|
From ShakerWoods.com Archived Articles
“They discovered our website – underfootweavers.com - and they asked us to make a room-size rag rug for one of their offices,” Marjory recalls. “We ask for a six week lead for custom rugs but they wanted the rug in three weeks.” She and her weaving partner, Judy McCardel, met the deadline and much to their amazement, additional orders poured in from the corporation’s offices in many cities. They began to run out of the designated materials and when they let the company know they’d need time to find more fabric, the company express delivered 16 boxes of fabric to Judy’s home. “And the orders keep coming,” Marjory says. “You might say this company put a floor under our crafting business when we thought it might be time to retire.” She laughs as she describes the unusual experience they are having. But they’re not giving up the craft shows where they love to meet people and talk about the process of rag rug making. When they describe their rag rugs as “authentic,” it means they weave on antique looms and they use cotton and wool fabrics gleaned from cast-off garments. They wash the used clothing, cut it into one or two inch strips and sew the strips together to form a long length of fabric they roll into a ball. They sort the rag balls into a pleasing color assortment and when they’ve stockpiled enough of these balls of strips, they begin to weave. What size rugs will you bring to Christmas in the Woods?
Marjory and Judy make every size of rug from the small rug to place in front of your sink to a room size rug. They make the room size rugs in panels that they lace together. Current decorating trends call for these rag rugs to complete the country look. Wool and denim are a favored choice for the full size rugs. “These room size rugs are too heavy to bring to the Woods but you can custom order them. Years ago, when Marjory and Judy lived in the same town and volunteered their time as Girl Scout leaders for the same troop, they found they had many interests in common. At the time they started to weave together, they had a combined total of 15 children “underfoot” and that inspired their name. Now they have retired husbands underfoot who sometimes help them cut up fabric for their rugs and work at their shows. “Our friendship continued long after Judy moved to Danville, Ohio, about 45-minutes from my home in Massillon,” Marjory says. How did you become interested in rug weaving? “My parents were long-time members of the Carroll County Historical Society that owns the Algonquin Mill, a farm house and some log cabins. My parents volunteered there every week and when it became hard for them to drive, I began to do the driving. There are people at the historical society who are eager to teach the old crafts to keep the craft alive. I learned weaving. Through the society, I found an old Union 36 floor loom and set it up in my basement.”
“She wove on a fly shuttle loom when my dad was a boy. My dad remembered packing the strips into a canister and she’d pass the canister back and forth to weave a rug. I think she’d find it strange to think that her great granddaughter is weaving rugs so many years after she’s gone.” Marjory and Judy weave some projects separately and they collaborate on others. They are very efficient in the way they work so that they can price their work at reasonable prices. “We charge by the square foot off the shelf because every rug is different. At $5 a square foot, you’ll buy a very sturdy rug - a piece of history - for a modest price. Custom rugs are a bit more expensive because it’s less efficient to work on individual rugs.” Visit Marjory and Judy's website www.underfootweavers.com © Copyright ShakerWoods.com |
