Bed rug
heavy embroidered bed cover
Bed rugs are heavy, embroidered bed covers made primarily in the United States from the mid-1600s through the early 1800s. The earliest were made in eastern Massachusetts, though many have been found in the Connecticut River Valley. They involve wool stitching on either wool or linen backings. They differ from other embroidered coverlets in that bed rugs embroidery covered the background fabric, and in many cases the looped stitches were cut to form pile.
Description
Bed rugs (or "ruggs") were rough handwoven and hand-decorated textiles meant to serve as the topmost layer of bedding, particularly in cold weather. Bed rugs are heavy, feature either pile or a smooth face, and are worked in multicolor wool yarns on a woven foundation. The tufting process is described in connection with the Rebekah Harris bed rug of 1776 on loan to Colonial Williamsburg:
"The tufted pile was created by using 7-10 strands of wool yarn, pulled through the background material with a large needle, in loose, 1/2"-5/8" running stitches. The stitches are long, loose floats on the surface and short (approximately 3/8") on the backside, which cover the entire background fabric."
Some examples have rounded corners for the bottom of the bed, and a straight edge for the top. They were often signed or initialed and dated, possibly due to the large amount of work required to make them.They were produced in the 17th through early 19th centuries. Bed rugs began as carpet-like textiles, and were more common in 18th century than floor rugs.
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