SWEDISH RAG RUGS

– A History of Recycling Fabric from the 18th Century to Present-day

By The IK Foundation

January 20^th, 2024

Rag rugs became popular in Sweden from the 1860s to 1890s, and due to this fashion, more and more homes started to use textiles on the floor. Before this period, it was a tradition at Sundays and festivities to strew straw, chopped spruce twigs, or sand on the floorboards. The most important reason for not using rag rugs on the floor was that scraps of fabric of all kinds had a financial value because rags were an essential ingredient in the manufacture of good-quality paper in pre-industrial times, which continued until the last decades of the 19th century when wood fibre began increasingly to be used instead. This visual story will be introduced with a selection of earlier traditions of such floor coverings, followed by my weaving of rag rugs. In particular, highlighting the popularity of this handicraft via an in-depth research of estate inventories, preserved 19th- and 20th century Swedish rugs, dictionaries, artworks, photographs and a selected number of books on rugs made of rags.

RAG RUG WEAVING OVER 250 YEARS

Swedish-styled rag rugs were used for many decades or even longer in parallel as a warming fabric for the bed and as floor decorations, a history that can be traced via printed publications, randomly preserved manuscripts or actual rugs or works of art revealing such striped mats on wooden floorboards. Even if the tradition of decorating the floors with a variety of carpets was introduced in wealthier households – like most new fashions when the standard of living increased – and gradually came to influence all strata of society over the years. Floor coverings and, in particular, rag rugs, being the focus of this visual story, also seem to have existed side by side within the homes of the bourgeois, priests, farming communities, etc., during the period from circa 1860 to 1940. These rugs seem to have been the most popular. Here exemplified the well-to-do tailor master Carl Ekbom’s home in Uppsala in December 1899, where rag rugs were part of the interior. Just like (below) on the oil on canvas, painted by Carl Wilhelmson in 1898, as well as on the photograph of two young women by the open fireplace in the 1920s-1930s – the traditional striped handwoven rag rugs were placed side by side on the wooden floors.

The Dictionary of the Swedish Academy (Svenska Akademiens Ordbok) reveals some of the entangled histories of woven Swedish rag rugs and their usefulness for domestic economies. Translations of a few quotes for the word tras-[rag] – combined with ‘matta’[mat], ‘täcke’[cover], ‘väv’[fabric] and ‘vävnad’[woven fabric] give some interesting references. In general terms, ‘a mat woven of rag rugs’, whilst most notes in the dictionary are linked to when such fabrics were used as covers to keep warm in the bed during the 18th- up to the early 20th century. For instance: ‘rag cover, in particular about simple pile rag rugs’ (1768) or ‘quickly and in good taste made rag covers, which were woven for the use in chalets, so-called simple pile rag rugs’ (1934) or ‘rag fabric: where the weft consists of cut narrow strips, usually a discarded cloth’ (1916) or ‘covers woven of cut fabric strips for the weft, so-called rag woven fabric’ (1925).

The traces start somewhat earlier, however, via information included in the diaries and correspondence of several individuals during the first half of the 19th century. One such informative primary source is the so-called Årsta Diary (Årstadagboken), written by Märta Helena Reenstierna (1753-1841), who lived most of her life at Årsta manor house close to Stockholm and for over forty years she wrote a diary. She started the diary first at the age of 40 in 1793; in 1811, The first mention of rag rugs gives enlightening details of comfort during the dark evening as well as assiduity with textile handicraft from this period in time:

15 November 1811. ‘I read, wrote and stitched together pieces to a rug weave’.
18 November 1811. ‘During the evening, for the first time this winter, I lit a fire in the yellow room, and then I stitched my pieces for the rug weave’.
12 December 1811. ‘Finally, I had got so many fabric strips stitched together that it was enough for a small rug intended for the bedroom’.

(Reenstierna…1985. All quotes are in translation from Swedish).

Another researched primary source has been estate inventories, which gave clear indications that mats and carpets were not part of the textile furnishing in most homes until the late 19th century in the Swedish province of Blekinge during the period 1770 to 1870 (equally as in many other Swedish provinces). According to my in-depth studies, this custom even included the more well-situated burghers and bourgeois who lived in the cities. Such recordings listed floor decorations as surprisingly sporadic, with only forty mats/carpets/rugs in a total of eleven homes out of 1313 homes. Most of these appeared as late as the year 1870 and were located in the city of Karlskrona and the surrounding countryside. A few estate inventories will exemplify individuals who owned carpets.

