*1929, 1932 : Ann Macbeth, Country Woman, The Dryad Press (Leicester) 1932, 2nd ed.

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A lecturer, a suffragette, an intellectual, Ann Macbeth is one of the most prolific crafts writer with several embroidery academic manuals to her name.

 

The Country Woman's Rug Book  is available online free of charge via the Internet Archive ( courtesy of Cornwall Library). 

This book is an academic authority treaty as without any sombre of a doubt , the stitches laid in this book not only are very rare but have a particular intricacy and rule of execution and materials of its own , what is very important when assessing the value and quality of handmade rugs for own family or home consumption. 

In 2019 posts you will have seen one my Patons Chinese rugs featuring the needle tuft stitch, which often I even do with a hook rug needle, though the appropriate is definitely a needlepoint needle. Please refer to picture below and to 2019 posts of my Chinese Patons rug back. Make sure that the back of the rug is uniformed and neat as the 2019 pictures published in this blog.

Other stitches used for rugs are canvas stitches like the cross stitch and the Gobelin stitch (which you should use a crochet , pencil or strips of fabric over the canvas as indicated on second illustration of picture below. Please don't confuse the sloping Gobelin stitch below with locker rugs stitch as the canvas are different and so is the purpose of the slopping Gobelin stitch , which I use it merely to border the rug. If you are executing a cross stitch rug on aida or any other canvas make sure to note the vertical and horizontal lines of the fabric as they each only show prominence on front and back of the fabric. Ariane

The book features many more relevant stitches and stunning useful projects like handbags and purses.

The introduction written by the writer Ann Macbeth for the 2nd edition of her book published in 1932, (which I own but is also available online in link mentioned above) excluded many groups of British society at the time. You will notice that the book does not feature nor  mention  Travelers , Gypsies and Native Americans long history of rug production. However, on page 54 the author presents the history of the Oriental Pile rug which she attributes its origin to " the Persian, Turkish and Indian workers".

Hope this books proves useful to you and if you have difficulties being redirected to the Public Library hyperlink on top of this blog article you can access it directly via https://archive.org/details/countrywomansrug00macb/page/30/mode/2up

Best wishes,

Ariane