Folk art underfoot: remember the old saying, "use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without?" Well, it's particularly appropriate for the time-honored craft of rug-hooking.(TEXTILES)

Hooked rugs, the most distinctive folk art you'll find, were produced with humble materials. Like the pieced quilts that rank as America's other traditional textile treasure, hooked rugs were often made of scraps and worn-out or out-grown garments.

Home rug-making began as a craft of thrift practiced by country women whose homes otherwise would have had only bare (and cold) boards underfoot. The earliest American home-made floor coverings were small mats produced from scraps that were sewn onto a linen backing, or braided into strips that were then joined into rounds or ovals.

Rug restorer, conservator, and author Jessie Turbayne reminds us that hooked rugs began in the Victorian and not the colonial era. Traditional rug hooking--pulling long narrow strips of fabric through a coarse backing to form a looped surface--started in the 1850s. The huge popularity in rug hooking began then because burlap, a handy backing material, became widely available. And it was free when recycled from bags used for bulk shipments of grain, feed, coffee, and other commodities.

At first, rugs were designed by the women who made them; they'd use whatever materials they had that could be cut into narrow strips. Today, those early rugs (from 1850-70) are much sought-after by collectors for their originality and folk art quality. Since few were signed or dated, it takes an educated eye to recognize the early one-of-a-kind rugs.

Clues to quality and age:

* Earlier rugs include fibers other than wool, such as cotton and linen scraps. All-wool rugs weren't common until the 1940s.

* Strips used are wider than in later rugs, when cutting tools and machines became available.