 |
| Rag rug made from clothing |
I wanted a large rug for the new flat so I checked out some interior decor shops and realised rugs are way too expensive! Also they are often quite boring colours unless you're willing to spend an extortionate amount of money, which I'm not.
I'm shredding up old t-shirts, jeans, tights, leggings, bedclothes, dresses, cutains and whatever else I can find, making long strips of cotton to crochet into a multicoloured rug that costs zero pence to make! It's also a great excuse for a fun project.
 |
| Strips of cotton |
I love handmade things but while I appreciate neat work I love the character of shabby items, and in this project I've taken no pains to disguise raggy ends. While some people tuck them in or sew them down to conceal them, I've deliberately left mine long and pulled them through to the front. Clothing tags and t-shirt motifs are visible here and there throughout the rug, but you can remove them if you find them distasteful.
I've given alternatives to my method so you can decide which look to go for. Any measurements I've given do not need to be folowed accurately as long as they are generally consistent.
 |
| T-shirt, 10mm hook and scissors. |
I'm using a number 10 hook because it's the biggest I own.
Since the time of writing i've bought a 17mm hook and would recommend a similar size for making this rug. I use a double crochet stitch (known as single crochet in the US) to form the rug. I've given instructions below for beginners on how to crochet this stitch. Braiding, weaving and sewing are other options.
First cut along one side seam and across both shoulders.
You could make small cuts and tear the fabric, especially useful if you are cutting up large sheets. If you don't have a dressmakers scissors, but will be cutting a lot of material, or heavy duty material like denim, wear a cotton glove to prevent blisters.
Next cut horizontally above the hem, stopping an inch from the edge.
*(If you want a very neat rug, cut all the way through. This will leave you with multiple strips which must be joined later)
Neat or shabby the next hint applies: The hem is double thickness, so the next cut should be twice its width so the resulting strip will be the same thickness. If the hem is one inch wide, move up two inches to make your next horizintal cut, stopping an inch from the edge.
*(Or not)
Carry on in this manner, zig-zagging until you have cut the whole t-shirt into a long strip of cloth.
*(Or multiple strips of cloth)
Wrap the cloth around two fingers to begin making a ball of cloth. Cloth is flat and difficult to crochet, so stretch the cloth as you wrap it, and it will curl to form a cord.
Shabby zig-zaggers only: you will encounter little flags of cloth where you zigged and zagged; Don't panic. These can be concealed later with some clever crochet, tucking in or sewing. Or you can let them all hang out and embrace the ragginess, like I did.
It's a good idea to keep similar colours together to help with choosing colours later. To join strips of cloth, you may choose to simply knot them together. I like to slit one piece and slide the other through the slit, then knot it to itself.
Or you could use a concealed join, so the knots cannot be felt. Slit both pieces, slide one end through the other slit, then slide it's tail through its own slit. To be super neat you can sew them together.
Now for the pattern - I use the term loosely.
Crochet: chain + double crochet the desired length of the rug, chain one and turn. Continue until your rug is big enough. If it's a large rug, you may want to make three separate narrow pieces and join later, as large rugs will be heavy and hard to work with.
Crochet novices: I'll attempt to show this stitch step by step. If what I'm saying is unclear, there are many useful tutorials online. It's well worth learning the double crochet stitch.
To start the crochet we make a slipknot then a length of chain. Make a slipknot by crossing the cord to make a loop.
Put your fingers through the loop and pull a loop of the long end of cord through, forming a new loop. Pull the tense side of the new loop to tighten the old loop around the new loop's base. Beginners may need to pull the length of cord now to bring the new loop down to a manageable size.
 |
| A slipknot |
Now to make a length of chain crochet. Slide loop onto hook and tighten.
 |
| Slipknot on hook. |
"yarn over hook"
That is, catch the cord with the mouth of the hook. Pull the hook and cord backwards through the loop, making a new loop. The original loop will tighten around the base of the new loop near the hook.
Repeat the previous step again, and again, and again, until you reach the desired length of your rug.
The row of chain will look like a loose braid.
Don't tighten the loops around the hook; you need the hook to pass easily through the chain when you make your stitches.
 |
| Crochet chain. |
If you're a zig-zagger you will notice the little corners of cloth as you chain.
I pull these towards the front / facing me, so they will show. You can tuck them in if you like.
To begin our row of double crochet push the hook into the second chain (second gap) from the hook.
"yarn over hook"
That is, catch the cord with the mouth of the hook.
Pull the hook and cord backwards making a loop. This is similar to before but now you have two loops on the hook. You're halfway through your first double crochet stitch!
"yarn over hook" and pull hook and cord backwards through BOTH loops on hook. You may need to turn the hook mouth slightly to prevent the cloth falling off the hook as you pull through the loops.
Tighten the loop on hook if necessary.
Congratulations! That's a single crochet :-)
Repeat for every chain.
If you make a mistake or think your work is too tight, loose or uneven, remove the hook and pull the long cord to unravel the stitches. Magic.
When you finish the row, chain one by pulling yarn through both loops, then turn the material and repeat the previous steps again.
And again.
And so on.
 |
| Row of double-crochet. |
When you have completed your rug, remove the hook from the loop. Pull the cord through the loop, tighten, and cut.
Adventurous folk can make use of leftover wool, string or ribbon by crocheting it alongside the cord. I've used blue wool on the pictures below for illustrative purposes but furry, bobbly or other novelty yarns look great too! Chose a textured wool of similar colour to complement the cotton, or a contrasting coloured wool to create interesting patterns.
If your rug lacks straight edges, which will happen if you use a variety of thickness (eg: denim and cotton) you can add a crochet border to straighten it up. I used two rows of single crochet around the edge; chain one at the corners, then on the second row I made one double crochet, one chain, one double crochet in each corner chain of the previous row.
If you have any questions feel free to ask below and I'll do my best to help!
Here's my finished rug. apologies for the quality of photos but I haven't had good daylight since finishing. As you can see I made two rugs and sewed them together using wool and a strip of metal folded in half. You can use a darning needle, if you prefer. I chose this way for the simple reason of the weight of the rug becoming very cumbersome; My arms are nicely toned now.
 |
| Rag rug photographed using serious nuclear flash! |
Things I would do differently:
I ran into some wavy edges due to inconsistent thicknesses of cloth strips. I could have avoided this in two ways; I could have been more discriminating of the cloths I used but my goal was to make this for free, so I used whatever clothes I had and were generously donated to me. I also could have taken more care to cut heavy / thick materials narrower than thin but I wasn't too far out, so I'm happy with the result.
Here are some close up details. You can see where I used wools with the cloth. Makes for a nice texture. Also note the raggy tags.
So go on! Give it a go, what's stopping you? Happy rugging raggers!
