Hanging rugs with map pins

Sondra Ives just directed me to a video that Deanne Fitzpatrick posted on UTUBE about how she hangs her big rugs.  She uses map pins every 2 or 3 inches along the rug.  That is easy.  I think that this might be the solution to hanging my Palette Constellation Rug.  Well at least I am going to try it, and if it works great.  If it doesn't, I will have to think about another option.

Framing Idea

I am getting tired of hanging my rugs on the wall "as is".  Some of them I would like to treat more formally.  When I was in Michael's last week, there was a good sale on shadow boxes.  And I discovered that some of the shadow boxes they sell have hinged doors with magnets that keep them shut.  I thought wow, what a neat idea.  I can buy a shadow box to hang above my mantel, and I can pin a rug in there, and change it seasonally or as I hook them. 

So I bought one that will fit St. Nicholas and Matilda.  At the moment, Matilda the Witch is pinned in there, but I plan to hook others to change out, like the Green Woman, Red Jack, and Jack Frost.  I figure I will keep their sizes around 10 by 15" and they will fit perfectly in the box any time I want to change them out.

Got Wool? is bound on foam board

Here I am last night putting the finishing touches on Got Wool? It took three evenings to bind, and last night I took three pieces of foam board, taped them together and mounted the rug on them by sewing through the rug and the foam board. I carefully sewed the rug onto the board around the perimeter of the rug by threading in and out following the troughs between the loops. This way, the threads aren't exposed and don't crinkle the loops. This is a great way to create a stiff and light-weight foundation for rugs that you might want to hang. The process only requires inexpensive foam board, needle and thread, and a few chairs to prop things up.

PS: no need to buy an expensive foam board cut to size by a framing department; I just used the cheap 20 by 30 inch foam boards that Michael's sells for a few dollars apiece, cut them to size with scissors and taped them together with clear packing tape.

Loopgram: Rug hangers

Wanda Kerr posted a question today from Kathy about how we hang our rugs. Her question is a good one and I want to mention it here on my blog so that I remember this for the future, the next time I want to hang a rug in my house.

When I was over at Sylvia Hale's home for a rug hooking meeting the week before last, she had one of her rugs hung neatly by a wooden bar. I had never seen this before, but it worked beautifully. The concept is two wooden bars cut the length of the rug, one bar routed out. The end of the rug fits into this groove and the top bar is screwed into place over it to hold the rug edge tightly. This distributes the weight of the rug and means that you don't have to sew anything special on the back of the rug.

I found this rug hanger website by Quality Wood by googling rug hangers. The picture of this hanger is from the Quality Wood vendor.

I haven't ordered from this vendor (yet) so I can't speak to the quality, but I'm sure there are other on-line vendors who sell a similar product. Let me know if any of you have experience with purchasing this type of product and using it. Just put your review in the comments here.

UPDATE: Going Gray has beautiful rug hangers that look very similar.