Striped rug

Striped linen-wool kilim was made by Alina Wiącek from Leszkowice in the Lubartów region in 1900. It was used as a bed covering. In the middle it is sewn together from two rectangular panels. It was woven in a narrow home workshop, with a row weave. The warp is black, the weft is woollen in the following colours: predominantly violet, but also green, brown, yellow, amaranth, white, dark blue. The arrangement of stripes forms a report with wider and narrower stripes arranged asymmetrically, separated by a wide strip of purple background. One of the longer sides of the kilim is finished with crochet lace and wool fringes in the same colours as the whole fabric.

In the Lublin region, striped kilims were produced from the earliest times; those from the end of the 19th century had two or three wide stripes and were maintained in dark, calm colours (usually a combination of black, red, white, violet or blue). They were intended for clothing – skirts and aprons – and bed covers.

In the inter-war period, the weaving of striped woollen so-called 'Łowicz' and 'Kraków' fabrics began with a wide range of colours. Their vivid colours and different composition, differing from those previously made, quickly became widespread in the northern and central parts of the region and were produced there until the end of the 20th century. 'Łowicz' did not have a separate background, and the multi-coloured bundle was not composed symmetrically. The colours went from one to another, often creating a rainbow of colours. Stripes of the Kraków type had stripes about 25 cm wide separated by a symmetrical bundle of small colourful light stripes. There are two versions regarding the origin of these two types of fabrics. One of them says that peddlers exchanged finished, factory-made kilims with housewives in exchange for raw materials or old fabrics. Another is that itinerant dyers or paint sellers showed different colour ranges on wool samples. These colours and fabrics inspired weavers to make more colourful striped kilims with various arrangements of stripes.