ement of colour.

It is necessary in this style of weaving that the filling should be a
hand-twisted thread of the same weight and size as the warp, and of a
lighter or darker shade of the same colour. If the warp is dark, the
filling may be light, or the reverse. It should be warped at the rate
of about twenty-four threads to the inch.

In this kind of weaving the colours must be plain--that is,
unclouded--as the variation is obtained by the different shades of
warp and filling. Still another variation is made by using a closer
warp of thirty threads to the inch and a large soft vari-colour
filling which will show between the warp threads with a peculiar
watered or vibratory effect. A light red warp, with a very loosely
twisted filling of black and white, or a medium blue warp with a black
and orange filling, will give extremely good results.

[Illustration: GREEK BORDER IN RED OR BLACK]

[Illustration: BRAIDED FRINGE]

[Illustration: DIAMOND BORDER IN RED OR BLACK]

What I have said thus far as to the weaving of woolen and cotton rugs,
and of cotton carpets, gives practical directions for artistic results
to women who understand the use of the loom in very simple weaving. Of
course, more difficult things can be done even with ordinary looms, as
any one who has examined the elaborate blue-and-white spreads our
grandmothers wove upon the cumbrous house-loom of that period can
testify. In fact, the degree of skill required in the weaving of these
precious heirlooms would be quite sufficient for the production of
rugs adapted to very exacting purchasers.

Perhaps it is as well to add that the directions given in this and the
preceding chapter for rug weaving are designed not only or exclusively
for weavers, but also for club women who are so situated as to have
access to and influence in farming or weaving neighbourhoods.

Home manufactures, guided by women of culture and means, would have
the advantage not only of refinement of taste, but of a certainty of
aim. Women know what women like, and as they are the final purchasers
of all household furnishings, they are not apt to encourage the
making of things for which there is no demand.

I am often asked the question, How are all of these homespun and
home-woven things to be disposed of? To this I answer that the first
effort of the promoters or originators must be--_to fit them for an
existing demand_.

There is no doubt of the genuineness of a dema