Rag rugs!

[Occamstazer]

Have any of you guys ever made one? They look so cool! I *hate* throwing away torn old clothes, this would be a fun way to re-use them.
MEN has an article about rag rugs that made my ears perk up.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It-Yourself/Make-Rag-Rug.aspx
Unfortunately, it's a pretty terrible article, and I find the instructions hard to understand. I'll do some digging around and see if I can find better instructions.

 

[The Vail Benton's]

I've crocheted a rag rug out of old sheets torn into strips - my MIL printed fabric from her stash and the resulting rugs are fabulous. I like the technique okay, but I get tendonitis when I crochet anymore. The next one I make will be on my rug loom after I modify it.
The crocheted rugs are pretty easy to make and maybe except for getting started, you really don't need any special instructions - like I said, just tear whatever fabric you want to use into strips 1 1/2 to 2" works well) and tie them together end on end, rolling into a big ball like you would yarn. You can either crochet in the round for a round or oval rug, or you can make a square/rectangular rug.
If you don't already crochet, it's easy to learn - I highly recommend it!

 

[Occamstazer]

I can crochet simple stuff, probably enough to do this. Naturally, I just gave away all my knitting and crochet stuff because I never use it. Seriously, I put it in the mail TODAY.
Sigh.

 

[The Vail Benton's]

Oh yes, that was you, wasn't it?

You probably didn't have a great big one like you will need to make a rug anyway... you do need a pretty good sized hook because the strips will be much fatter than yarn is and it will be almost impossible to work it with a smaller hook.

 

[big brown horse]

Tortoise was making one earlier.

 

[Occamstazer]

Yeah, all the crochet hooks I sent were for small and medium things, I'm sure I'd have to buy a great big honker for this job.

Tortoise? I don't know Tortoise, I'll have to track him/her down.

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Make your own large hook -- it's not hard to do. Use a hard wood as it needs to be really strong. Carve the hook out of a cylindrical section of wooden rod; then sand until very smooth. I did it years ago but I can't now find it........Isn't that typical........ But I do remember it didn't take long to make!

Hattie

 

[kcsunshine]

You can take three strips and braid them, then start winding them in a circle and fasten with stitches. That way you don't have to crochet. My mom had some little metal things that the strips fed through and it folded them with the raw edges under. She made some nice wool rugs out of scraps. Good use for old wool suits and coats.

 

[Hattie the Hen]

kcsunshine,
I have some of those 'thingies' somewhere.......

Try this link -- read the comments as well for even more info!

http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf675122.tip.html


Hattie

 

[The Vail Benton's]

You can take three strips and braid them, then start winding them in a circle and fasten with stitches. That way you don't have to crochet. My mom had some little metal things that the strips fed through and it folded them with the raw edges under. She made some nice wool rugs out of scraps. Good use for old wool suits and coats.

I made on eof these years ago - I loved that rug, but it didn't hold together well for me - I think I should have used stronger thread or something to hold it together. I bought wool blankets from the thrift stores (very cheap, as it wasn't chic to buy used stuff back then unless you were kinda poor) and cut them into strips to braid, and sewed the strips together as I went to keep the lengths manageable. It never laid as flat as I would have liked, but it sure was fun to make.