‘Ihe  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
725 
Braided  Rugs 
One  of  the  pleasantest  recollections  of 
my  childhood  is  the  memory  of  my  dear 
little  grandmother  sitting  in  her  immac¬ 
ulate  old-fashioned  kitchen  braiding  rag 
rugs.  I  can  see  her  now  in  her  soft, 
black  dress  and  white  apron,  with  her 
hair,  which  was  only  slightly  gray,  parted 
and  rolled  quaintly  over  her  ears.  She 
was  SO  years  old  then,  but  she  considered 
braiding  a  rug  for  each  of  her  daughters 
a  recreation.  I  spent  many  happy  hours 
curled  up  on  a  sofa  by  the  window  watch¬ 
ing  her,  but  I  cannot  remember  that  the 
room  ever  looked  disorderly.  But  in  later 
years,  when  I  tried  to  braid  rugs  myself, 
I  found  that  I  needed  plenty  of  space, 
and  that  it  was  better  to  sort  and  cut  the 
rags  on  the  back  porch  or  an  unused 
room.  •  .  , 
These  rugs  may  be  made  from  cotton 
or  woolen  cloth  that  is  not  too  worn.  If 
the  cloth  is  faded  or  not  the  desired  color 
it  may  be  dyed  with  any  of  the  standard 
dyes.  The  rags  are  cut  in  strips  from  1% 
to  3  in.  wide,  according  to  the  thickness 
of  the  material,  and  each  color  should  be 
kept  in  separate  balls  or  piles,  but  they 
cannot  be  sewed  together  like  carpet 
rags,  for  a  strand  more  than  a  yard  or 
two  long  becomes  tangled,  and  is  incon¬ 
venient  to  work  with.  When  the  rags  are 
cut  and  sorted  and  the  color  scheme  de¬ 
cided  on,  sew  three  strands  together, 
fasten  at  the  knee  with  a  safety  pin,  and 
start  braiding.  Fold  the  raw  edges  under 
carefully,  so  they  will  not  show  even  on 
the  wrong  side.  These  edges  may  be 
folded  in  and  pressed  with  a  hot  iron, 
but  that  is  not  necessary  when  one  be¬ 
comes  accustomed  to  the  work.  Braid 
tightly  so  that  the  finished  braid  is  hard 
and  compact.  To  join  the  rags  into 
strips,  lay,  turning  in  the  raw  edge  and 
sew  firmly.  After  braiding  a  few  yards 
sew  the  braids  together  in  circles,  using 
a  strong  linen  thread.  Grandmother 
always  waxed  it.  Sew  over  and  over  on 
the  under  side,  using  tiny  stitches,  so  the 
rug  will  be  reversible.  Always  hold  the 
outer  braid  a  little  full  so  that  the  rug 
will  lie  flat  on  the  floor  when  finished. 
Hound  rugs  make  up  faster  than  oval 
ones,  but  are  not  as  good  looking,  except 
for  bedrooms.  In  making  an  oval  rug 
14  in.  is  about  right  for  the_eenter  braid. 
A  woolen  rug  which  is  48x37  in.  required 
1!>  circles  of  braid  1  in.  wide.  A  longer 
rug,  which  is  50x33  in.,  required  20 
circles  !{.  in.  wide.  The  center  braid  is 
23  in.  long. 
The  color  scheme  is  perhaps  the  most 
important  point,  and  it  is  well  to  spend 
much  thought  upon  it,  deciding  just  where 
the  rug  is  to  be  placed  and  what  colors 
are  needed  to  make  a  harmonious  color 
scheme  in  that  particular  room.  Do  not 
use  too  many  colors  in  the  same  rug. 
Grandmother’s  rugs  were  usually  a  hit- 
and-miss  center,  each  braid  being  made 
up  of  two  light  and  one  dark  strand,  with 
a  darker  border  shading  to  black  on  the 
outer  edge.  This  idea  of  having  the  darker 
colors  on  the  outer  edge  should  always 
be  followed. 
Very  lovely  rugs  for  a  blue  and  white 
bedroom  may  be  made  with  a  light  blue 
and  white  center  from  the  children’s 
worn-out  gingham  rompers  and  play 
dresses,  four  or  five  circles  of  a  darker 
blue  from  mother’s  work  dresses  and  six 
or  seven  circles  from  daddy’s  dark  blue 
overalls.  Other  good  combinations  are 
pale  pink  and  blue  with  a  darker  blue 
border ;  yellow,  white  and  green ;  gray, 
blue  and  pink,  old  rose  and  blue  and 
black.  These  colors  are  good  in  the 
dining-room  and  sewing-room,  but  the 
darker  wool  materials  look  better  in  the 
living-room.  A  few  suggestions  for  these 
are  a  plain  tan  center,  then  green  and 
tan  and  orange  with  a  brown  border ;  a 
mixture  of  tans,  greens  and  browns  with 
a  green  border ;  and  black,  white  and  red 
with  black  border. 
