The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1917-03-08
ABOUT YOUR RUGS
A Short History of Their Early
Origins and Kinds.
RAG ONES ARE AMERICAN.
4 Word About the Two Methods Which
Give Woven and Tufted Carpetfnss.
Before You Buy Prime Yourself
About tho Different Kinds.


Before You Buy Primo Yourself
About tho Different Kinds.
Most rugs are made according to one
Of two methods, which gives us woven
and tufted carpetings. The latter Is
distinctly oriental and is made upon
4 foundation warp composed Of hemp
en-, wooden or silk threads. The num-
Der of these threads depends upon the
breadth of the rug and its desired fine
ness or coarseness. Lengths of col
ored wool or the hair Of camel or
goat or silken threads are knotted on
to the warp threads, with the two ends
of the individual twists standing up.
What is called welt thread is then
run across the warp and another line
Of tufts made. The whole Is brought
securely together by means Of hand
instrument, the ends of the tufts clip
ped to an equal length by expert fin
gers, and thus tufted rug is completed.
Writing in 1882, Pierre Dupont,
master carpet maker of Paris, said he
was convinced that rug weaving was
taught to the French by the Saracens
after the latter had suffered defeat at
the hands of Charles Martel in 726.
The middle ages found the art -four
ishing all over Europe and especially In
France and Flanders. Colbert, minis
ter of Louis XIV, who did so much to
aid the birth Of industrial France, es-
tablished the Hotel DIES Gobelins in
1867 as state manufactory, and the
enterprise grew to be one of the nota
BILE institutions of the realm.
In 1901 William III. Of England
granted royal charters to weavers in
Wilton and Administer, towns which
were to give their names to types of
carpeting that have come down to the
present day. The fame Of the Wilton
rug was largely due to Henry, earl Of
Pembroke and Montgomery, who
brought two Frenchmen. Antoine Du-
fossy and Pierre female, to England
and put them in charge Of operations
at Wilton Their skill and enterprise
won fame for the establishment in
little while Other French and Flemish
weavers followed, and the industry
was fairly launched.
The opening of the nineteenth cen
fury saw much experimentation in the
effort to produce satisfactory ma
chine made carpeting. Erastus B. Bige'
low, an American, and William Wood,
an Englishman. perfected the jacquard
loom to q point where it could be de-
pended upon to turn out uniform
product Of good quality. The passing
years have witnessed further impor-
tant development, and results are now
accomplished by mechanical process
that will stand the test Of comparison
with the hand made article.
Not until 1880 did the French turn to
machinery for carpet weaving, and
they at first adopted English machin-
cry to a great extent. So it was that
the art first crossed the channel and
then came back in a different form
after the lapse of centuries.
In America we have produced at
least one kind of floor covering which
we may claim as our own-the rag
rug. In colonial times rag rugs were
made in considerable numbers, and it
was deemed a fine accomplishment for
woman. Much ingenuity was shown
in tho matching of cOlOrS