Rhonda Marker, age 12, of Gadsden, Ala., for her question:
WHEN DID WE START MAKING RUGS?
Prehistoric humans used animal skins on the floors of their caves and huts for much the same reason we use rugs today: for warmth, comfort and quiet. When we learned to weave, a rug was probably one of the first items made.
Museums have fragments of rugs that were made about 3,500 years ago. No one knows exactly when rug weaving started, but it was probably somewhere in Asia during ancient times.
Ancient Egyptian temples were decorated with rugs but these were flat textiles, without piles. The art of oriental rug making, with deep piles, developed in the Near East.
The Moors brought the art of rug weaving to Europe when they conquered Spain in the 700s. Tapestry weaving started a bit later, in the southern part of France.
By the 1450s, a carpet makers' guild had been organized in Paris.
Weaving got its first real start in England in the 1300s when Edward III invited Flemish weavers to his country. They made expensive tapestries that were used as wall hangings. The people during this time covered their floors with rushes.
Then during the late 1400s heavier tapestries designed for the floor were made, and the art of rug making was launched.
In North America, early settlers made their own rugs from rags. Some of the colonists also imported woven rugs from England.
Trading ships brought rugs from the orient about this time. And it wasn't long until the American Indians learned to make beautiful rugs.
About 1800, a weaver from Lyon, France, named Joseph Jacquard, invented the loom that bears his name. This loom arranged the different colors of yarn to go into a pattern through a device that looked a lot like the roll for a player piano.
In 1839, a power loom for making carpets was invented by Americans in Lowell, Mass. Then two years later other Americans perfected the loom, making it ideal for commercial purposes.
Today, natural and synthetic fibers are used to make rugs and carpets. The natural fibers are wool and cotton. Synthetic fibers include nylon.
The term "rug" and "carpet" are often used interchangeably. But generally a rug covers only part of a floor and is not fastened down. A carpet covers the entire floor.
Carpets today are made in various widths, such as 9, 12 or 15 feet. Rugs may be made in prefinished standard sizes, such as 9 by 12 or cut from rolls of carpet.
Broadloom refers to carpets made on looms or machines more than 6 feet wide. It is simply a term of measurement and does not refer to quality, style or method of construction.
There are six distinct groups of Oriental rugs: Persian, Turkish, Turkmen, Caucasian, Chinese and India rugs.