If  it  is  necessary  to  buy  new  material, 
select  something  soft,  like  outing  flannel, 
for  it  is  much  easier  to  sew  than  firmer 
cloth,  like  muslin.  Often  one  can  obtain 
bargains  at  the  remnant  counters,  or  from 
the  mail-order  houses,  where  they  sell 
bundles  of  remnants  by  the  pound.  Of 
course,  if  one  were  going  to  make  these 
rugs  to  sell,  the  family  piece  bag  would 
soon  be  exhausted,  and  one  would  be 
compelled  to  buy  the  material,  and  would 
have  to  charge  higher  prices  for  the  fin¬ 
ished  product. 
These  rugs  are  like  old-fashioned  fur¬ 
niture;  almost  any  price  can  be. obtained 
for  them  if  one  can  find  the  right  cus¬ 
tomer.  It  all  depends  on  how  badly 
someone  wants  a  rug  of  that  particular 
coloring  for  some  particular  place.  It 
would  be  better  to  sell  directly  to  the 
customer,  for  department  stores  cannot 
give  what  they  are  worth.  I  should  think 
the  best  way  would  be  to  get  in  touch 
with  an  interior  decorator  who  made  a 
specialty  of  colonial  country  houses,  and 
they  all  do  nowadays,  and  secure  orders 
through  her.  Another  good  outlet  would 
be  through  the  better  class  antique  shops 
which  deal  with  an  exclusive  and  wealthy 
trade.  Then,  too,  they  might  be  sold 
through  the  woman’s  exchanges  in  near¬ 
by  cities. 
I  would  not  make  the  mistake  of 
charging  too  little  for  these  rugs,  for  they 
have  been  much  in  demand  for  several 
years,  and  it  takes  a  long  time  to  make 
them  ;  it  is  rather  hard  work.  However, 
it  is  very  fascinating  work,  and  it  is  al¬ 
ways  a  joy  to  any  woman  to  make  some¬ 
thing  out  of  nothing. 
A  FARM  WOMAN. 
Say  It  with  Linoleum 
The  most  alarming  symptom  of  Spring 
fever  in  a  housewife  is  geneially  an  acute 
desire  to  make  her  entire  house  over.  It, 
is  seldom,  of  course,  that  this  desire  can 
be  entirely  satisfied,  but  often  a  curtain 
here,  or  a  new  rug  there,  serves  to  tide 
her  over  the  crisis.  Bast  year  my  attack 
was  cured  vicariously  in  the  renovation 
of  an  old  farmhouse  across  the  road. 
The  way  my  new  little  neighbor  handled 
the  matter  of  floors  awoke  my  keen  ad¬ 
miration,  tinged,  just  ever  so  slightly, 
with  envy. 
She  came  over  one  morning  with  liter-  | 
ally  an  armful  of  samples  of  linoleum  for 
me  to  go  over  with  her.  There  was  plain 
linoleum  and  flowered  linoleum.  There, 
were  checks  and  spots.  I  almost  said  it 
was  “ring-straked,  spotted  and  speckled,” 
the  designs  were  so  varied.  There  was 
heavy  linoleum  and  light  linoleum.  There 
was  printed  linoleum  and  inlaid  linoleum. 
“I  can  get  this  plain  kind  in  any  of 
seven  grades,”  Beth  said.  "They  make 
it  to  fit  the  wear  and  tear  of  all  kinds  of 
places,” 
"What  you  you  doing  with  so  many?" 
I  questioned,  looking  at  the  pile  with  in¬ 
terest. 
"Well,  those  floors  are  old,  and  I  just 
guess  I'll  put  it  most  everywhere,  from 
the  front  hall  to  the  attic.  It  will  be 
better  than  soft  wood  floors,  and  easier 
to  take  care  of,  and  just  a  little  cheaper 
than  the  hard  wood.” 
“But  will  it  be  as  durable  as  hard 
wood?”  I  objected. 
"They  claim  it  will  outwear  a  hardwood 
floor  of  equal  thickness,”  my  little  neigh¬ 
bor  retorted  firmly.  And  "they”  silenced 
me  completely.  Who  am  I  to  question 
the  mysterious  and  autocratic  "them”? 
And  so  I  gave  it  up  and  helped  her  select 
suitable  designs  for  halls,  kitchen  and 
living-room. 
“Are  you  going  to  put  this  same  black 
and  white  in  the  separator  room?”  I  asked 
as  we  laid  aside  the  pattern  for  her 
kitchen. 
“No,”  she  answered  regretfully.  “That’s 
just  where  I  can’t  use  it.  Steamy  or  very 
hot,  damp  places  cannot  be  floored  with 
linoleum  satisfactorily,  they  tell  me.” 
When  the  linoleum  finally  came,  I 
watched  the  process  of  cutting  and  laying 
it  with  an  absorbed  interest.  First  it 
was  allowed  to  stand  in  a  warm  room  two 
days.  It  was  unwrapped,  but  not  un¬ 
rolled.  The  floors,  of  course,  had  been 
thoroughly  cleaned  and  were  absolutely 
dry  before  the  work  was  commenced. 
