My photo
I live in the beautiful state of Wisconsin. I'm a wife and stay at home mom of 3 sons. I love to paint, sew, knit, stitch and create. I enjoy selling my creations at local fairs, ebay and here on my blog. When I not crafting I love to decorate my home. I'm always moving furniture, painting or switching things around. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day~*~Leanne~*~

Monday, January 2, 2012

What Are Penny Rugs?

Happy New Year!!!!!
I hope you all had a nice holiday. 
Mine was fun but very busy.
I took our Christmas tree down yesterday...what a job. 
I've been collecting ornaments for atleast 26 years...too many to count.
Tomorrow down come the Santas...I'll keep the snowmen up for another month.

I thought I would start out the new year with an old post.
I have been asked many, many times....

What are Penny Rugs?
Many of you have been asking me about penny rugs and wondering what they are.
Well I will give you a little history lesson.
Penny rugs were popular in the mid 19th century.
They were made from men's wool suits that were no longer in use or left over pieces of wool fabric.
The wool was then felted.
Felting is the process of washing and working the wool to shrink it.

The women would use coins as their pattern to cut out circles.
This is where the name "penny rug" came from.

Penny rugs were not used on the floor.
The women would use these penny rugs on the tops of fabric covered chairs to protect them from the oil men used in their hair.
They also used them as decorative table covering or wall hangings.

Today we use penny rugs as decoration.
You can use them under candles, over baskets, stitched to a pillow, as a picture or wall hanging, as a hot pad or anything else you can think of.


My penny rugs are all hand stitched by me. I enjoy making these little treasures. I love mixing wools and making different color combinations no two are ever the same.


I sell them at local craft fairs under the name
Harvest Moon.
I also sell them on ebay under the name
Harvest Moon by the Lake.
Click here to see what I have to offer on ebay.
If you would like to purchase one of these just email me.

Have a Happy Week,
~*~Leanne~*~

2 comments:

Jaja said...

Love your work!

The Sunflower Patch said...

How interesting, thank you for the history lesson.
I learned something new today:)