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.

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.