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Cost
$ $ $ $ $
Difficulty
• • • • •
Time
288h00

from rags to awesomeness
I recently moved countries from one side of the planet to the other, to say the least I couldn't bring everything with me and I had a whole sewing room to deal with. I decided to leave a rug behind and use up all my "crap" that I had lying around.
I used all my pieces of old projects and also my old clothing that I wasn't bringing with me and was too tired to give to charity.
My dog LOVES this piece and is also washable if ever it gets too dirty.

I split all my scraps into seperate bags according to colour for mine.

None of this tutorial is the traditional way.. parts of it are...this is the flail of the flair's way.

Posted by The AfterCraft from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada • Published See The AfterCraft's 59 projects »
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  • How to make a rag rug. Rag Rug  Get Rid Of All Those Scraps!!! - Step 1
    Step 1

    Take your fabric and measure about 3-4 inchs I used 3 but you could go bigger to make a fatter braid/plaid.

    **thicker fabric creates thicker braids I've used cotton in these examples which is pretty thin**

  • How to make a rag rug. Rag Rug  Get Rid Of All Those Scraps!!! - Step 2
    Step 2

    Grab a bag and cut out loads and in whatever lengths you cut and I just stuffed em all in the bag for when I was ready to sew.

    **please note this is not picture of me or any bag that I used.. no ladies or bags were harmed in the taking of that picture... to my knowledge**

  • How to make a rag rug. Rag Rug  Get Rid Of All Those Scraps!!! - Step 3
    Step 3

    The next step you can do to all your pieces of fabric as you go along or do them ahead of time if you're one of those "Type A" personalities. ;)

  • How to make a rag rug. Rag Rug  Get Rid Of All Those Scraps!!! - Step 4
    Step 4

    Turning the end over, just give it about one inch cut or so this will happen to all sides EXCEPT for your THREE pieces your begin your braid/plait with.

  • How to make a rag rug. Rag Rug  Get Rid Of All Those Scraps!!! - Step 5
    Step 5

    Should lookie like this-ish.

    Again about 2 inches or so in all.. you'll see why in step 13.

  • How to make a rag rug. Rag Rug  Get Rid Of All Those Scraps!!! - Step 6
    Step 6

    Take your "starting" three pieces and stack them on each other.

  • How to make a rag rug. Rag Rug  Get Rid Of All Those Scraps!!! - Step 7
    Step 7

    I put my finger in the middle of the fabric and scrunched up the sides to the middle.

  • How to make a rag rug. Rag Rug  Get Rid Of All Those Scraps!!! - Step 8
    Step 8

    Like so.
    This is not THE way to do it if you want to just make a knot at the start of your braid/plait that's fine.. I just prefer this way myself.

  • How to make a rag rug. Rag Rug  Get Rid Of All Those Scraps!!! - Step 9
    Step 9

    Now sew it over a few times.

  • How to make a rag rug. Rag Rug  Get Rid Of All Those Scraps!!! - Step 10
    Step 10

    You can saftey pin this onto something.. or use my very conventional way by holding the starting bit in your teeth.

    (My sexy face just for you guys)

    Give it a few inchs of braiding/plaiting.

  • How to make a rag rug. Rag Rug  Get Rid Of All Those Scraps!!! - Step 11
    Step 11

    Once you get it going you can use my other conventional way of holding it, which is in between my toes.

  • How to make a rag rug. Rag Rug  Get Rid Of All Those Scraps!!! - Step 12
    Step 12

    If at any point you need to leave your rug, wooden clothespins are perfect to just peg and come back.

  • How to make a rag rug. Rag Rug  Get Rid Of All Those Scraps!!! - Step 13
    Step 13

    Now when you reach the end of one of your strips stop a few inches so you can play.
    This is another good place to use a clothespin to stop it from unraveling.. I didn't have one at hand this time round.

  • How to make a rag rug. Rag Rug  Get Rid Of All Those Scraps!!! - Step 14
    Step 14

    Take your next piece of fabric which also has the hole on the end.and place it on top of the old strip so the holes line up.

