Page 106 - CA 2019 Final(3)

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Arlene Wren’s braided rugs in
traditional colors often incor-
porate denim. Photo by Arlene
Benham

True to the tradition of using
everything well, after Arlene
uses jean legs in her rugs, she
makes quilts out of the tops
with pockets. Photo by Arlene
Benham

Rug-making is her winter project. It takes a lot of time: 40 hours for a 2 by
3-foot rug. She begins by planning a shape, size, and color scheme. Rugs may
be round, oval, flower-shaped, square, or rectangular – the latter takes the longest.
Traditional colors are blacks and grays; in times past, bright colors were sparse
because people wouldn’t waste anything and the rugs were made out of old work
clothes. They wouldn’t buy new fabric. Now rug-makers have the luxury of buy-
ing the colors they like, though Arlene uses blue jeans a lot.

She cuts the fabric into strips, then folds them twice with the seam facing in,
and stitches them together to make rolls. “That’s the tedious part,” she said.
The strips range from 1 to 3 inches wide; thinner ones allow more detail,
while bigger ones make a thicker rug.
The starting piece of the rug is called a “sore thumb.” The fabric strips are
braided around it in the desired shape and laced together. Arlene notes that
commercially made rugs have zigzag stitches which wear out; lacing lasts longer
and allows the rug to move. She still works with her grandmother’s clamp. Other
mechanical clamps are available, but she tells beginners to use clothes pins, add-
ing that her husband can tell when she’s “really going,he can hear the click-clack
of clothes pins.” She even has a travel clamp that she can sit on in the car.

The rug is finished on a curve, tapering over a foot of
braid into a hand-stitched “rat tail” which is woven in. “It’s
a lot of history,” she said of the tradition. “Somebody worked
all winter to make that rug.” They’re long-lasting, too. “These
are heirlooms,” Arlene said. “You’re going to pass them down
through the family. People want something special that no-
body else has.”

Sometimes rugs do wear or get damaged, and another of
Arlene’s talents is restoration, often saving those family heir-
looms. She can re-lace them or darn around the outside. The
folded fabric strips are four-ply, so even if the top wears, the
same fabric is underneath and she can stitch the edges together
or fill the holes with matching fabric. Another repair involved
replacing the braid around the outside of a hooked rug. “I
think I love doing that,” she said – of figuring out how to save
family treasures. “I can fix it so your eye will not be drawn
to the damage.”
Arlene Wren demonstrates how two rows of a braided rug are laced together. continued on the next page
Photo by Arlene Benham
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