Penny Rugs History

Here s a little history on the penny rug and it s evolution into an embellished art form.

Penny rugs history.

Penny rugs were strong enough to withstand being beaten with a rug beater to remove mud and dirt. The term penny rug came from the use of coins as templates for varying sizes of circles that were cut from the fulled or felted wool of hats and clothing. In the 1800s starting around the time of the civil war thrifty homemakers would use scraps of wool or felted wool from old clothing blankets and hats to create designs for mats or rugs using coins as templates they created circles and each piece was then stitched in blanket stitch fashion. The history of the penny rug article 1sawhorses i hope that my own recount of their history may help those curious to know more about penny rugs.

A penny rug is a decoration made of stitched together coin shaped fabric scraps. A history of penny and sewn rugs did the original makers of penny rugs collect wool from friends cast offs of family clothing perhaps from mail order samples from woolen mills or maybe scraps from seamstresses. My account of them is memories from my learning experiences and stories by my grandmother. Washing them was done infrequently by hand in a tub usually outside and then hung out to dry in the shade to prevent sun fading.

Traditionally during civil war time around the 1800 s thrifty homemakers i would actually call them textile artists cut up wool coats or pants that were no longer serviceable and they made them into rugs or mats. The history of the penny rug article 1 read more.