Rug pattern (Hooked rug pattern)

Description

This hooked rug pattern, titled “Versailles,” was designed by Ellen Aylmer and manufactured by the Spinnerin Yarn Company, most likely in the 1960s or 1970s. The pattern, printed on a piece of undyed, plain-woven burlap, depicts a large central bouquet surrounded by a wreath of leaves with a single flower in each corner. Hooked rugs are created by pulling loops of yarn, often wool, through the weave of a backing cloth using a hooking tool. The loops are pulled taught on the back of the rug, and piled and then clipped on the front side to create a design. In the second half of the 19th century, companies like E. S. Frost & Co. began selling rug hooking patterns, which had outlines of pre-made designs printed directly onto the backing cloth. The bouquet at the center of this pattern is printed in color, which would provide rug makers with additional guidance on what color yarns they might wish to use. This object is one of a large group transferred to Winterthur from the American Textile History Museum when it closed in 2017.