How to Make a Jean Shag Rug
According to "Jeans in the United States," a Research and Markets study, "An estimated 450 million pairs of jeans are purchased every year." That's a lot of jeans! Denim is a hard-working fabric that remains durable even after years of service. Purchase used jeans at thrift stores as inexpensive material for a number of recycling projects. Create a jean shag rug from old jeans, and you will not only have a heavy-duty rug to use, you'll also save space in a landfill.
Things You'll Need
- 21-inch diameter denim or canvas circle
- 2-by-2-inch denim squares, approximately 200
- Scissors
- Sewing machine
- Thread
- Tape measure
- Straight pins
- Nonslip rubber drawer liner
- Glue gun and glue sticks
Instructions
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1
Fold your denim circle in half, then fold it in half again to mark the center. Pin to mark.
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2
Fold one 2-by-2-inch square in half to form a triangle. Pin this folded triangle to the center of your denim circle.
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3
Place the denim circle with the pinned triangle under your sewing machine's pressure foot. You will be sewing a spiral, or circle, of folded triangles, one next to the other in a chain-like path from the center of the denim circle out to the very edges of the denim circle.
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4
Sew, using a straight stitch, through the center of the triangle. It doesn't matter which way the triangle is facing, but face all of your triangles the same way once you get started. Do not remove the circle from your sewing machine.
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5
Fold another 2-by-2 square in half to form a triangle.
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6
Lift the pressure foot on your sewing machine, and place the folded triangle as close to the triangle already sewn to the denim as you can without bunching it up. Some overlap is okay.
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7
Sew, using a straight stitch, through the center of the triangle.
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8
Fold and place the next triangle, forming a circle spiral. If it helps, with a pen draw a spiral path to follow, but it's easy once you get about five or six triangles sewn to see how to place, sew, turn the denim, place, sew, turn the denim in a circular pattern.
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9
Continue folding the 2-by-2 squares into triangles, lining one up beside the triangle previously sewn, and moving the denim circle in a circle until your denim triangles overlap the outside edge of your denim circle.
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10
Glue a 20-inch diameter circle of nonslip rubber drawer liner onto the underside of the denim circle (the side with no triangles sewn to it) with a glue gun and glue sticks. This will keep your shag rug in place on the floor.
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Tips & Warnings
The fullness of your jean shag rug is determined by how close you place the folded triangles. The number of 2-by-2 squares given is approximate because you may overlap the pieces closer or place them farther apart.
