Margaret’s connection with LARAC goes back to the 1980s when she sold braided rugs in the LARAC June Festivals.  Currently she sells braided rugs through a shop in Blue Mountain Lake as well as creates custom rugs designed to match a home’s décor.  Often she has wools dyed specifically to a client's request.

Originally she used scrap wools but now buys from Braid Aid, a Massachusetts business that provides materials to those in the rug braiding industry.  She uses a machine fabric cutter, although precut wool is available.  But Margaret states, “Uncut wool allows more creativity”.  She creates rugs in two formats:  continuous, which creates a flatter rug, and concentric circles, which require more skill to keep flat.  Margaret creates reversible rugs and hand laces them by placing the lacing between the braids so as not to pierce the fabric, which lengthens the life of the rug.  A small rug about 2’ x 4’ will take a few weeks while a room-sized rug can take a season.

Margaret credits her mother for her interest in hand work; she says that she and all of her sisters were introduced to sewing at a young age.  In addition to the creativity involved, she enjoys the relaxing pace of the craft.  And she likes the fact that she can see the rugs come to fruition, which is not always the case in the classroom where she serves as a special education teacher.

In addition to creating new rugs, Margaret will repair older rugs and create smaller rugs from the useable wool of larger rugs.  Her skills are not limited to braiding rugs.  She also does upholstery, reweaves fabric, does clothing repair, and tailoring. All of these traditional skills are not so easily found in contemporary America.  To contact Margaret, email her at margaretwallace@adelphia.net