Rag Rug, Part 2: Dyes

With references to dyeing both warp and weft, I decided to try some natural dyeing on my rug materials. 

I first applied an alum mordant to 7 of the 9 skeins of wool rug warp, using the recipe described in Wild Color by Jenny Dean.

Marigold Dye Bath

 

I then made 3 different dye vats. The first was with dried marigold flowers from my last two harvests (about 2 oz pure petals and 3 oz of full flower heads). For the second, I used about ~4oz of powdered madder root.. For both of these dye baths, I first dyed the prepared wool (letting it soak for about 3 hours), then put in mordanted linen thread and some test strips of white cotton (with and without mordants) for the whole afternoon/evening, and finally threw in my unmordanted rag weft to soak overnight.

Marigold and Madder Dye Results.

 

I tried to keep the madder below boiling, to get more of a red than an orange shade, but as the wool dried it shifted from a deep scarlet color to a tomato red, and finally a bright orange. The cotton, meanwhile, dried pale pink. The marigold wool came out dark goldenrod color (in person, it more resembles the image above than the one below), with the cotton coming out a pale Easter egg yellow

 

Marigold-dyed and undyed wool.

 

For the third, I used Dharma's pre-reduced indigo to make a 3-gallon dye vat. I over-dyed two of the marigold-dyed wool skeins, as well as the two un-mordanted skeins. This produced a very dark green (tending black) and a deep indigo blue--the former darkened as it dried, and the latter lightened from a navy blue. I tried overdyeing some pink and yellow rag weft, but instead of purple and green, I got the same deep blue as with white rags. Subsequent batches of rags came out slightly lighter, but still a fairly dark blue.

Green and blue wool dyed with indigo.

Rag Rug, Part 1: Research

Fiction

In Our Cousins in Ohio (1849), one November task is cutting wool clothing scraps for rugs. The pieces are sewn together and rolled into a large balls; when woven, the weft may be visible, created a mottled effect. It might also be woven in stripes/plaids or else dyed a solid color.  Here, the narrator claims that such rugs are common in America, used in the kitchens and dining rooms of the rich, and throughout humbler houses. 

"What Small Hands May Do" (1851) has a 14-year-old surprise her family with a new parlor carpet. She saves up scraps over the course of a year, cutting them into strips, and paying the local weaver $3 to make the carpet. The weaving takes four days, and the warp is included in the price. Red, blue, and white rags are specifically included to add decorative "figures." The woven carpet is pieced to fit the floor.

In the didactic story Home Comforts: Or, Economy Illustrated (1855), a rag carpet is made up in odd moments, using scraps of old clothes. The warp and weaving were paid for with additional rag-weft (both weaver and the family providing the rags got half of the final rug). 

The story "Making the Best of Everything" (Peterson's, 1861) has one cousin teach another to cut old clothes for a rag carpet: the colors are cut separately and dyed, then sent off to be woven (implying visible weft). This is considered a summertime task.

Piecing cotton and linen cabbage for the weft.

Non-Fiction

The Harbinger (1846) newspaper describes a whole industry in New York, in which rag-pickers sort, clean, and stitch rags into 1/2" strips which are sold to weavers to make rag rugs.

Miss Leslie (1850) disapproves of rag rugs being used in kitchens (on the ground that they get greasy and soiled), but recommends them for other service rooms or "where much economy is necessary." She mentions only wool fabrics (cloth from old garments, along with baize, flannel, or scraps of ingrain carpets).

Letters to Country Girls (1853) gives green dye instructions specifically for carpet warp (indigo over any shade of yellow), and recommends using  "ley and copperas" to make a colorfast yellow rug. Mrs. Swisshelm goes on claim that the hard-packed (warp-faced) rag rugs woven by professionals wear out quickly; she recommends requesting a more "thin" and "loose" weave.

Eliza Lea's Domestic Cookery, Useful Receipts, and Hints to Young Housekeepers (1859, 1st ed 1851) gives instructions for "How to Make a Rag Carpet." It recommends a warp of purple, green, yellow, and red (in stripes arranged according to your own fancy), and advises that the weft rags be made from 2/3 wool scraps and 1/3 cotton. It also observes that carpet warp is usually cotton, and (in name-dropping red flannel) indicates that the appearance of the rug is affected by the color of the weft. 

Agricultural prizes from Massachusetts (1853) mention a rag rug made with cotton weft submitted in the domestic manufacture division.  Rag rugs (braided and woven) are mentioned in a number of similar agricultural contest reports, one of which opines: 

"These [rag rugs] are articles in which the taste of the maker should combine beauty with utility to form, from unsightly and useless material, a serviceable parlor ornament. Arrangement of color should be carefully studied, and neat patterns selected or devised which are adapted to the colors at command."

