Seeing the old year out with Memories – in a rug

“The Ties that Bind Us”

designed and hooked by Robin Inkpen, Donnybrook, Western Australia.

Christmas has come and gone, gifts have been opened and now the story and these images of a special rug (54cm x 87cm) created by Robin Inkpen can be shared.

In her own words – Robin says …….

There is a story behind this rug that I hooked as a present for my son-in-law Sandy.

His father had a large collection of neckties, collected during his life in business. Sadly, he died a few years ago.

My daughter gave me a bag full of these neckties saying

         “Mum you can probably use these in your rug hooking”.

                 I thanked her and put them away in my stash of fabrics and yarns.

Well, recently I pulled out the bag of ties and decided that I would hook a memory rug for Sandy for Christmas. 

It has been a very interesting project as the ties are made from so many different fabrics.  I unpicked each one, took out the lining and label and cut them into strips about 1/2 inch wide.

I drew a simple geometric pattern for the rug on a piece of hessian and started hooking.

 One tie to each triangle and any left-over hooked into the smaller triangles.

Some ties were fine patterned silk and some were woven wool. I had no idea how each one would hook.  Some had spots, some had stripes, some were patterned and some plain with a logo. It is difficult to determine which is which in the rug. I was initially amazed at how dark they were but then I thought “well, he probably always wore them with a white business shirt and dark suit”.

It has been a fascinating project both for me as the hooker and others who have seen me doing it.

Finally after I had whipped the edge, I attached all the small tie labels  over the whipping (well, not all. I hadn’t kept all of them)

 I gave it to Sandy for Christmas and he loves it!