Exploring the politics of gender and skirts is interesting to me too. I’ve really enjoyed conversations that have emerged as I’ve been sharing this story with women in their 60s, 70s, and 80s who remember this pivot from having to wear skirts in most public settings to wearing pants. Wearing pants to work for the first time is a day that they remember almost like they remember what they wore on their wedding day. It’s a really important moment.

The blog includes photos of each rag rug I have woven, as well as reflective notes written once or twice a year. It comes several years after I purchased my first floor loom, and one year after renting my first studio. Making this blog marked my growing comfort at the loom and interest in connecting with other weavers. 

I wonder now, having photographed every skirt, how my grandma visualized the collection, and how she experienced it over all those years. I wonder if she went down to her basement to thumb through the wool skirts, if she emptied out boxes on her floor to sort through them, if she had favorites, and which skirts those were. I wonder if she ever wished to see the skirts on models, or racks, or walls, or illustrated in a book. I wonder if she ever speculated about how many skirts she had, and how she would react if she found out she had 632. She expressed amazement with her eyes wide and mouth open. Wow. I remember this. She passed away in 2022. 

> Installation view of Mae Colburn's Hypothetical Rugs.

Rag Rug Study Group is a research project that facilitates dialogue about textiles produced using worn, surplus, and discarded materials. We advocate an expansive definition of ‘rag rug’ that includes reworked textiles in all techniques including weaving, knitting, quilting, embroidery, crochet, mending, and sewing. We have a mailing list, host in-person events, and manage an online archive of the work we study.

I have mainly examined two of these fringed rectangles: Ossimo 8 and Borno 1. Borno 1 is special in that it illustrates a checkerboard pattern, which for a weaver is also the draw-down draft for plain weave. So, the decorative motif on Borno 1 is the intersection of two distinct groups of threads: the WARP and the WEFT. EXTRAORDINARY! In principio era l’ordito, or IN THE BEGINNING IT WAS THE WARP!”

After a rag rug’s warp has worn through, its fabric weft can often be salvaged and woven anew. This process extends the life of the materials and offers an intimate lens into the life of the original weaver. ‘beyond repair' invited us to consider themes of regeneration, transformation, and renewal alongside the ethics of stewardship, care, and repair.