The New York Institution for the Blind (1856) particularly recommends rag-carpet-weaving as an occupation for its graduates. The report mentions that every farmhouse in the area uses rag carpeting, and that one of its former pupils has already made a career of it. In his case, he both weaves commissioned carpets, and also sells carpeting he's already woven (pointing to a market for buying rugs, as well as preparing one's own rags and hiring a weaver). Some reform schools have the children cut the rags for carpet weft.

The Canadian Settler's Guide (1857) praises making rag rugs for use in the 'parlor, staircase and bed-room' of one's log house. It recommends saving cotton, linen, and woolen clothing too worn for reuse, cutting the fabrics into 1/4" strips (1/2" for fine muslins), and paying for it be woven on a 2-ply cotton warp. It mentions cutting turns in the fabric to save time on piecing, but claims that piecing perfectly straight strips gives a superior product. Cleaning the rags before use, and dying the white cotton, is also recommended. Recipes for dying the warp blue, yellow, and black are also provided. [Of course, clothing that is still wearable should be given to the needy, not cut for rag rugs.]

Both Peterson's and Arthur's Home Magazine (November 1865) discuss knitting rags into rugs. Where the woven rugs can be treated as carpeting (sewn together to fill a room or used in smaller pieces), the knitted rugs are suggested as mats or bedside rugs. The tone of the article indicates that this craft is not widely practiced in America as of 1865, though the author advocates for it.

In a letter dated December 1, 1855, Catherine Blaine mentions having a "very pretty" rag carpet in the parlor/sitting room of their Seattle home. In a June 9th, 1856 letter to his siblings, her husband David Blaine asks about a previous letter, in which his mother apparently visited the local weaver (in Seneca Falls, New York), asking "But what can you be going to do with a rag carpet? Is it to be used on Derinda's kitchen?"

Rag rug, c.1830-1870, from Historic New England.

Artifacts

I can't find many 19th century rag rugs in any of the usual online repositories, fewer still woven rag-rugs (hooked are more common, braided scarcer still).

The Met has a single rag rug, described as cotton and wool, c.1800-1850, and woven in stripes. Looking closely at the supplemental images, it appears to be warp-faced.

The Smithsonian has a piece of weft-faced rug from Maine (dated "late 19th century"), and a plaid cotton-rag rug from North Carolina (1832). 

Historic New England has a fair few warp-faced striped woven rugs which came up in my initial search, though they have since been updated without reference to rags (and the close zoom appears to have a yarn fill rather than rags in most cases). And then, the holy grail (shown above): a warp-faced striped rag rug, with both warp and weft described as wool (though the overall item description reads "wool, cotton").

 

Conclusion

Although a humble article, rag rugs are associated with neatness and comfort. The most common structure for them (in the 1840-1865 period, in the literature I consulted) is woven, though weak evidence for braided, knit, and hooked rag rugs exists. Stripes appear to be the most common pattern in surviving rag carpets, and are also well-represented in contemporary literature. While many of the written sources treat the rags (weft) as being visible in the final product, the few surviving examples appear to favor warp-faced rugs where the rags are barely visible. 

A mixture of wool and cotton materials is recommended, and most mentions of warp fiber are cotton. Surviving rugs are biased towards wool, though the descriptions are not always clear which is warp and which weft.

The most universal depiction of rag-rug making in period literature is that of the thrifty girl or woman working at home, cutting otherwise unusable wool and cotton scraps into 1/2" (or occasionally 1/4") strips, sewing these into 3-yard pieces, and rolling them into large balls, which are then sent out to be professionally woven.

HFF 6.12: Eat Your Vegetables

 

The Challenge: Eat Your Vegetables. Make a dish that incorporated vegetables in some capacity.

Unfortunately, my garden plot's right between vegetable rotations at the moment, so my choices are herbs from the container garden and nasturtium leaves/flowers. Or the world's saddest little lettuce bits (the size smaller than 'micro-greens'). 

The Recipe: Egg Omelette (Another)

 

EGG OMELET--Frisk until light, the whites and yolks of twelve eggs, separately, stir well together with a tablespoonful of cold water, season with pepper and salt. Have about an ounce of butter boiling hot in a frying pan, pour in the mixture, shaking the pan as it browns to prevent it sticking, and turn up the edges all round with a broad bladed knife, and continue to roll over until the whole is brown. Lift on to a meat dish with an eggslice without breaking, and serve hot for breakfast. 

 

Another--To the above quantity of eggs [12], add a handful of fine curled parsely and twelve fresh nasturtium flowers, chopped fine.  

