I thought you might enjoy these old photos of my maternal Grandmother, Marie Fuller. She made woven rugs on a large loom, using recycled fabric and clothes. This photo was probably taken on the farm near Enid, Oklahoma. This farm belonged to Marie and the family moved back to the farm in 1933 after it was no longer possible to pay the mortgage on the Dearborn, Michigan, house. The Depression had hit hard by this time, and the local banks had failed.
The loom was a 12 heddle loom.....you can see the balls of cloth near Marie's feet.
Marie with completed rugs. My sister Lynette has hired a geneological firm to help write a history of the Fuller family. This research has thrown up some intetesting discoveries.....and also disproved some family stories! Also, I now find that I could join the DAR if I wished to.... I am looking forward to seeing the finished book.
I have also received some painted hankies that Marie made in the late 1940s. Marie ran classes to teach others how to paint and stencil decorative designs with fabric paints and also add decorative edgings with the sewing machine. I will try to find out more about these and include them in a future post.
And here are some of Marie's woven rugs that I keep....over the back of a sofa, and not used on the floor, of course!
How nice that you still have those pictures of your grandmother!
ReplyDeleteThe rugs are wonderful. How lucky you are to have a pictorial record of your grandmother's work.
ReplyDeleteIt's a treasure to have these photographs of your grandmother and to have several of her rugs. It's interesting to see her loom outside. I wonder if they took it out to have more light for the photo.
ReplyDeleteYour post combined two of my loves -- family history and weaving. I don't weave much now but do spend time on family history.
Her rugs are handsome. It looks like she had good control of the warp, the weft, and colors. I remember ripping old clothing (rags, my mother called them), stitching the ends together, then rolling them into balls (like Marie's) to take them to the weaver to have rugs made. I learned to weave because of that experience.
The heddles in a loom are the parts that lift alternating threads (the warp threads) to allow the weft (the rags) to go back and forth to create the rug. I wonder if you meant your grandmother had a 12-dent reed (which is the part of the loom that the threads to through to keep them in line and also to beat the weft in place)?
Thanks for sharing these fine photos and the story about them.