The editor will gladly answer queries pertaining to individual problems of interior decoration and furnishing. When an immediate reply is desired, 
please enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope. 
. 
88 
Inside the House 
I ; 
Timely Suggestions and 
Answers to Correspondents 
The Old-Fashioned Hooked Rug 
T HERE is no homemade rug more 
durable, more useful or prettier 
than the hooked rug of our grandmothers' 
days, if made along modern lines. 
The best materials for these rugs are 
flannels, cashmeres, worsteds and other 
wool dress goods, gathered from discarded 
gowns, though men’s lightweight suitings 
may be used if cut narrow. 
For one rug select, if possible, the goods 
all of one weight, but if you must use two 
put the heavier in the border. 
For the foundation of these rugs use 
twelve or fourteen-ounce burlap, which 
must be cut three inches wider each way 
than you wish the finished article. If the 
burlap must be joined, oversew the sel¬ 
vages with strong, double thread, leaving 
the stitches loose enough so that the seam 
may be pressed out perfectly flat. 
Stretch this foundation securely on 
quilting frames and outline the size of your 
rug an inch and a half from each edge. 
This is for hem, when your .rug is com¬ 
pleted. 
Now, stamp on your pattern. Avoid or¬ 
nate designs. Conventional geometrical 
designs are much more satisfactory. Those 
used in stenciling are usually good and 
may be stenciled directly on to the burlap. 
Nothing is prettier for the body of the 
rug than shades of one color applied hit 
or miss. These shades are easily obtained 
by taking all the material prepared and 
dipping it in the required color. The orig¬ 
inal color will influence the shade, but they 
will all harmonize. 
Outline your pattern in the border with 
black or a dark shade of the color that is 
to be used for the figure. Three rows of 
the same round the outside and two next 
the body are effective. 
Cut your rags about three-fourths of an 
inch wide, fold half over and roll, but do 
not sew. It is much easier to handle short 
pieces while hooking. 
As regards the actual work of making 
the rug, first procure a well pointed, heavy 
crochet needle large enough to hold the 
rag while you draw it through the burlap. 
Hold the rag with the left hand on the un¬ 
der side of the burlap and with the right- 
hand thrust the hook through the burlap 
and draw the rag through, making a loop 
a half-inch long, then again and again, 
straight across the rug as you see the pile 
in a Brussels carpet. The closer you can 
place the loops the more beautiful the rug. 
Every two threads is about right. You 
may put in pattern or filling first, but have 
the loops in both run the same way. 
As you work roll the rug as you would a 
quilt; when the rags are all in, the rug 
may be sheared or not, as you please, but 
make your loops a little longer for shearing. 
When the hooking part of the work is fin¬ 
ished. remove the rug from the frame and 
hem it. Then replace it and size it, using 
paperhangers’ sizing just strong enough to 
feel sticky between thumb and finger. Ap¬ 
ply with a paint brush to the wrong side 
and leave in the frame to dry. Do not let 
your glue be too strong or the rug will 
slip on the floor. 
This work is not fatiguing nor difficult, 
and the designing of special patterns and 
color schemes for particular rooms is in¬ 
teresting. 
A lamp shade and screen of glass and metal 
giving an attractive silhouette effect 
A Hanging Lamp Screen 
A LAMP screen is often very useful to 
intercept and soften the direct rays of 
a lamp, when it is so placed that the lamp¬ 
shade does not deflect the rays downward 
at the proper angle. 
They are made of various fabrics and 
materials, but the one shown in the illus¬ 
tration is composed of metal and glass, as 
it was designed to be hung on a strong 
substantial lampshade. A cut-out screen 
of repousse metal is silhouetted against a 
background of glass. The glass plays an 
important role, as it is poured especially for 
this purpose and selected, so that when the 
lamp is lighted, the little hanging screen 
shows a glowing sunset scene, a night ef¬ 
fect, or perhaps the pearly mists of early 
dawn. In this way a number of beautiful 
and interesting effects are obtained. The 
lampshade of the electric lamp is con¬ 
structed in the same manner and is al¬ 
most equally effective. 
A Good Shower Room for Bathers 
’C'OR those living by the seaside in the 
summers there is a new arrangement 
for the convenience of bathers which 
avoids the necessity of dragging wet bath¬ 
ing suits up stairs and into the rooms, a 
procedure which is always inconvenient at 
the best. 
This arrangement is simply an outdoor 
room where the wet bathing suits may be 
changed and the shower taken. It may be 
simply constructed and is not necessarily 
expensive. 
On the back porch of the house is built 
a small room with a sliding door opening 
from the porch and another opening into 
the house. This room is divided into two 
parts by a rubber curtain. On one side is 
the shower bath and the other contains 
hooks on which may be hung bathrobes, 
the curtain protecting the latter from wet¬ 
ting. 
Tn the shower part of the little room is 
a chute down which the wet bathing suits 
are dropped into a tub in the cellar. The 
shower is taken and the bathrobes donned, 
and the bather may go into the house with¬ 
out dripping water from the wet suit. 