--Pennsylvania Farmer and Gardner, February 1861

The Date/Year and Region: 1861, Philadelphia

How Did You Make It: On a 1/6 scale (2 eggs, 2 nasturtiums, a small handful of parsley). After chopping the plants small, I I followed the first instructions, separating the eggs and beating them, then adding the water, parsley and nasturtium while the butter heated up. I then fried the eggs without turning them, instead lifting the edges and shifting the pan to encourage the liquid to solidify. Reading "meat dish" as "a meat-based dish of food" rather than "a physical dish usually used to serve meat", I finished the omelette by laying it on four small slices of fried bacon.

 

Time to Complete: About 15 minutes.

 

Total Cost: Everything came out of my garden or my friend's chicken coop. Except for the <1 Tbsp butter.

Omelette with parsley and nasturtium (and bacon).

How Successful Was It?: Lovely to look at, with the red and green of the parsley and nasturtium. I really like my eggs cooked through, so I was nervous about not flipping the omelette to cook on the other side, but it did fully solidify. I think the dish could use some salt; looking over the instructions again, I think there's room to interpret the recipe as calling for salt and pepper like the first one, though on my initial read I took it as "substitute parsley and nasturtium for the salt and pepper." I didn't really notice the nasturtium flavor except for one bite, though there was a low-key parsley flavor throughout. Overall, it tasted of egg and looked nice. I think that the water and beating the egg parts separately were meant to make the omelette lighter, but I didn't notice much of a difference over the modern omelettes I've made mixing the whole eggs.  

Despite not seeing much of a difference with separating the eggs, but the parsley and nasturtium do make a pretty variation on a simple egg recipe, and I would consider adding this receipt to my arsenal.

How Accurate Is It? I think I followed the instructions well, and am pleased that I could source home-grown ingredients for this one (including eggs from heritage-breed chickens, so for once egg size shouldn't have been a problem).

HFF: 6.11 Picnic

The Challenge: Picnic. Make picnic food or a dish that's easy to eat outside.

The Recipe: Blackberry Pie from The Young Housekeeper's Friend

 

I took this to the July 4 reenacting event (held on July 2), so I'm counting it as a picnic food.

 

The Date/Year and Region: 1846, Boston

How Did You Make It: After reading all the contradictory instructions on pastry, I started with the "good common pie crust" of flour and butter, omitting the lard, salt, and saleratus discussed in the general paste instructions. The proportions given made no sense (1 heaping handful of flour per pie, 2 large spoons of butter for 3 pies), so I tweaked them to 2 heaping handfuls of flour for 1 double-crust pie, 4 tablespoons of butter, and 1/4 cup of water to help form the paste with the flour and half the butter. The rest of the butter was cut small and rolled into the crust in two layers.

Before starting on the paste, I buttered the pie tin, washed 2 pints of blackberries, and pre-heated the oven to 400F. Once I had the paste made, I cut out the top crust, set it aside, and re-rolled the scraps to make the bottom crust. I placed the bottom crust in position, added the pint of berries, sprinkled it all over with 5 large spoonfuls (soup-spoons) of granulated sugar, then swiped around the edges of the crust with water, and sprinkled both fruit and crust-edge with flour. Per the instructions, I tried to keep the berries level with the top of the tin. I laid the top crust in position, pinched it at the sides, and cut off the small bits of excess crust (while also patching one small hole). I pricked the initials "US" into the top crust with a fork, then baked it at 400F for 45 or 50 minutes.

 

Time to Complete: About 20 minutes to prepare and 45-50 minutes to bake.

 

Total Cost: $6 for blackberries, all else on hand

How Successful Was It?: Tasty enough. The crust wasn't oozing butter like my puff paste usually does, and I'm working on not overworking the pastry.

How Accurate Is It? I'm actually feeling pretty good about this one. The crust had a lot of guesswork, but for once this was the result of having lots of different options made explicit in the text (lard versus butter versus both, saleratus or not, etc.). I did try the trick explained in the text for using water and flour to seal the crust (which worked in the oven--no berry juice bubbled out--even if it ended up leaking juice in transit). Other advice I used from the general pastry instructions included using off-cuts of paste for a bottom crust (but not a top crust), and keeping the pastry itself much thinner than the fruit layer. I also had a replica tin to bake it in.

Blackberry Pie

Independence Day, Washington Territory

Reading through the earliest newspapers in Washington Territory offers a glimpse into how July 4 was celebrated in the territory during the 1850s.

1852: No newspaper existed in "North Oregon" on July 4, but the first issue of The Columbian in September reprinted an "Oration delivered by D. R. Bigelow at the celebration of the Fourth of July in this city [Olympia]."

1853: The July 9 issue of The Columbian included an article outlining the "Proceedings of the Fourth" in Olympia, which included a sunrise gun salute; a choir performing "America",  "The Star-Spangled Banner", and "Hail Columbia" at the Methodist church; prayers; a reading of the Declaration of Independence; a procession; and an outdoor meal in an arbor by the capitol.

