pastimespei

This post contains  my answer to Rug Hooking Daily‘s three questions below:

Heidi’s Questions:

Hello pattern designers, we have a few questions for you….

What goes into the making of a hooked rug pattern? Often we look at a well executed design and it looks as though someone simply put whimsy and sharpie to canvas et voila a pattern!

Her comment: of course, I know that’s not the way it works. Some of the very best patterns seem as though they were so simple to put together. Making it look easy seems to be an art in itself.

Tell us about your design making process, the work that lies behind creating a good pattern that can be sold to be hooked. What is it like to work at this as a source of income and how important is copy-write for all of us who love the craft?

My answer: 

Funny you should ask……..I can comment on all of the above – by the time we get out patterns on ‘printed’ on the backing for sale in the shop, we have put a lot of work and thought into the design, the placement of the motifs and thought about how it can be hooked successfully by our customers. It is quite funny, actually, when we hear people comment on how easy they could do it themselves. In the shop, it is mostly new or non hookers who make the casual comment while the experienced hooker is gladly shelling out the money for the pattern. We see it all the time – people with the main subject hooked but stuck on what to do next. Often there is not enough room around the outside to make the main motif(s) fit into a pleasing place in the mat. We take into consideration all that stuff when we create a pattern: we plan the size and proportion of the mat, the placement of the main subjects and the amount of background or ‘space’ other than the motifs, the best type of border, and lots of other little details. After we hook one sample, we get it figured out and look at size, shape, placement before committing the marker to burlap/linen. You have just got me started: we love to design patterns!! by we I am talking about my sister and I – she actually draws the patterns on the pieces for sale – I am far too messy.

Now what was the other question? Source of income? You bet; our Prince Edward Island patterns are of local subjects and based on traditional Island and Maritime patterns. We specialize in geometrics – vintage hooked geometrics never cease to amaze us here at Pastimes PEI. Bring in your vintage geometric and try not to be surprised that we ignore you and gloat over an old, well-used hooked mat from the past.  And we think that patterns should be simple – simple subjects, limited colors; plain, in fact, is most charming and actually harder to create successfully than hooking in too many colors;  our patterns reflect that: simple yet charming with that ageless look. That’s our style and it works well for newer hookers. they will not get overwhelmed with too much clutter and color in a project. When we first started making patterns to ‘pay for our hooking habits’ we thought they were pretty plain… they still are; we have come to recognize it is our style, after the style of our ancestor-hookers.

copyright you SAY? Most of the time people respect our work; it is something we tell people: we made this and we are proud to sell it to you; you can not find it anywhere else; please respect that. I am not sure how anyone can ‘love’ a piece if they know it was taken from someone else’s collection. Assert yourself and tell others that copyright applies to rug designs as it does to other works created for art. It is pretty easy to copy stuff from the internet these days and I see more and more people talking about the infringement issue. It is like buying fake brand name clothes – you get what you pay for.   My conscience would bother me. I love to get the high- feeling of seeing/making my own work. I have lots of other comments, actually, butshould get into action and actually hook something today. Cheers from Shirlee for today. And please comment,,,,,

Tags: culture, farmhouse, PEI culture, PEI rug hooking history, rug hooking, rug hooking patterns, rug hookng kits, rughooking