  • How to make a rag rug. Rag Rug  Get Rid Of All Those Scraps!!! - Step 15
    Step 15

    Now your going to reach through the hole and pull through the tail of the new fabric.

  • How to make a rag rug. Rag Rug  Get Rid Of All Those Scraps!!! - Step 16
    Step 16

    And pull it through and make sure it's nice and snug.

  • How to make a rag rug. Rag Rug  Get Rid Of All Those Scraps!!! - Step 17
    Step 17

    This is how you'll extend all your pieces when it comes time and you'll just plait/braid the knot in. You won't really notice the knots when they're plaited/braided in.

  • How to make a rag rug. Rag Rug  Get Rid Of All Those Scraps!!! - Step 18
    Step 18

    This is a little hard to explain so if the pictures don't make sense you can hear me babble away and attempt to show it on video here:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yyN-qjCsGY

  • How to make a rag rug. Rag Rug  Get Rid Of All Those Scraps!!! - Step 19
    Step 19

    Placing the start of your plat flat on a surface make your first round with and turn it upside down and sew it into place.

    There's no real method to the sewing madness. You can do whip stitch or you can go from one side back to the other side.. whatever suites. Your sewing side will not show so dont stress too much about it.

  • How to make a rag rug. Rag Rug  Get Rid Of All Those Scraps!!! - Step 20
    Step 20

    Make sure you wind your rug on a flat surface though.. I had to undo mine because I had a "hump" in the middle.

    Now you just go round and round and round until you feel it's big enough. The bigger you get the longer it takes to do one full round.

    I did mine over several weeks so I lost count how long it actually took.

  • How to make a rag rug. Rag Rug  Get Rid Of All Those Scraps!!! - Step 21
    Step 21

    When you get to the end of your rug I just kinda tapered mine off and sewed it in as tight as possible taking the tails under the rug and sewing them in.

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Comments

Bat Ma'am
Bat Ma'am · Seattle, Washington, US · 13 projects
LOL I totally braid with my teeth xD love this tut A LOT !!!
Reply
Cassanndra M.
Cassanndra M. · Albuquerque, New Mexico, US · 4 projects
Do you think this will work with corduroy? Well, i guess we'll find out..
Reply
Poopsie
Poopsie
You are HILARIOUS! This tutorial definitely wins the prize for being the most entertaining! :oD Once I have my giggling under control, I'm most certainly going to try this project. I was wondering what I could do with all the sad, lonely, leftover pieces of fabric I couldn't bear to throw away. lol Thanks very much for also showing how to attach new strips when you reach the end of the current strips.
Reply
Stacy P.
Stacy P. · Ozark, Missouri, US · 2 projects
I need to make this! I've been tempted to do something like this for a long time, but never thought it'd look very good until I saw your photos! ^_^
Reply
The AfterCraft
The AfterCraft · Victoria, British Columbia, CA · 59 projects
Thank you so much! You know what .. toothbrush rugs are quite fast as well..
Reply
Aconitum
Aconitum · Wallington, England, GB · 9 projects
this is great - have been meaning to make one for the last 30 years so this could be my Christmas holiday project... optimistically assuming that I'll have the time!! Tee hee!!! Only discovered this site yesterday and can't seem to concentrate on anything else!! thx for sharing, Tina
Reply
(Sun)FlowerChild
(Sun)FlowerChild · 6 projects
i luv ur dog!! i am going to make this for my mom!!
Reply
M3rcy M.
M3rcy M. · 5 projects
Amazing Idea and I love your dog ;)
Reply
Nattie Gurl
Nattie Gurl · 58 projects
LOL... great job and great tut. I see myself with this teeth braiding bit AND the toe hold... Hey, Multi tasking with body parts takes talent!...LOL ;-)~
Reply
Maladignia
Maladignia · Amersfoort, Utrecht, NL · 87 projects
I think I saw something similar somewhere on youtube.
Ah, here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGr-LiPboEY
It's not braiding but knotting and you take the ends through the part of the rug you already have. So you don't have to sew it all together in the end.

Since I saw it I wanted to make it, however I still haven't gotten to it yet. And most of my scraps are weird shaped or ravel too much.

I love your version though. I like the rainbow colors.
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