Rug of the Month: September 2023

For September’s rug of the month, we’re featuring Ania’s “Antique 1940″ rug. The pattern is by Melissa Pattacini, and it measures 18″ by 18”. Ania hooked it in #5 strips of wool. This project is a fun one, because as you can see from the images below, Ania turned the finished rug into a bag.

Read on below to find out more about how this project came together.

What was the inspiration for this project? When did you decide to turn it into a bag?

The inspiration for this project was sourced by looking through my UFOs (unfinished objects). I had a number of unfinished rugs and I wanted to start tackling them. I started hooking this particular pattern in 2017 at Northern McGown Teachers Workshop, in a class by Ellen Dolmetsch.

This unfinished project caught my eye again because I really liked the blue and yellow color scheme. I thought it was the perfect color scheme to use with my handmade metallic wool, to give it a little bit of bling. Ironically, I’ve been making the metallic wool for years, but this is the first time I used some of it in my own project.

The inspiration to turn this into a bag came from Ellen – she had converted her piece into a tote bag. I thought it was a great idea to have a bag featuring a hooked piece I had made.

How did you create the bag?

I used instructions from Cindy Irwin found in a book titled Hooked Carpetbags, Handbags, and Totes, presented by Rug Hooking Magazine, and published by Ampry Publishing.

How did you approach color planning for this project?

Ellen made the decision to offer blue and yellow 8 value swatches of wool for her students when teaching this rug. So, I got the wool from Ellen, and it was a pretty straightforward choice. When I decided to pick up this project again, I also selected one blue and one gold metallic wool from my own collection as accents. I used the metallic wool in the center motif, to bring attention to it.

Is there anything else of note that you’d like to mention about this project?

I like that the bag has brass feet to elevate it and help protect the bottom when you use it. If you’re planning on making your own bag, I would very highly recommend adding feet to the bottom.

The rug is big, which means the bag is big too. I really like using it to carry a hooking frame, for example.

At the end of the day, I have a finished UFO, which I’ve made into my first ever tote, which I now can use on all my rug hooking adventures. That’s a great success, in my book!

If you have any questions for Ania, feel free to leave them below!