Shaker-Inspired Carpet
By: Melissa Ludden Hankens
December 2011
A few months back, I left a weaving guild meeting energized and agonizing over the fact that there were 25 miles between my weaving room and me. I was just that inspired by Shaker scholar, and accomplished weaver and spinner, Roben Campbell’s presentation on Shaker textiles. Thank you to Roben for providing the inspiration for this article, as well the historical information I’ve included. Thank you also to my friend Diane Howes who was kind enough to provide me with some photographs of similar rugs she took on a visit to Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
The Shakers follow a mystical tradition based on feeling divine presence within, defined by light and love. Mother Ann Lee, the founder of the Shakers, was born in Manchester, England in 1736. After being imprisoned several times and wanting to avoid further persecution, she left for America in 1774 taking a group of followers with her. In the early 1780s, a period of religious revivalism in America, Mother Ann went on a missionary tour to gather new recruits to the Shaker way of life. While the seeds were sown for many Shaker communities throughout New England, she was again persecuted, and died in 1784, weakened after enduring harassment for her beliefs. From 1820 to 1850 there were 4,000 to 6,000 Shakers, though numbers began to dwindle after the Civil War. The Shakers regarded all humans as equal regardless of
Photo of Shaker Rug by Diane Howes
gender or skin color, with Brethren and Sisters sharing leadership.
While the Shakers may have numbered relatively few over the years, their influence on American design is unmistakable. Their woven textiles were usually created using plain weave with little embellishment. Roben shared many beautiful samples of Shaker textiles from the Fruitlands Museum collection (http://www.fruitlands.org/) during her presentation.
What struck me as most interesting were the carpets. After mostly restricting myself to the speed
Melissa's Shaker rug
limit on the way home, I tore through my stash looking to see to what I had on hand, for I had decided to weave myself a carpet runner inspired by Roben’s examples. They showcased an interesting technique where clockwise and counterclockwise twisted yarns were woven in alternating blocks creating a zigzag effect. I should point out now that the carpet I wove is a long way from being a faithful replica of the carpets woven by the Shaker Sisters. It is instead inspired by the simple brilliance of these carpets.
Don’t let the idea of spinning your own weft deter you from this project. It took me less than 30 minutes to spin up about 140 yards of weft yarn, half clockwise, half counterclockwise. The twist direction is also often referred to as s twist or z twist, as the angle of the twist can be represented by one of the letters: z for a clockwise twist and s for a counterclockwise twist. If you don’t have access to a spinning wheel, and/or you are not a spinner, chances are you can find someone who is through your local yarn shop or maybe even Ravelry. This could be the perfect time to take a spinning lesson! Or you could hand twist the weft. Each weft section uses about 8½ yards of yarn, and you can always alter the size of each section to use a shorter length of weft. Get a friend and a fringe twister to help out! You will want to wind the yarn into a skein and
Photo of Shaker Rug by Diane Howes