{"id":27119,"date":"2016-02-18T05:22:19","date_gmt":"2016-02-18T10:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/?p=27119"},"modified":"2016-02-11T08:31:20","modified_gmt":"2016-02-11T13:31:20","slug":"use-up-scrap-fabric-with-a-rag-rug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/?p=27119","title":{"rendered":"Use Up Scrap Fabric with a Rag Rug"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/ragrug-133x150.jpg\" alt=\"Rag Rug\" width=\"133\" height=\"150\" class=\"contentimg\" \/>I have a fabric-hoarding problem, and sadly there is no 12-step program to help.  I just can&#8217;t quite bring myself to part with that last six inches of cute fabric, even though there are only so many patchwork quilts a person can make.  Rag rugs to the rescue!  They&#8217;re perfect for using up small scraps, they&#8217;re supposed to look &#8220;rustic&#8221; (which is code for &#8220;you can claim all those mistakes you made were intentional&#8221;), and when you run out of friends and family to gift them to you can donate them to your local animal shelter; they&#8217;re great for insulating the bottom of pet beds in cold weather.<\/p>\n<p>Rag rugs can be knitted, crocheted, woven, braided, or hooked, so you can use your favorite construction method.  The easiest way to make the &#8220;yarn&#8221; for your rug is to tear the fabric into strips more or less the same width (precision doesn&#8217;t matter too much), then knot them end to end.  This is handy because you can knot as you go along and don&#8217;t have to worry about long tangled strips.  You can also make yarn with less-obvious joins using <a href=\"http:\/\/cocoknits.com\/resources\/tutorials\/rag-knitting\/\">this technique<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The simplest tutorials for knitted rugs pretty much consist of &#8220;use big needles and just go for it:&#8221;  <a href=\"http:\/\/crazymomquilts.blogspot.com\/2012\/03\/crazy-mom-quilts-one-way-to-knit-rag.html\">crazy mom quilts<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/shewhomeasures.wordpress.com\/2007\/04\/17\/knitted-rag-rugs\/\">She Who Measures<\/a> have some tips for that method.  Cocoknits has free patterns for a <a href=\"http:\/\/store.cocoknits.com\/patterns\/rag-doily-rug\/#.Vrook1KzlC0\">rag doily rug<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/store.cocoknits.com\/patterns\/rag-bath-mat\/#.Vrook1KzlC0\">rag bath mat<\/a> which are a little more structured-looking.<\/p>\n<p>For crocheted rugs, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/Make-a-Crocheted-Rag-Rug\">wikiHow<\/a> has instructions for a simple round rug; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sustainablebabysteps.com\/rag-rug-instructions.html\">sustainable baby steps<\/a> has a nice in-depth tutorial which includes advice for dyeing your fabric, and <a href=\"http:\/\/crochet.about.com\/od\/rag-crochet\/tp\/rag-rugs-free-crochet-patterns-and-instructions.htm\">About<\/a> has a roundup of patterns.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.abeautifulmess.com\/2014\/04\/make-your-own-woven-rag-rug.html\">A Beautiful Mess<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.craftpassion.com\/2010\/03\/recycle-tutorial-woven-rag-rug.html\/2\">Craft Passion<\/a> have tutorials for making woven rugs.  For braided rugs, <a href=\"http:\/\/inhabitat.com\/diy-learn-how-to-make-a-beautiful-braided-rug-from-old-fabric\/\">inhabitat<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.littlehouseliving.com\/how-to-make-rag-rugs.html\">Little House Living<\/a> both have good instructions with lots of pictures; the latter joins the braids with machine-sewing instead of by hand, which would work okay for the thin fabric she uses but might be kind of a strain with thicker wools.<\/p>\n<p>To make a hooked rug you can use rug canvas and a latch hook as described at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.craftster.org\/forum\/index.php?topic=383264.0\">Craftster<\/a>, or hessian fabric and a crochet hook as in this tutorial at <a href=\"http:\/\/creativeliving.fr.yuku.com\/reply\/23924#.Vrosc1KzlC0\">Creative Living<\/a>.  There&#8217;s also a sort of cheat-y rag rug made by knotting fabric through a non-slip rug pad; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.myloveofstyle.com\/2013\/04\/10\/diy-shag-rag-rug-tutorial\/\">My Love of Style<\/a> has instructions for that (although I&#8217;d ignore the part about buying fabric specifically for the project and use scraps).<\/p>\n<p>If, like me, half of your fabric stash is Halloween-themed, it&#8217;s easy to make a rug in spooky colors and feel virtuous about using up your scraps.<\/p>\n<p><i>(Image from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.joann.com\/rag-rug\/453963P60.html\">JoAnn<\/a>, where there&#8217;s also a brief tutorial)<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have a fabric-hoarding problem, and sadly there is no 12-step program to help. I just can&#8217;t quite bring myself to part with that last six inches of cute fabric, even though there are only so many patchwork quilts a person can make. Rag rugs to the rescue! They&#8217;re perfect for using up small scraps, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bad-things"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27119"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27185,"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27119\/revisions\/27185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}