136 x 76 cm (53.5 x 30 in)
Materials and equipment
- Drawing and graph paper
- 1142.5 x 81 cm (56 x 32 in) rug canvas, 5 holes to 2.5 cm (1 in)
- Thick waterproof felt-tip pen
- Thin card or cartridge paper
- Scissors
- Masking tape
- Double-knitting wool or rug yarn for the edges
- Rug needle
- 2-ply rug yarn or equivalent
- Locker-needle hook
- Assortment of cotton and jersey materials
- 2 pieces lining material, 44 cm (17.25 in) wide
Draw a pencil sketch of your planned design for reference, then plot out the basic repeat structural outline on to graph paper. This graph outline can then be transferred to the canvas with a felt-tip pen; follow the design graph-square by mesh-square for an accurate result. Use real leaves as a guide to make paper or card templates, if wished, or draw them freehand and then cut out. You will need two templates for each leaf shape. (You will work from the front of the piece with this technique).
Place the leaf-shaped templates on the canvas in desired positions and draw around them with a waterproof felt-tip pen. Overlap the templates to prepare for the shadow effects shown on the completed canvas.
Before beginning work, you need to decide how to finish the edges. If you are not sure what size you want your finished rug to be, stick masking tape over the edges of the canvas to stop it unravelling and to prevent material from catching.
If however, you are sure what size you want your rug to be, the edges can be secured now. Mitre all the corners of the hem, then using double-knitting wool or rug yarn and a rug needle, oversew three stitches over each corner. Then work an overlapping braid stitch all around. To do this, insert the needle from the back of the canvas to the front, move one hole to the left and bring, the yarn back to the original hole. Then move three holes to the left, back two, and continue in this way, working over the stitches which are reinforcing the corners.
Thread two strands of 2-ply rug yarn through the eye of the locker-needle hook. Then, cut strips of material about 2 cm (0.75 in) wide; straight or bias strips are equally successful. The finer the fabric, the wider the strip will have to be as the aim is to fill the holes and cover the canvas.
Holding a strip of cut material under the canvas in your left hand, dip the hook end of the locker-needle into a hole and catch and pull a small loop of material up through the canvas.
The reverse of the work shows how a hook is placed to pull up a loop of material. To ensure the loops are even and regular, keep the strip over the forefinger and pass it over the locker-needle hook, away from you.
Working from right to left, carry on making loops of material on the locker-needle hook and along the row, picking up a loop through each hole until there are ten or twelve loops on the hook. (In this design the leaves are worked in vertical and diagonal directions and the background is worked horizontally).
At the end of a strip, gently pull the threaded locker-needle end through the loops, which will then be ‘locked’ in place with the yarn. Continue with a new row of loops, pulling up the loops on to the locker-needle hook and ‘locking’ them with the same length of yarn. Start new material strips as necessary, when another colour may be chosen.
Unlike traditional hooking, all the ends of the fabric material are left on the back with this technique, as shown here. When the hooking is completed, trim the ends to 2 cm (0.75 in).
When either starting or finishing a new strand of yarn, leave the wool ends on the front of the rug. When several ends have accumulated, thread them through a blunt needle and run the yarn under or so loops to secure them.
Then clip off the remaining ends of yarn. As you proceed and the work becomes heavier, it is often more comfortable to have a small table in front of your chair, so that you can rest the bulk of the rug on the table and turn it to follow your usual working route from right to left.
Cut to pieces of lining fabric (closely woven cotton if the rug is to be used on carpet; heavier material such as sailcloth, if on a concrete or tiled floor). The length of each piece should be half the length of the rug plus 7.5 cm (3 in), and the same width, with a further 2.5 cm (1 in) on all sides for the hem allowance. On each piece turn down and hem the end that will form the placket or central gap in the rug. Turn in the raw edges of the lining fabric and slip-stitch one piece to three sides of the rug, leaving the hemmed edge in the centre free. Repeat with the second piece, slightly overlapping at the centre. This gap means that both the inside and the surface of the rug can be cleaned with a vacuum.