1854: The Pioneer and Democrat described flags flying throughout Olympia, and gun salutes made at dawn, noon, and dusk. However, as the holiday fell on a Sunday, no major events were planned and the day was spent "quietly" and with "utmost propriety." The paper does report that a private group took a pleasure cruise on two ships, and held a ball and supper in the evening.

1855: Per the Pioneer and Democrat, a large party from Olympia gathered at Issac Wood's farm, where they were greeted by a flag flying overhead. A nearby clearing was equipped with seating for 150 people and a speakers' stand for the speeches. Starting at noon, there was a procession led by a band; the reading of the Declaration; an oration; and a large meal with "beef, mutton, roast pig, turkey, chicken, venison, and every vegetable in season," followed by toasts and more speeches.

1856: The July 11 issue of the Pioneer and Democrat reported that the Fourth was observed with a boat trip and picnic, an evening ball, and multiple gun salutes, as well as numerous flags.

1857: There was no coverage in the Pioneer and Democrat. Other museum volunteers claim that no public festivities were held on account of the political situation at the end of the Puget Sound Wars.

1858: Again, the Fourth fell on a Sunday, and was observed as a "quiet Sabbath," with the only public celebration being a sermon by Rev. Whitworth of the Presbyterian Church. However, this year, the Pioneer and Democrat reported more events happening around the day itself: Saturday July 3 apparently started the festivities with a minstrel show and midnight gun salute, which were followed by the burning of tar barrels (?) and a dance on the evening of Monday, July 5.

1859: This year saw a much larger assembly in Olympia, estimated at 1200-1500 attendees. There was again the dawn cannon salute, and in the late morning a procession with the Olympia Band and various fraternal orders in attendance. This ended in a  "shady grove adjacent to the capitol building" for an invocation, an oration, a reading of the declaration, and the band playing "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "Hail Columbia." Another gun salute was fired at noon, followed by a reading of Washington's Farewell Address (noted as a new addition to the festivities) and then a free supper including "roast beef, sheep, shoats, pigs, etc. and as for pies, cakes, etc. there was no end to them." The program concluded with a procession back into town. Later that afternoon, some groups sailed on the sound. More gun salutes followed in the evening, which ended with a firework display and a grand ball. 

Hff 6.10: First Fruits

The Challenge: First Fruits Make a dish involving fruit in some capacity.

The Recipe: Salad of Mixed Summer Fruits from Eliza Acton's Modern Cookery for Private Families.

 

The Date/Year and Region: 1865, London

How Did You Make It: Washed about a pint each of golden raspberries, red raspberries, and blackberries. Picked mint leaves and arranged them around the plate. Following Francetelli's instructions (except for using a flat plate instead of a deep dish), I started by making a large circle with the golden raspberries, selected the most solid and uniform berries to start, and then filling in the circle. I then repeated this process with a layer of red raspberries making a slightly smaller, then a layer of blackberries, then golden raspberries again, ending with a single red raspberry at the top of the pile. 

The recipe then calls for pouring wine over the lot, or else using Devonshire cream. As my guests mostly don't drink, I opted for the later. Instructions in the same cookbook also call Devonshire cream 'clotted cream', and since I was worried about safe food handling during the 'heat cream for 12 hours' step, I opted to use a purchased clotted cream, which I daubed around the perimeter at intervals.

 

Time to Complete: About 20 minutes.

 

Total Cost: ~$12 fruit, don't recall for the clotted cream (and used very little wine)

How Successful Was It?: I'm fairly pleased with how the berried came together: the color contrast looked well, and they didn't roll all around like the cherries I tried before. The cream was in no condition to pour or spread, and the instructions were not clear on how to apply it, which it why I put it off to the sides. Also, my cooking mentor had compared it to butter, so I wanted to preserve the option to take the fruit with or without the clotted cream. 

 

Berries are berries, which I love. The clotted cream didn't go over well: one guest couldn't handle the texture, while another didn't like the flavor with the fruit (but happily spread it over the Sally Lunn). Personally, I thought that the cream didn't really taste like anything at all. I later poured a sweet moscato wine over the leftover berries (not the cream!) and really enjoyed how the berries and wine went together.

How Accurate Is It? The recipe calls for strawberries, white and red currants, and white or red raspberries. I intentionally substituted blackberries (available in my area) for the currants (not available in my area), but completely forgot the strawberries.As previously noted, I'm not clear on how the cream was to be applied, but in any case, I think I'll stick with the wine version in the future, and opt for 'a plate of fresh fruit' instead of 'fruit salad' when I need a non-alcoholic summer fruit dish.

Original: Bening Book of Hours

 Not a garment, but this month's original item for inspiration does depict clothing (mostly peasant clothing, even!), which is what I'm looking for as I prepare to replace my 16th century kit.

Book of Hours by Simon Bening, 1530-5, The Met.