In the early days, Claire made all her own rugs hooking them with wool strips - the more traditional or "primitive" method of hooking. Wool strips were cut from old pieces of fabric, wool or clothing and were economical to make. Eventually, after transitioning to yarn, she created the Button and Circles rug collections that recall the "penny rug" designs of the early 1800's where scraps were used to make colorful rugs, blankets and bed coverings with three concentric cirles as the pattern. Some historians believe the origin of the name "penny" comes from the low cost of making the rugs, and another theory is that pennies were used to weight the coverings down and make them lie flat. The pennies minted in those days were much larger than our pennies today.
To honor that tradition, Claire designed the Button collection with bright bold colors in various sizes, and the Circles Revisted collection that utilizes more modern colors for a contemporary style. Either way, these rugs combine traditional with modern and are very versatile. It can also be noted that this is a very simple rug to hook if you wish to make your own, and we have a complete kit for sale for you to do so! just click on Accessories, then Rug Hooking Kits. Enjoy!