Filled with hundreds of gorgeous examples, this book is a comprehensive study of European and American carpets and rugs from the Middle Ages to the present day. The rich and inventive tradition of European and American carpets continues to inspire artists, designers, and decorators, while collectors and historians increasingly value carpets as important works of art. In this comprehensive volume, Sarah Sherrill examines Western carpet design and production from the Middle Ages to the present, in styles that range from magnificent palatial creations to delightful folk designs. With hundreds of dazzling illustrations, Sherrill's authoritative text includes chapters on Moorish weavers and the golden age of carpets in Spain; the exquisite carpets of the Savonnerie, Aubusson, and Beauvais in France; productions from Moorfields, Exeter, and Axminster in England; the intriguing but little-studied rugs of Eastern European countries; the charming and resourceful rugs of America; and an important chapter on modern designs that offers an extensive survey of rugs created by leading artists and architects of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Sherrill's stimulating text, based on years of research, brims with interesting new findings, not only on the history and design of these works, but also technological developments that had an often unrecognized effect on rug design and production. Supplementing the hundreds of reproductions of carpets are many views of the lavish rooms for which they were designed, as well as brilliant watercolor carpet designs, technical drawings clarifying weave and knot structures, and maps, making this an indispensable resource for historians, collectors, and anyone interested in beautiful furnishings and textiles. Sarah B. Sherrill, an authority on Western and Eastern carpets and rugs, has published many articles on the subject over the last two decades. She is on the faculty of The Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts in New York and has taught in the graduate program in the history of decorative arts at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum/Parsons School of Design in New York. She is editor in chief of The Bard Graduate Center's journal Studies in the Decorative Arts and was an editor for over twenty years at the magazine Antiques. 400 illustrations

The classic guide to an enduring American craft gets an eye-catching revision. Fantastic to look at and easy to follow, this expanded version of The Braided Rug Book will win a new audience and also appeal to those who own the previous edition. It features thoroughly updated information, brand-new gallery images, two additional rug techniques to try, and a comprehensive primer on planning a project. Beginners will learn about wools and other materials, how to care for finished rugs, and how to recognize a quality rug. Plus, there are several new color plans and entirely new directions and illustrations for building a rug-braiding stand, complete with a finished photo.

Demystifying a confusing and intimidating subject, Oriental Rugs Today is the first book devoted exclusively to new pieces. It discusses issues of dye and finish, looks country by country at examples from every major contemporary source, and profiles the artisans who revived the use of handspun wool and natural dyes. Written for both aficionado and novice, this edition includes 20 percent more material and new information on Nepalese and Iranian rugs, making this must-have guide to the subject. 100color photos are included.

Essays and information on the countyr of kazakhstan heavily illustrated with photos.

Learn everything you need to know to successfully complete 18 authentic folk art projects. Woolley Fox American Folk Art Rug Hooking is filled with inspiration, how-to basics, and projects with patterns. Understand the essentials from the detailed instructions and photography for working with wool, dyeing, cutting, hooking, finishing, and more. Finally, try your hand at 18 step-by-step rug hooking projects, each one inspired by leading American folk artists!

Beginning in 1928, the Grenfell Mission sent out a call to socialites: "When your stockings run, let them run to Labrador!" The creative recycling of tattered stockings, dyed in soft hues, is just one of many innovations that made Grenfell hooked mats highly collectible folk art. In Silk Stocking Mats, Paula Laverty chronicles the development of a local craft into an art form. For generations Newfoundland women had augmented their family's unreliable fishing income with a "matting season" in February and March. Through the Grenfell Mission's Industrial Department, set up in 1909 to help develop cottage industries, the mat industry became an increasingly important source of income reaching peak production in the late 1920s and early 1930s when the women's mats became renowned for their strong design, meticulous craftsmanship, and distinctive northern images chronicling life in the north. Reindeer, sled dog teams, polar bears, schooners, outports, and florals are but a few of the mat designs.Silk Stocking Mats is the result of over seventeen years of exhaustive research and draws on personal interviews with older women who recall their hooking days, the study of hundreds of archival documents, and careful examination of countless Grenfell hooked mats. Laverty's book is beautifully illustrated with photographs and descriptions including rare and unusual as well as common mat designs.

This comprehensive "natural history" of a traditional art form honors more than a hundred contemporary Finnish American rag rug weavers and loom builders, whom the author has met and interviewed during more than two decades of research, mostly in Michigan's western Upper Peninsula. As in the classic Finnish American rag rug, Lockwood weaves a colorful yet subdued, artfully lasting, and deeply symbolic tribute that reclaims remnants of past Michigan Traditional Arts Program productions in a fresh composition that will appeal to rag rug artisans, Finns and Finnish Americans, scholars, and a broad public alike. Janet C. Gilmore, Independent Folklorist & Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison --

Syndicated columnist and renowned craft authority Leslie Linsley presents a beautiful and practical book on the art and technique of rug-hooking--a folk art that is currently enjoying a resurgence in popularity. Over 150 full-color illustrations. Advertising in Martha Stewart Living.

Geraldine, a goat, describes each step as she and her Navajo friend make a rug, from the hair clipping and carding to the dyeing and actual weaving.