Comments on: Arraiolos Rugs

By: Carol Rose

Carol Rose — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 02:13:52 +0000

Hi all, I lived in Portugal in 1997 and became friends with my Portuguese landlady. She turned me on to these beautiful rugs. I made one, bought a larger one and have not completed it as yet! I’m wanting to sell it and would like to let you know that you can see the design and the info on craigslist.org. Look for the San Francisco, CA listings, SF Bay Area. Search for Portuguese Needlework rug. I’m also selling my Patricia Stone book and other pattern books. The rug and wool have been packed lovingly away and is in perfect condition.

By: Clare O'Keeffe

Clare O'Keeffe — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 17:45:05 +0000

Absolutely delighted to have finished and the repairs that I had to make are only noticable to me! But I was able to do this successfully since I had the original colours.
Still grappling with the problem of the left-over wool and I am very reluctant to throw it out.
And do I want to do another rug?
Will keep in mind your suggestion about the photograph and ask a junior expert to show me how to do it. You may have to wait a while!
My latest project (projects!)is Irish crochet lace,cut work embroidery, Carrickmacross lace and Limerick! All are much less time consuming than the rug! And won’t take the 30 years!

By: deRomilly

deRomilly — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 17:15:26 +0000

Congratulations, Clare! It must feel really good to have such a large project completed!
As for photos, you can’t really post them in the comments on a blog — but you could post them to a flickr account and post the link here!

By: Clare O'Keeffe

Clare O'Keeffe — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 10:50:20 +0000

Finally finished the rug! And the repairs are done. I decided to line the border with linen canvas so the repairs are virtually undetectable. (Repairs in the middle are quite easy, edges more difficult) But I have a lot of wool left over-colours from 30 years ago. A lot of cream and blue. Would be wonderful to pass them on to someone who needed small amounts of those colours but have racked my brains as to how this can be done safely without screaming my address / phone number to the entire internet! Can’t think of a way.
And after all this time the cream background is slightly grubby so i think it needs cleaning. A woman in London inports and commissions rugs so I phoned her for advice. She has, I think, a factory in Portugal, and a showroom in London open by appointment.Small rugs are dry cleaned and the larger rugs are sent back to portugal. Her name is Patricia Rolt.
Still trying to post a photo!

By: Isabel

Isabel — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 17:51:58 +0000

Hello! In Newark NJ we have started an Arraiolos Club, so far we have 10 people who meet a few times a month to learn how to stitch. We have fabulous teachers who are a group of friends that started their own little club – their website is http://www.arraiolosregados.com. The challenge of course is getting the materials. We have been able to get materials through people we know who travel to Lisbon regularly. I sent my husband to Serranofil to get me supplies – lol!!! They do ship to the US – but shipping costs are expensive $50+ depending on the amount of supplies. I will try to find the supplies Vicki suggests, anyone know if a store like Michael’s or AC Moore or Jo Ann’s up here in the northeast carries these items?

By: Susan

Susan — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 20:14:34 +0000

I have two Arraiolos rugs that we bought on our honeymoon in 1982. Both are in need of repairs. If anyone knows someone in the US who could do this, it would be great. Help!!

By: Lynn

Lynn — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 21:56:48 +0000

I’m so happy to find this blog. And the most recent postings are current. Yeah! I need some inspiration to finish my rug started the year my daughter was born and we lived in Portugal with my in-laws. Anyone know if Patricia Stone is still living in Northern Virginia or if there are others in the area who want to get together and talk arraiolos? I live in Springfield, just south of DC.

By: Vicki

Vicki — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 03:54:04 +0000

Hi, I also have Pat Stone’s book and now I have done 3 pillows and 2 rugs. Here is what I do. I tried some of our jute here in the us, mono canvas and penelope canvas. My best results are with 5 threads to the inch penelope canvas. I use Paternayan yarn. I do not strip the yarn but use it as it is twisted, 3 strands=1 thread. It covers very good. I’ve adapted one of the sunflower designs in pat stone’s book for a teaching piece and I have taught it to my ANG group. I now have 2 ladies who are making rugs. The canvas is really stiff when you first begin stitching but after some time it is very soft and pliable. There is no need to get jute or yarn from Portugal, unless you want to. You can find the canvas on line or have your local needlepoint store order it for you. I called Pat Stone and was given permission to adapt her design for teaching. she also gave me some pointers on what to do. She did mention that it is hard to find the right material in the US but my experiments with different ground gave me a good feel for the best ground, 5t per inch penelope. Not mono, not interlock. You need the Penelope because when you make the corners on the borders you need that extra hole to make the miter. I have some pictures of my work on webshots. I’ll get the link and post again. Please contact me if you have any questions.

By: Clare O'Keeffe

Clare O'Keeffe — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 13:56:24 +0000

Went to Lisbon-twin purpose-to buy the wool and to revisit Lisbon. Serranofil was still there and was where I thought it was. They don’t speak english and I don’t speak portuguese-nothing had changed! The man I communicated with may have been the same man whom I met in 1980!!! He began working there in 1976 I think! I was successful in buying the wool -not quite the same colour. I was able to rip out what I had done and redo. They gave me two magazines with patterns. And I bought though jute for another rug(madness!) for 18 euro.But I do need to repair some of the jute in my rug. Time consuming! If you send a fax of the pattern of the rug you wish to make with dimensions Serranofil(www.serranofil.pt) will send you the wool you need for it. Telephone no is 21 881 00 53. The Oliveira book is Historia e Tecnica dos Tapetes de Arraiolos. There is no ISBN number and no printer. It seems to have been subsidised by Fundacao Calouste Gulbenkian in 1973. Try Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon.
Rug is almost finished. Not perfect by Patricia Stone’s standards but I like it! Would be wonderful if you could wander into Serranofil and choose the colours but!
Still havn’t worked out how to send photos but now that I have found your website again I will do so.
Does anyone know what they sell for? Curious! We did go to the Museum in Lisbon where they have 10+ very old rugs but only found the addresses of shops in Lisbon where they sell the rugs when we got back.

By: Victoria Frank

Victoria Frank — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 20:31:47 +0000

My company is offering a trip to Portugal to study Arraiolos. The trip was originally scheduled for early February of 2011 but we have recently received some bad news about my husband’s health that has necessitated a change in plan. Work in progress to change the dates to coincide with festival in the town of Arraiols held in late May.
You can visit my website (www.vcfinc.com) to see itinerary which will remain similar despite the change in date.
I have found a woman who used to teach the technique who lives in Virginia.