Making your very own rag rug can be a daunting task. This little DIY project has all of the elements of the traditional rag rug without all of the hassle.
What you’ll need:
1 piece of canvas (for the bottom of the rug)
Assorted fabric ripped into long pieces (to be braided)
Black yarn
Fabric Glue
Aerosal Polycrylic Protective Finish (optional)
Canvas needle
Tape
Scissors
1.) To start, decide how large you want your carpet to be and then cut your canvas to size.
2.) The next step is to cut or rip your fabric into long strips. The width of the strips isn’t that important, as long as it is generally consistent. I used a stretchy cotton material because I thought it would feel nice on the feet but feel free to use whatever fabric you want. Make sure you cut the strips about 2ft longer than the size of your canvas. When you braid them, they will shrink up and you want overhang for the fringe.
3.) Braiding all of the fabric together is the most time consuming step. Take three pieces of fabric and tape them together at the end so they don’t come apart. Next, braid all of the strips you have. This step took me several days to complete but it’s a mindless task you can do while watching TV. Yay, multitasking! Tape the other end of the braid when you finish.
4.) Once you’ve finished braiding (whew) it is time to glue. Before you do that however, I recommend laying the braids on your canvas (tightly packed) just to make sure that you have enough to fill the whole rug. If not, you can always trim the canvas to fit but you might end up with a weirdly shaped rug. The gluing process is pretty straightforward. Apply glue to the canvas and firmly press the braid onto the glue trail, holding for a second if necessary.
5.) Once the glue is dried, thread the black yarn through your canvas needle and proceed to sew the ends of the canvas. This will tack down the braid ends and make sure that when you take the tape out, the whole braid doesn’t come unraveled so make sure it is tight.
6.) After the braid ends have been securely fastened to the canvas, take the tape off of each end of the carpet and unravel the overhanging braid. You can now decide how much fringe you want and cut the excess off.
7.) The final step is to spray your rug with a protective, waterproof finish. However, you only have to do this if the rug is going to be somewhere where it will get wet (foyer, bathroom, back door, etc). If your rug, like my rug, is going to stay somewhere like a bedroom don’t worry about the costly protective finish!
There you go! Your very own, not so difficult, rag rug!
—@gingymueller
