furnishings, while for bath
room floors rugs of various sizes are
offered in more practical shades. As
they are easily washed the delicacy Of
the color really makes very little diff
ference, and certainly a light colored
rug IS daiutier in a white bathroom
One feature of these rugs, and espe-
Cially of the cOarsely woven ones. is
that they do not hold the dust They
are so loosely woven that dust filters
through the meshes and the rug itself
: escapes the dirt that would cling to
almost any other style of rug.