warps, and not to fine "silk finish," to linen, or even to silk ones,
each of which has its special use and price.

In all of them fast colour is a most desirable quality, and, indeed,
for truly good work a necessity. I have found but two of the colours
which are upon ordinary sale to be reasonably fast, and those are a
very deep red and the ordinary orange. The latter will run when dipped
in water; in fact, it will give out dye to such good purpose that I
have sometimes used the water in which it has been steeped to dye
cotton rags, as it gives a very good and quite fast lemon yellow.

It follows, then, that in weaving rugs (which must be washable) with
orange warp, the warp must be steeped in warm water before using. It
can be used in that state, or it can be _set_ with alum, or it can be
dipped in a thin indigo dye and made into a good and fast green.

The only recourse of the domestic weaver who wishes to establish her
rugs as of the very best make is to dye her own warps; and this is not
only an easy but a most interesting process; so much so, in fact, that
I am tempted to enlarge upon it as a practical study for the young
people of the family. It is necessary at the very beginning to put
much stress upon the value of fast colour in the warping yarn, since a
faded warp will entirely neutralize the colour of the rags, and spoil
the beauty of the most successful rug.

The most necessary and widely applicable colour needed in warps, or,
indeed, in rags, is a perfectly fast blue in different depths, and
this can only be secured by indigo. Aniline blue in cotton is never
sun-fast and rarely will stand washing, but a good indigo blue will
neither run or fade, and is therefore precisely what is needed for
domestic manufacture. Fortunately, the dye-tub has been, in the past
at least, a close companion of the loom, and most old-fashioned
farmers' wives know how to use it. With this one can command reliable
blue warps of all shades; and when we come to directions for making
washable rugs its importance will be seen.

As I have said, by dipping orange warp in medium indigo blue a fast
and vivid green can be secured, and these two tints, together with
orange and red, give as many colours as one needs for rug weaving;
they give, in fact, a choice of five colours--orange, red, blue,
green and white. Orange and red are both colours which can be relied
upon when prepared from the ordinary "Magic" dyes of commerce. Turkey
red