Several carpets or mats or rugs in estate inventories.

Karlskrona | 18 March in 1790, Burgher Mr Carl Frieer Heyding – 2.
Karlskrona | 24 February in 1791, Ships broker Nils Spelin – 3.
Östra district | 5 July in 1870, Farmer Olof Bondesson – 12.
Östra district | 10 September in 1870, Master Petter Alfred Andersson – 10.
Bräkne district | 28 December in 1869, Merchant wife ulna Olasdotter – 8.

Judging by these written documents, it is still being determined if rugs woven on a linen or cotton warp with rags in the weft had been introduced at this time in the province, due to that detail of weaving techniques often were excluded. Rag rugs were one possibility for these registered carpets/mats/rugs; others could have been ribbed-woven qualities of flax, wool and straw, painted or printed patterns on canvas cloth or even imported knotted-piled carpets.

From Skåne, the most southerly province of Sweden, a late 19th century documentation via an interview with a woman in the countryside also emphasises that rugs first became common for everyday use when the living standard and number of rooms increased for a larger group in society. In translation from Swedish, it was noted: ‘In the cottages, where they had a chamber, the rugs were placed here, because one could hardly afford to put them in the parlour room when new since rugs so much quicker got dirty and worn here. There was always so much work going on, which had to be done in the parlour room, and furthermore, all [members of the family] had their place to eat and were walking forwards and backward in this room’. This oil on canvas by the artist Jakob Kulle, dating circa the 1870s, is an excellent example of how floors often lacked any rugs in the main rooms in the comfortable living farming community in southernmost Skåne.

The art of photography had its roots in the 1840s, but photographs depicting rag rugs can foremost be traced back to the period 1890s to 1930s. Even if these early photographs primarily were interior pictures, the invention of handheld cameras made it possible for ever more people to be able to afford to immortalise themselves and their families or folklore-cum-handicraft individuals documented local customs. Documentations of this kind, in farming communities or other non-elite homes, for this visual story with a focus on rag rugs, it was also vital to choose poses and expressions to show the subject’s most attractive sides and most desirable character traits in the best possible light. Together with backgrounds, accessories and, at a time, handicraft work – like knitting, spinning or embroidery – which could be used to draw attention to the family’s social status or station in society.

The four images below will illustrate further details about the use and traditions of rag rugs in Swedish homes from the period of the 1890s to the 1930s, which can be observed via artworks and close-up details of two weaving techniques. The following watercolour dates from 1889, when Carl Larsson (1853-1919) and his family moved into their house in Sundborn (Dalarna, Sweden) and up to when the book ‘From a Home’ was published in 1899, where this interior was named “Cosy Corner” was included. Notice the traditionally long and narrow Swedish rag rug – woven in stripes – folded to fit the room in a relaxed and comfortable style. Several of the famous artist’s interior paintings from this period depicted either one or two woven rag rugs similarly arranged on wooden floorboards.

However, Carl Larsson was one of many who preferred rag rugs on the floors and included these furnishing textiles in the artwork on several occasions. This contemporary painting by the artist Carl Wilhelmsson (1866-1928) is another such example, where three woven rag rugs are depicted, placed side by side on a portrait of the artist’s sister Anna in a cottage interior in 1899. Wilhelmsson was also likely to have been greatly influenced by Carl Larsson’s artistic style, whilst the more than ten-year junior man was one of his full-time art students at the Valand Academy in Göteborg around 1886-88.

REPRODUCTION OF RAG RUGS AND PRACTICAL USE

Over thirty years, I have gathered cotton fabrics from my family’s worn-out clothes and bedding. These rags have been sorted into suitable colour combinations, and approximately 1.5 kg of rags are needed for the weft of one square metre of ready-woven rugs. The coarse and robust cotton, a six-ply quality (12/6), has always been used for the warp. Rag rugs, tabby woven as in the image above or twill weaved as below, have been woven on a one-meter wide horizontal traditional Swedish handloom. Even if relatively uncomplicated to weave, the preparations to save up enough and suitable qualities of the fabric, as well as the cutting or tearing of the material into long narrow strips of rags – is altogether rather time-consuming. Each sort of cut/torn fabric strip is best fixed together with a few stitches into long, thin strips and rolled into a ball. During the weaving, each rag colour is best wrapped on specially adapted wooden shuttles, shuttled from side to side. In the selection of seven images below, you can follow the weaving process from shuttles and rags, cutting down the weave to making the fringes.

