HOME REPAIRS

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 53, 25 May 1927, Page 12

HOME REPAIRS

SOME SIMPLE METHODS. RENOVATING YOUR RUGS. While rugs of certain types and of any considerable value should he always entrusted to an expert for renovation, there are other kinds that can be quite successfully repaired at home, thus saving money and delays. For instance, while a hole actually worn right through a floor covering calls for professional skill, a thin place where the colour has worn away, leaving a white, threadbare look, is not hard to freshen up at home. The cheap, thick Dutch rush type of rug or mat, with its attractive borders fn bright hues, is a kind particularly apt to lose its colouring with wear. Any patch on which the dye has worn away is easily renovated with ordinary watercolour paints. Mix the paint fairly thickly, matching the shade as perfectly as possible, paint over the worn part, and let it dry—a quick process. If a box of water-colours doesn’t happen to be in the house, there is no need to buy one for the purpose. A more economical plan is to get one or two twopenny tubes of the colours desired and a penny water-colour brush. The paint can be mixed in an old saucer. Watercolour is not strong enough to do the same kind office for pile rugs, but in their case another equally simple plan may he adopted for restoring the colour Mix a home dye packet to the right colour (that is, rather deeper than the shade, wanted, as it will dry lighter) md rub this into the whitish patch with an old toothbrush until matters are Improved. Dry out of doors if possible. Frayed rug edges arc a very common trouble and are both unsightly and dangerous. They should never he tolerated for a day when carpet braid can be bought m a large range of colours at only a few pence a yard Bind the worn edge with this, using a carpet needle to sew it on. Hand-made hooked wool rugs are having a vogue at present, and these ar# easy to keep in good order, as what was made bv hand can also be repaired by-hand Either a burnt hole (a common trouble in a hearth rug) or a worn patch may he made as good as new by removing the damaged tufts of wool and substituting new ones. The rug wool used should lie matched as to colour and a rug hook bought at the same time. Cut as much wool as is required into short even lengths on the wool gauge sold for the nurpose. Working across the width of the foundation canvas, insert the hook under a horizontal ridge of the canvas and through the hole just beyond. Insert just so far that the ridge comes behind the latch of the hook; the hook is then lying open ready to take a double loon of wool. Push this into the canvas, then push the hook through the loop, holding the two loose ends of wool with the other hand. Pull these ends through the loop and tighten them with the fingers, thus forming a knot firmly fixed to the canvas, with a twoended tuft standing straight up. Work a similar tuft in every vacant space caused by burning or wear, then clip the ends of wool evenly, and rub the repair well with the hand, to work out any loose fluff. If the colours are well matched, after a little wear the mended portion will he Indistinguishable from the rest of the rug. The colours of rugs faded by the sun can often be brightened and improved if the pile is washed with warn; salted water or water containing a little vinegar.