Beth  was  going  to  take  no  chances  of 
raising  a  fine  crop  of  mold  under  that 
new  linoleum. 
The  first  step  was  laying  the  builder’s 
felt.  A  soft,  even  layer  which  entirely 
covered  the  cracked,  uneven  surface  was 
glued  to  the  boards.  That  was  to  take 
up  the  contraction  and  expansion  of  wood 
floors  in  our  land  of  great  extremes  of 
heat  and  cold.  Then  the  linoleum  was 
laid  over  it.  Because  the  floors  were  not 
even,  the  linoleum  was  left  on  the  floor 
without  being  fastened  down  for  several 
weeks.  When  they  thought  it  had  shaped 
itself  somewhat  to  the  inequalities  of  the 
boards,  they  cemented  it  to  the  felt  lining. 
Each  seam  was  sealed  with  water-proof 
cement. 
When  they  came  to  the  kitchen  there 
was  some  hesitation  about  laying  the  felt. 
The  boards  were  so  uneven  that  it  did 
seem  as  though  the  covering  must  crack 
and  break  in  a  very  short  time.  Then 
an  old  copy  of  Vo  [mine  Mechanics  came 
to  the  rescue  with  the  story  of  an  office 
in  which  a  linoleum  floor  was  laid  over  ! 
a  thick  layer  of  sawdust  carefully  raked 
level. 
Now  Beth  is  a  firm  believer  in  tlx 
printed  word,  and  relies  upon  it.  pretty  [ 
firmly  in  everything  from  making  cake's  ; 
to  raising  chickens,  and  her  faith  did  not 
fail  here.  Shi'  promptly  sent  her  hus¬ 
band  off  to  a  neighboring  sawmill  for 
sawdust,  and  they  floored  their  kitchen 
in  the  same  way.  It,  seems  to  be  entirely 
satisfactory. 
When  tin'  linoleum  was  all  down  Beth 
gave  each  floor  a  good  coat  of  water¬ 
proof  varnish.  That  made  a  hard,  wrear 
resistant  surface.  There  will  be  neither 
cracking  nor  blistering  under  that  var¬ 
nish.  Then  she  added  wax  to  all  of  the 
rooms  except  the  kitchen.  Nowr  her  daily 
cleaning  is  a  light  sweeping  with  a  soft 
brush,  and  a  flourish  or  two  with  a  dry 
mop.  In  the  kitchen  a  cloth  and  some 
lukewarm  water  are  sufficient  to  wipe  up 
the  surface  dirt,  and  that  is  all  there  is. 
She  even  found  a  tiny  hint  buried  in 
the  discovery  columns  of  a  woman's  paper 
to  the  effect  that  a  cloth  dampened  in 
equal  parts  of  cold  milk  and  water  was  a 
splendid  thing  to  give  a  final  polish  t" 
the  kitchen  linoleum,  and  now  she  re¬ 
ligiously  adds  that  touch  with  her  Satur¬ 
day’s  cleaning. 
If  I  ever  build,  I  should  sit  at  my  little 
neighbor’s  feet  for  suggestions  for  my 
own  house.  It  seems  to  me  that  she  has 
cut  her  cleaning  quite  in  half  by  the  use 
of  these  floors.  She  has  no  scrubbing,  no 
heavy  sweeping  to  do.  Both  the  felt 
and  the  sawdust  give  a  resilience  to  the 
floors  that  is  a  great  help  to  the  house¬ 
wife  who  must  be  on  her  feet  a  large  part 
of  the  day.  There  is  a  quietness  about 
them,  too,  that  bare  wooden  floors  cer¬ 
tainly  lack.  In  the  Winter  time  the  air 
tight  linoleum,  protected  with  its  inner 
lining,  makes  the  floors  much  warmer, 
and  in  the  Summer  time  cooler  than  they 
would  otherwise  be. 
VERA  B.  MEACIIAM. 
'W 
Treasures 
You  Never  Can  Replace 
A  cherished  silver  heirloom — would  you  scour 
it  with  grit? 
Any  treasure  you  can  not  replace  deserves  care¬ 
ful  cleaning — and  the  precious  thin  enamel  of 
your  teeth  is  one  of  the  greatest  treasures  you 
have.  Once  scratched  or  worn  away  by  gritty 
dentifrices  even  Nature  can  never  replace  tooth 
enamel  or  restore  its  beauty. 
“Washing”  your  teeth  with  Colgate’s  after  each 
meal  and  just  before  bedtime  will  bring 
out  their  greatest  beauty. 
Colgate’s  is  the  common-sense  den- 
tifrice.  A  tube  for  each  of  the 
family  is  a  sound  invest¬ 
ment  in  sound  teeth. 
V  ?*.  .  • 
i 
CLEANS 
(  TEETH  THE  > 
RICHT  WAY 
...  :  -  < 
[  Washesand  Polishes  l 
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Doesn't  Scratch 
or  Scour 
If  your  wisdom  teeth 
could  talk  they’d  say 
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A 
