Written by Berard who worked there as a weaver in the 1920’s. Thanks to Sharon Lacasse for finding this!

Traveling up route 119 in the early twenties in a 490 Chevy, a Model T Ford or Dodge touring car, one might notice a large sign located in the western end of the part of town known as Joslinville with the words “Hand woven rugs. Visitors welcome.”

The place of operations was known as the Belgrade Rug Co., which made rugs of all sizes and designs from 27” x 34” carpets to 9’ x 12’ art squares or parlor rugs.

Some of the material was new but most of the rugs were made of used carpeting.

The making of the rugs was all done by hand-weaving on hand operated looms.

It required a certain kind of skill and dexterity to become a hand weaver.

Nine square yards a day was a good day’s work, depending of course, on the material. Brussels or Axminster material was a bit faster than Ingrain or Velvet. They also used chenille which was a new material.

All material was hand fed through the closely spaced warp by the nimble fingers of the weaver, then the beater was pulled against the woven part then made a repeat trip after the treadles which also operated the change of warp was made by pressing the treadle by foot.

Starting at the beginning of operations was the cleaning of the carpeting, then to cutters which sliced the material to proper width, then grinding the strips to produce a feathered edge. This made the strips softer and more flexible for weaving.

The starting of the rug, as well as the ending was done by a shuttle also operated by hand and filled with warp-like material.

When the rugs were taken from the loom, they were bound and hand-sewn, also edges were clipped for evenness. They were then considered finished and were sent back to the customer or held in the showroom for sale.