A Brief History of Rug Making (latch hooking)

The craft of latch hooking or as it was first known rug hooking is ages old and started in the United States in the mid 1800’s although remnants of hooked work can be braced back to the Viking and Egyptian civilizations.

Like many crafts it was started out of sheer necessity and when the colonists reach North America they brought with them many skills including the making of hooked covers for their beds and rugs for their floors. The first rugs were made out of any scrap material that could be found, including worn clothing and old discarded wool blankets. The base of the rug was made from the burlap sacks that the livestock feed came in.

Later, people began selling hand-hooked rugs, and cottage industries eventually sprang up across the continent. By the 1940’s, rug hooking had become a well-established hobby in the United States and Canada. Hand-hooked rugs can be found in art galleries and museums in throughout the world.

Latch hooking is what most people think of when someone mentions rug hooking, but it is very different than the other methods of making rugs. Latch Hooking is a newer style of rug making than traditionally hooked rugs. It uses pre-cut yarn strips, one strip per knot, and forms an open, knotted pile on the surface of the rug. The backing material weave is typically larger than that of Traditional or Punch hooked backing material.

Below is a video I found on You Tube with a Latch Hook Tutorial