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Slash Products Archives
The article profiles Martha Magane, a retired librarian who discovered a new creative career in rug making after retiring in 2011. Her journey began with a book that rekindled a childhood interest in sewing, stemming from disassembling and repairing her grandmother's 1930s-era sewing machine at a young age. Initially, Magane aspired to create her own clothing, but a sewing project in a book—making “chenille” from denim remnants—captured her attention, leading her to explore the technique of layering stacks of fabric, sewing diagonal channels, and then cutting them open to reveal the inner layers.
Magane sourced her initial fabrics from the Truro Swap Shack, where she found upholstery fabric samples, providing a wider range of colors than denim. Her process involves stacking, sewing, and then vigorously brushing the cut edges by hand to fray and soften the chenille. These fuzzy, colorful panels are then backed with denim and assembled into rugs, typically around three by five feet. She washes and scrubs the finished rugs to further loosen fibers and shed lint, followed by trimming the surface to even out the pile. This meticulous process ensures a high-quality, durable product.
In the early stages of her rug-making, Magane produced numerous pieces, prompting her to consider selling them at craft fairs. However, she soon realized her passion lay more in the creation process than in selling. Her rugs, branded as Slash Products, are now available at Repurfect in Provincetown and Adorn in East Orleans. Over the past decade, her designs have evolved from simple pieced squares to wider, longer strips featuring intricate, Klimt-esque patterns. She finds inspiration in nature, observing how colors and shapes naturally behave in the environment, and integrates these observations into her designs, often using blues with bright contrasting elements.
Magane primarily uses thick fabrics like winter scarves and woven blankets, which she finds at thrift shops, as they produce the best chenille effect. Each rug is unique because she works with found and donated materials, making replication impossible. Her tools include a heavy-duty serger, electric scissors, and a sturdy “walking foot” sewing machine capable of handling thick fabric stacks and heavier threads. The work demands solitude and patience, qualities Magane embraces. Additionally, her creative endeavors extend beyond rug making; she memorizes songs for performances with the Outer Cape Chorale while engaged in the repetitive, meditative tasks of stitching, cutting, and brushing the fabric.
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