Weaving Shaker Rugs: Traditional Techniques to Create Beautiful Reproduction Rugs and Tapes

Learn how to make colorful, gorgeously patterned rugs using the 200-year-old techniques of the Shakers. The author researched and analyzed textiles at five historic Shaker village sites before developing a method to create new versions of these classics. You’ll learn how ten original rugs were woven and then get detailed instructions on how to make ten reproduction rugs, with full explanations of the dyeing, the warp material, the weft materials, and how to weave, as well as instructions for weaving Shaker tapes. Learn about the history of the Shakers in America and the impact of their craftsmanship on our arts tradition. Like all items used in daily Shaker life, these rugs have three outstanding characteristics: they are unusual in their design, they are perfect for the purpose they are meant to serve, and they are beautiful in quality.

Mary Elva Congleton Erf is widely recognized as an authority on Shaker textiles. Her reproduction textiles are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art as well as the Shaker villages at Pleasant Hill, Kentucky; Canterbury, New Hampshire; and Hancock, Massachusetts.