What is a punch needle ?

What is a punch needle?
What is a Punch Needle?A punch needle is an instrument made from metal, wood or both, its function are to create a loop using yarn or fabric. The yarn or fabric is feed through and opening, through a shaft and threaded through the eye opening at the tip of metal needle.In the early 1800's when this art became known inNew England the homes that had imported floor area rugs began making the punch needle rugsto cover the hearth during the Summer and in the Winter they were placed in front of the hearth to keep the spark's from the fireplace from burning there beautiful inexpensive imported rugs.Some of these rugs are believed to have been made my seamen while away from home. Those rugs are known as hand sewn. You can tell the difference from a hand sewn rug and punch needle rug or a hooked rug. The back of the hand sewn rug has seed looking appearance on the back side of the rug. Where as a punch needle rug the reverse punch rows are close together and very little of the backing can be seen. The hooked rug has some of the backing showing but not as much as the hand sewn rug.
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LenZie