How to Make a Locker Hook Rug

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Locker hooking uses a rug hooking canvas similar to that used for latch hooking, but the tool and technique are different. A locker hook looks like a hybrid of a crochet hook and a darning needle, with the hook on one end and a large eye on the other. Yarn is threaded through the eye and the hook is used to pull strips of fabric through the squares of the rug hooking canvas. When several strips have been pulled through, the hook and yarn are drawn through the fabric loops to "lock" them in place.

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Things You'll Need

  • Rug Hooking Canvas

  • Scissors

  • 100-Percent Cotton Fabric

  • Darning Needle

  • Locker Hook

  • Worsted-Weight Cotton Yarn

Step 1

Tear fabric strips into 1-inch widths. The length doesn't matter; you will be linking the ends together as you work.

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Step 2

Fold the edges of the rug canvas over. Count down two squares from each edge and fold along that line. Work all the way around the canvas.

Step 3

Thread a long strip of fabric through the eye at one end of the locker hook. Pull the strip through one of the folded-down corner edges of your canvas, leaving a 2-inch tail.

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Step 4

Insert the hook through the next hole to the left, from behind, and pull the fabric through. Continue working in this fashion to make a whip stitch all the way around the edge of the mat. This secures and hides the edges and makes a border for your rug.

Step 5

Thread 2 inches of a 36-inch strand of yarn through the same corner where you started the whip stitch. Tie the yarn in a knot. Thread the loose end of the yarn through the eye of the locker hook.

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Step 6

Lay a strip of fabric horizontally behind the first row of open squares on the canvas.

Step 7

Pull up a loop of fabric through the first square in the row using the hooked end of the locker hook tool. Continue pulling loops through each hole until you have several loops on your hook.

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Step 8

Pull the tool all the way through the loops so the yarn anchors the loops in place. Continue in this fashion to the end of the row.

Step 9

Turn the corner and work all the way around the edge of the rug. When you get to the end of a strip of fabric, fold over the last inch and make one snip with your scissors to create a hole about 1/4 inch away from the end. The edge of the fabric strip should remain intact.

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Step 10

Cut a hole in the end of the strip of fabric to be joined using the same technique. Pull the cut end of the new strip through the cut end of the strip in your rug, so one cut hole is threaded through the other one. Pull the other end of the new strip through the hole in that strip. This links your two pieces of fabric together, and you can continue hooking.

Step 11

Work all the way to the center. Thread loose yarn and fabric ends onto a darning needle and sew them into the loops of the rug to finish.

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