How to Make Your Own Rag Rugs

When your clothes and sheets become old, stained or ripped do you toss them in the trash? Instead of throwing them away, make them into rag rugs. There are different ways to make rugs, one being to braid strips of material together. In no time at all, your home can be decorated with cheap but colorful rag rugs, handmade by you.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Old clothes
• Safety pins
• Blunt needle
• Strong thread

1. Cut or rip your old clothes or sheets into 12 inch strips that are 1 or 2 inches wide. Pillow cases and towels can also be used for rag rugs.

2. Decide what colors will be in your rug. If you want a certain color combination, then set strips of the same color in little piles. Just place all strips in the same pile if you're not worried about color coordination.

3. Place two strips together with their top edges even and sew together. Take another strip and sew it to the bottom edge of the newly sewn strip. Continue sewing strips together until you have a 3 ft. section and then make two more sections of the same length as the first.

4. Safety pin the edges of 3 sewn strips together. Next, fasten to carpet, the arm of a chair or to your pants leg. Securing the strips together by closing in a drawer or laying a heavy book on top of them also works well.

5. Braid the 3 strips together until you get 2 or 3 inches from the bottom. Fasten the bottom of the braid with another safety pin to keep it from unraveling. Sew more strips to the bottom edges of each of the braided strips and continue braiding until you get to the bottom again.

6. Determine how big you want the rug to be by shaping the braid into a coil. To make a round rug, start the coil with a short piece of braid and keep wrapping the braid around until the rug's the desired size. Do the same for an oval rug, only make the starting braid a little longer.

7. Thread a blunt needle with strong thread or yarn and set the braid on a flat surface, like the floor or kitchen table. Make the first coil and start sewing the inside loops together. Keep coiling and sewing until the end of the braid, then sew the ends into the side of the last coil.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure that all sewn strip edges are facing the same way.

[ScarlettOHairy]

on 5/22/2009 Great instructions for making a braided rag rug. Thanks! I have some but bought them.