Another Shag Story

If you have ever tried to vacuum a shag you know the frustration of having the rug fibers get stuck in the rotating brush. Shag rug are not easy to vacuum using the rotating brush or even the vacuum itself.

I had previously written about the best way to vacuum your shag area rug. Here is another way to remove even more loose dirt from your shag. By using the little upholstery brush, that we hardly use, it grabs the dirt and not the rug.



Shag rugs require more care and attention than most rugs. Using suction only to vacuum the loose dirt cuts down on your work and frustration. By turning the rug upside down first and vibrating the loose dirt closer to the tops of the fibers, then use the brush to vacuum the fibers you are making your shag last longer.

Thanks for reading, Ruglovermary

The Best way to Vacuum a Shag Rug

There is no point in denying it Shag Area Rugs are back in fashion. They come in many different colours, textures and fibers. They compliment any decor and pets love them. They are not my favorite type of rug due to the fact that they are high maintenance.

Yes Shags are very high maintenance. They need to be cleaned more often than lower pile rugs, and they need to be vacuumed carefully. Here is a short video showing how to get a lot more loose dirt out of your shag rug



Shag rugs should be vacuumed weekly. Since the fibers of a shag rug act like Velcro they trap dirt easier than most other rugs, along with earrings, small toys, coins, and crayons. Those are just a few of the things we find hiding in shag rugs when they come in for cleaning.

Shag rugs are nostalgic for some and retro chic for others, no matter why you fell in love with your shag remember that it needs lots of attention in the cleaning department. You paid a lot for your shag make the most of your investment by vacuuming often and shaking out the lost treasures.

Thanks for reading, RugloverMary

What does a Scandinavian Hooked Rug look like?

I love it when we receive a different kind of rug for cleaning. Today we got a hand hooked rug from Scandinavia.

Rugs from the Scandinavian regions are also known as Rya rugs. They started out as a way for fisherman and hunters to keep warm and turned into area rugs.



The weaving technique is different from the rug hooking we do in North America.
They use a wool woven flat rug for their backing then they loop through the shaggy pile.

To get the multi-tonal look several wool fibers of different shades of the same colour were pulled through the same hole. To do a blended colour change several fibers of different colours would be pulled through together.

These rugs came in complete kits, same as you would buy here in North America. This particular pattern is called Birch.

From the back, you can see the fibers are hooked in straight lines. The weaver used every second line for a less dense rug.

I am curious to know if the pattern called for using every second line to be used or if you had the choice to use every line to make it thicker?



If you have family or friends who are from Finland, Sweden, or Norway ask them if they know of the Rya rug kits used to make hooked rugs back in the "Old Country" and post your findings.

Here is a close up of the front of the rug. You can slightly see the different colours of wool in each knotted tuft.
To keep these shags looking their best you need to vacuum between each row of fibers.

Shaking the rug will cause the loose dirt to get caught up in the fibers, not recommended.


As with all shag rugs it is near impossible to remove all the loose dirt trapped at the bottom of the fibers. The fibers fan out or lay down trapping the dirt.

The best place to use shaggy rugs is in an area that doesn't get walked on a lot or near food areas.
I love seeing unique area rugs that have a history. If you have such a rug please bring it in to Luv-A-Rug and your rug can also be featured on my blog.

Thanks for reading, RugloverMary

I found two great blog written on Scandinavian/ Rya rugs:

The Textile Blog tells about the 1960's rug trends

The Ouno Blog tell about the history of how these rugs came to be and how they changed over the years