Vintage Rug Repair - Trying Something New

 Hello everybody!

I am a huge fan of thrift stores, antique stores, tag sales, and estate sales.  No matter where I go, I usually come across vintage rugs that usually have some kind of "issue".  I do have a couple that are pretty much pristine, but the rest have various wear places, tears, and worn edges, and they have all been hooked on burlap.  Burlap does not wear well, but the art that has been created by women and men many years ago, deserve a second chance (at least I think so)!  So after a lot of research online and in books, I've decided to take one of mine and try repairing her.  I am going to document the process, and hopefully you all will enjoy the journey!

So, here's our candidate.....isn't she a beauty?!  I would like to be able to use her on the floor in my kitchen after the repairs are done. 

Front

Back

From the back, it looks like there's been repairs done in the past, plus, either the original hooker, or the repair person (could be the same person), also put "patches" on each corner.  So, what these patches look like, are pieces of those denim patches moms used to buy to sew onto the knees of their kids' jeans.  Not sure if they still exist...lol

Here's one of the corner patches.  There's one on each corner, and I haven't decided if I'm going to snip a few of the stitches and take a peek underneath.  It doesn't seem to be holding anything down, it looks just like extra reinforcement for the corners.  Also, the edges look nice and strong.  She was bound with binding tape.

These two are views of past repairs to the rug

 

 

 

 

Here's another view of the past repair on the border. 

 I did have to take out some loops right up to the repair, and when I peeked underneath, it looks like the first row of loops are sewn onto the binding tape, so I'm just going to leave it as is.

 

Here's the damaged areas that I'm going to repair.  There are a few weak places that I'll look at after I do the initial repairs.  I may need to take out those loops, add reinforcement linen patches and rehook 

Front

Back

Small pull, but the backing is weak.

I've taken out the loops on the worst area, exposing as much healthy backing as possible.  At the original repair (where the binding tape is sewn), the backing is still shredded, but since the loops on the border seems to be holding, I'm going to sew the patch backing onto the binding tape.  

 

Here's my patch.  Also, the original wool seems to be in good shape, so I'll use as much as I can to rehook the area once the patch is sewn on.  If I need to, I'll try dyeing matching wool.  What I have noticed is that not all the loops are wool.  The outline of the red flower feels like a type of rayon, maybe from a dress.  I think this rug is an ode to "use what you've got", and it's really beautiful.

 

 

If you are interested in a good rug repair book, This is the one I'm using.  Judy Taylor from Little House Rugs  Lots of good advice and pictures.

 

Now I'm off to start the first repair.  Wish me luck!!