How to Make Carpet From Clothing

Make carpet from strips of old clothing.

Instead of throwing out old, stained or worn clothing, turn it into a carpet for your home. Making a carpet from clothing is much like the art of hooking a rug. Rug hooking began in the mid 1800s and used rags and scrap fabric to create squares of carpet to cover dirt or wooden floors. Today rug hooking is a hobby. It is a simple process but can be time consuming, depending on the size of carpet you are making. The resulting carpet will have a shag-like appearance.

Things You'll Need

• Latch hook canvas
• Scissors
• Masking tape
• Old clothing
• Rotary cutter
• Rotary cutting mat
• Box
• Latch hook tool
• Carpet binding tape

Instructions

1. Decide the size of the carpet you wish to make. Cut a piece of latch hook canvas to the desired size with scissors. Apply long strips of masking tape to the cut edges of the canvas to prevent fraying while hooking your carpet.

2. Gather the old clothing together. Cut off portions of the clothes that contain zippers, buttons, pockets, collars or cuffs. Discard these pieces. Cut the remaining cloth into 1-inch by 4-inch strips with a rotary cutter. Cut the strips on top of a rotary cutting mat to protect your work surface from scratches. Place the clothing strips into a box for safe keeping.

3. Select one clothing strip and fold it in half lengthwise to form a loop. Insert the hooked end of a latch hook tool through the loop of fabric. Position the fabric loop so its center is around the back of the tool, 1-inch down from the hook. Pinch the cut ends between two fingers above the hook.

4. Begin hooking your carpet in the top left corner of the latch hook canvas. Slip the hooked end of a latch hook tool through the the first square in the second row down from the corner's top. Push the hook underneath the canvas thread and up through the first square in the first row.

5. Wrap the loose ends of the fabric strip around the hooked end of the latch hook tool. Pull the tool back through the two canvas squares and the looped end of the fabric strip, bringing the loose ends through.

6. Unhook the ends of the fabric strip from the latch hook tool. Grasp the two fabric ends between two fingers. Pull on the ends to tighten the strip around the canvas thread.

7. Skip the next square in the horizontal row. Repeat the hooking process with one fabric strip in the third horizontal squares of the first and second vertical rows. Continue to hook strips in the same manner as before, skipping every other space across the horizontal row.

8. Begin your second row of hooking back at the left side of the canvas. Skip the first horizontal squares in the second and third vertical rows of the canvas. Hook the first cloth strip in the second horizontal squares of theses rows. Continue along the row, hooking one clothing strip in every other horizontal square.

9. Repeat the hooking process row by row, alternating the pattern from the previous row, until the latch hook canvas is full. Remove the masking tape from the cut edges of the canvas.

10. Trim the edges of the canvas to 1/8-inch wide. Unroll a length of carpet binding tape. Remove the paper layer from the adhesive on the end of the binding. Place the adhesive edge of the binding along the underside of the carpet's edge. Align the top edge of the binding with the edge of the carpet. Press the carpet down on top of the binding. Repeat along the remaining three edges of carpet.

Tips & Warnings

• Make a solid color rug by dying the clothing strips in fabric dye once they are cut.

References

• Woolkeepers: A Brief History of Rug Hooking