442 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



Sept. 



they should be folded in the middle and pressed 

 flat with a hot iron. 



About one hundred and fifty strips are needed 

 to make a web one yard wide. Some persons pre- 

 fer weaving a long piece of this width, cutting it in j 

 lengths, and sewing those together to make a car- 

 pet ; but, if a frame large enough can be procured, 

 it is better to weave a carpet the full width and 

 length of the floor it is to cover, in one seamless 

 piece. A web planned in plain stripes, six or eight 

 strips to a stripe, — of drab, blue and gray, alternat- 

 ing with red, green and a little yellow or white, — 

 black being placed beside each color to give it dis- 

 tinctness — the woof of black entirely — makes a 

 handsome carpet. But a checked carpet may be 

 made, using the same colors for the woof or filling 

 as for the web ; and stripes of diamonds and cir- 

 cles may be introduced among plain stripes with 

 •good effect, by cutting a sufficient number of strips 

 in proper kngths for forming these figures. 



The fabric must be woven in a quilting-frame. 

 One end of each strip of the warp must be strongly 

 stitched to the cloth heading of one of the mortised 

 bars of the frame ; every strip lying smoothly and 

 just touching its fellows, so as to make a thick, 

 even web. Then the end bars of the frame are to 

 be inserted through the mortises of this and the other 

 mortised bar, and fastened at a convenient distance. 

 Over the space thus made pass the strips, and pia 

 each tightly to the heading of the other mortised 

 bar. Keep the strips in tight balls to prevent them 

 from getiing snarled, and the carpet is ready to be 

 woven. 



Begin by sewing a strip of the filling to the warp- 

 strip which forms the right hand edge, lapping it 

 well, and stitching around and across the double 

 square thus formed; then, with your left hand 

 take up six or eight alternate strips of the warp 

 and pass under them the tilling strip — this will 

 make plain weaving of over and under the strips. 

 Go across the web in this way, and then cut off 

 and fasten your fiUmg to the left hand edge, as you 

 did at the right hand ; then begin the next at the 

 right, and proceed as before — being careful to 

 make no mistake by passing over or under two 

 strips instead of one. Some persons do not cut off 

 the filling at the left hand edge, but pass back- 

 ward to the right ; leaving thus a loose selvage, 

 which is neither so neat nor so durable as that 

 formed in the manner just mentioned, — while it is 

 very awkward to weave in a backward direction. 

 Pass the fingers of the right hand ocasionally 

 through the unfilled web, bringing them with 

 force against what you have woven, — in order to 

 press the filling thickly together and to make it 

 straight. And to keep your work from drawing 

 in, and so making it uneven and narrow, pin bands 

 of strong cotton cloth to each selvage, and fasten 

 them tightly around the ends of the frame. 



When the warp is filled as far as you can con- 

 veniently reach, unpin the strips from the frame, 

 take the end bars from their mortises, roll up the 



woven portion of the carpet over the bar to which 

 it is attached, and replace the end-bars and fasten 

 them; and then partly unwind the strips from 

 their balls and pin them to the heading as at first ; 

 and so go on till the warp is all filled. Then cut 

 the carpet from its frame, stitch the last row of 

 filling to the warp-strips (in the same way as you 

 made the selvage), also the first row at the oppo- 

 site bar — having unrolled your work — and the car- 

 pet is made, all ready to be tacked to the floor. 

 If care is taken to mend the strips whenever they 

 break, and to replace with new those that get 

 worn out, a carpet of this kind may be kept hand- 

 some and strong a great many years. 



Very pretty floor mats may be made of just such 

 strips as form this carpet. For a frame to weave 

 them in, take a large barrel or hogshead hoop and 

 wind around it cotton cloth. Sew to this twenty- 

 five or thirty strips — to compose a narrow web ; — 

 they must be just long enough to pass tightly 

 across the centre of the hoop. Then, in an oppo- 

 site direction, fastening each strip to the hoop as 

 you proceed, weave in the same number of strips 

 of the same colors, so that you make a woven 

 square in the middle. Then fill the triangular 

 spaces, left empty, by strips sewed by one end to 

 the cloth wound around the hoop, and by the other 

 to the outer strip of each web forming the square, 

 and with a long strip weave around the square till 

 the frame is full, and you have a round mat. Rip 

 it from the frame and sew around the edge two or 

 three rows of points cut from the pieces of cloth 

 that were too small to make strips ; these form a 

 pretty border if their colors are tastefully ar- 

 ranged. 



Braided carpets are very durable, and by a nice 

 arrangement, combining both mottled and plain 

 stripes, are very handsome. A flat braid of four 

 or six strands is best for a large carpet, and list 

 stripped in quarter-inch widths is nice to make 

 them of; but flannel or other woolen goods, wide 

 enough to be folded two or three times, is needed 

 to give it brightness, for it needs strong contrasts 

 of color. Make your braids of the requisite length, 

 then sew them together with strong thread, well 

 waxed, — good shoe thread is just the thing, — with 

 beeswax. Some persons sew braids in over-stitch. 

 But it is much better to pass the needle and thread 

 through a strand of the two braids to be united, 

 just under the surface, in close darning, as it were, 

 back and forth ; then the thread does not come in 

 contact with the floor, and so is not worn out ; and 

 your carpet looks equally well on both sides. 



Braided mats are very serviceable. If you have 

 any bits of "boughten" carpeting, they will make 

 pretty centres for these. Line them, or use them 

 double, because the braids surrounding them will 

 be so heavy that single carpeting would soon break 

 away from them. All sorts of rags can be used for 

 braided mats ; soft and thin woolen are the best. 

 Fold the material so as to hide all raw edges, and 

 make each strand of the same width and ful- 