A handwoven Swedish rag rug washed outdoors and dried in the sunshine. This particular rug was woven in twill on a strong cotton warp, with discarded cotton sheets and old shirts used for the weft. One may even point at that emotional perspective to the previous garment of family members saved for many years when woven into these rugs! Width 75 cm and length circa 4.5 meters.

Weaving these types of colourful striped rag rugs – a popular handicraft for many years in Sweden – resulted in unique, functional textile furnishing lasting over decades. Several inspirational and instructive books on the topic have also been printed during the last 70 years. These three examples: ‘Trasmattor och andra mattor’ [Rag rugs and other rugs] in 1958, ‘Mönsterblad – Trasmattor: Kartong 15 [Pattern sheets – Rag rugs: Cartoon 15] in 1960 and ‘Den svenska trasmattan – en kulturhistoria’ [The Swedish rag rug – a cultural history] in 2005.

IDEA & TEXT BY

Viveka Hansen

CONTRIBUTORS

We are grateful for the digitisation of artworks and photographs by the Swedish museums – listed below in sources of illustrations.

SOURCES OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Pictures by The IK Foundation (unless stated otherwise, shown within brackets).

RAG RUG WEAVING OVER 250 YEARS

A handwoven Swedish rag rug washed outdoors and hung to dry in the summer of 2017.

Photograph, 1899. (Upplandsmuseet, OB3627. Henri Osti, Photograph Atelier. Public Domain).

‘Tired’, oil on canvas, 1898, by Carl Wilhelmson (1866-1920). (National Museum, 8768. Public Domain).

Two young women. (The Nordic Museum, NMA.0028332. Photo: Anna Larsson. Public Domain).

Ekenmarck…1828, part of Plate 1. | Book in private ownership.

Piece of a rag rug, the 1840s. (The Nordic Museum. NM.0134688. DigitaltMuseum).

Interior of a Farmer's Cottage, by Jakob Kulle (1838-1898). (National Museum, NM 5323. Public Domain).

Interior, with school children, 1913-20. (Hallands kulturhistoriska museum. GEB139. Photo: Gunnar Engström. Public Domain).

Family portrait, the 1910s, Tibro. (Västergötlands museum. 1M16-2018-6-28-A. Photo: Isidor Johnsson. Public Domain).

Interior, 1936, Virserum. (Kalmar länsmuseum. KLMF.Virserum00198. Unknown photographer. Public Domain).

An elderly couple, 1937, Bohuslän. (Bohusläns museum. UMFA53666:1831. Photo: Selma Sahlberg. Public Domain).

Interior 1902. (Bohusläns museum. UMFA53086:0006. Unknown photographer. Public Domain).

Watercolour 1889, by Carl Larsson (1853-1919). (National Museum. No. NMB 269. Public Domain).

Oil on canvas 1899, by Carl Wilhelmsson (1866-1928). (National Museum. No. NM 1718. Public Domain).

Closeup image of a rag rug. Private ownership.

A rag rug, woven in rose path technique. Private ownership.

REPRODUCTION OF RAG RUGS AND PRACTICAL USE

Nine pictures of Viveka Hansen’s handwoven Swedish rag rugs. Private ownership.

Books and leaflets about Swedish rag rugs. Private ownership.

Portrait of Pontus Larsson 1890, by Carl Larss,on (1853-1919). (National Museum. NM 2343. Part of painting. Public Domain).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

This visual story has been based on Viveka Hansen’s practical weaving experience of Swedish Rag Rugs for over thirty years. Together with her research project published in 1998 about textiles in the Blekinge province via estate inventories, a project which includes unpublished material of “mattor” [mats/rugs] – here presented for the first time.

Other sources:

Ankert, Kerstin & Frankow, Ingrid, Den svenska trasmattan – en kulturhistoria,Stockholm 2005. (Information about Adelaide Ohrling’s rag rugs. pp. 25-26).