Our Ragged Life Rag Rug Bouquets have become a firm favourite since we launched them in 2017. They’re wonderful for using up odds and ends from your stash and make a beautiful gift for loved ones. Below are just a few of our tips for designs, but you can see some of the gorgeous bouquets we’ve made and students have made in our blog post here. Design Tips: This last one is similar to the yarn pom pom version above in that it uses a rug mat, but this time with cut up rags from old towels.

Now that you have completed your shaggy rag rug, take a moment to appreciate your hard work and creativity. Showcase your rug in a special place, and enjoy the cozy and rustic charm it brings to your home. You can even share your creation with friends and family, inspiring them to embark on their own rug-making journey. Secure the base: If you’re using a canvas drop cloth base, use rug gripper tape or a similar adhesive material to secure the rug to the floor. This will prevent it from moving around as you work on it. Skip this step if you’re using a non-slip rug pad. For full disclosure I will say that this was one of the easiest projects I’ve ever done, yet it was the absolute MOST time-consuming. I worked on my DIY Shag Rag Rug every single day for 2-4 hours a day and it still took me 4 weeks to complete. I honestly was wondering if I was ever going to get it finished, but I didn’t give up!! Now I have a beautiful rug, so it was well worth the time!!

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Measure and mark: Use a ruler or measuring tape to measure and mark the width on the fabric strips. You can use a marker or fabric chalk to make this process easier. One great way to breath new life into these unwanted fabrics is to turn them into rag rugs. In this post we’ll give you 9 ways to reuse these types of fabric as rag rugs with links to step by step tutorial instructions. If you only have an upright vacuum, set the cleaning head to the highest pile setting and disengage the beater bar. If your vacuum cannot make these adjustments, do not use it this way on a shag rug. Instead, use your dust brush attachment or upholstery tool to vacuum the rug in a more gentle manner that won't pull out fibers. Trim any excess: After securing the fabric strips along the edges, trim any excess tape or thread to create a neat and tidy finish.

In the British sitcom Only Fools and Horses the character Uncle Albert claims to smoke his own recipe of " Navy shag and Dutch tobacco". Color: Consider the color scheme of the room where the rug will be placed. You can opt for bold and vibrant colors to make a statement or choose neutral tones for a more subtle look. Mixing different shades and patterns can also add visual interest to the rug. With the proper vacuum settings in place, suction out the dust and dirt. Work in a grid, go slow, and overlap each stroke to produce the best results. If you feel as though the vacuum is pulling too hard on the shag rug's fibers, stop vacuuming. Firstly, we recommend watching our How To Make a Short Shaggy Rag Rug video on YouTube to see the technique in action, but below we’ve also included step by step photos and instructions 🙂 What you will need:It uses less fabric than the traditional form of rag rugging. Our Sari Silk Rag Rug used less than 1kg of fabric in the Short Shaggy technique, where as the same size rug can take 2-3kg in other fabrics in the traditional shaggy style. For fabric, you may even want to use recycled t-shirts or scrap fabric. It cuts costs and puts old clothing to good use!

As with all the rag rug techniques, short shaggy rag rugging still gives a beautiful plush feel. You’d be surprised by how comfy and cosy they feel. These hessian shopping bags are great to keep in the car, so you’re always prepared when you head to the shops 🙂 Unlike most hessian shopping bags, the inside of these bags is unlaminated, so you can easily get your rag rug tools through. Design Tips:When making shaggy rag rugs, be sure to use a non-skid rug mat underneath to prevent slipping and sliding on hard floors. Step 4: Preparing the base So are you ready to stop buying over priced doormats, area rugs and runner rugs? Which method are you going to use to make your rag rug? I’d love to see how they turn out! anted a 4×6 Pink and Ivory shag rug to go in Riley’s nursery so bad I couldn’t stand it, but after pricing them online I was starting to think that it was out of the question….that is until my DIY light bulb went off….A DIY Shag Rag Rug was the answer! My husband thought it was a bad idea simply because of how long it would take me to make, but of course, that didn’t stop me :-) I was bound and determined to have a shag rug for Riley’s nursery and guess what my DIY Shag Rag Rug turned out GREAT, it looks so much better than I imagined!

There are other grades of hessian available; all have a tighter weave usually sold according to the number of strands per inch, and all cost more to buy. For this particular method of rug making the finer grades of hessian don”t have any particular advantage and are harder to work on. The cloth for a rug can be anything, but a bit of common sense narrows the field down and makes choosing easier. Old clothes have a lot going for them, not least of which is that they”re cheap or even free. Charity shops and jumble sales always have supplies of donated clothes that nobody wants to buy. These usually get sent off as rags for paper making. Rug makers can usually get all the cloth they want for a small donation. Thank you for joining us on this step-by-step journey of making a shaggy rag rug. We hope you’ve enjoyed the process and are thrilled with the results. Happy rug making! Conclusion Texture: Think about the desired texture of your rug. Different fabrics will create varying textures, from soft and smooth to more textured and rough. Experiment with different fabric types to achieve the desired tactile experience. Don’t necessarily discard a fabric because you don’t like its pattern. Much of the pattern will be lost when you cut up the garment, and some of the best flowers are made using ugly fabrics that have been cleverly cut up. If you’re unsure how a patterned fabric will look, crumple it up in your hands and that will be an approximation of how it will look when rag rugged.It’s sustainable. Our blanket yarn is made from offcuts from blanket production in Yorkshire, so you can rest assured that every ball you use is recycling. Choose a hanging loop that complements the colours of the wreath. I’ve used plaited hessian strands, green ribbon, cut rags, bias binding and other materials, so do get inventive! They withstood work-boots, children, pets and no doubt vermin too; all this and with a stone or wood floor underneath. There were a couple of hazards for rag rugs; fire and flood, but the thing that finished off most was the dreadful fate that awaits us all: going out of fashion. Once you’ve landed on a design, you can sketch it onto the hessian using a marker pen. It doesn’t matter how many mistakes you make as the rag rugging will eventually cover the hessian. If symmetry is important to your design, use a ruler or tape measure to mark out the main lines, but just bear in the mind that the hessian does shift when you sketch on to it. A lot of the confusion around rag rug terminology comes from the traditional British techniques. That’s mainly because the craft has been around since Victorian times and there are lots of regional names for the craft itself, tools used and techniques. Below I’ve tried to break these down: Shaggy Rag Rug: