Since the beginning of the early 20th century bed rugs have been interesting research objects, but only in passing researchers have paid attention to rugs woven with rags. Noone has taken a closer look upon the reasons why people have woven these rugs. What does the materials of the rag – like recycled garments and interior textiles in the form of clothing rags – have to tell about the times when these rugs were woven? Did the rag rugs have any specific function or were the materials available and therefore used? The main sources of information are 21 rag rugs from Roslagen in Uppland, with a varied amount of rags. They were woven during the latter half of 19th century, and estate inventories from Väddö- and Häverö Ship District have altogether given some answers to the primary question of this paper: in wich way can the examined bed rugs bear witness to the use and value of recycled textile materials and the view of these in the context of the community where they were manufactured and used? This research doesn´t give an answer to whether these rugs have any particular function or not. Instead these rag rugs can be looked upon as representing a general development of the society towards an increasing amount of textiles surplus material. This being due an increasing consumption of factory-made clothing and textiles, manufactured in factories, as well as the paper mills development from producing paper made of cellulose rather than textile waste. To this we can add a principle lingering on from the 19th century, of domestic production and a thrift of resources. This resulted in an obvious recycling of discarded textiles. The home weaving of interior textiles was still strong by the end of the 19th century, and in Rosagen there was also a long tradition of weaving and of using rugs in the beds. At the same time there was, in the coastal regions of Roslagen, a local need for warming covers in boats and boat houses. This demand was related to the shooting of seals and other hunting in the coastal areas, as well as in the fishing- and maritime trades.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-439775 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Hakanen, Eva |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Textilvetenskap |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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