Awesome Rag Rug Craft Tutorial

There are several methods of recycling old rags or torn clothing into rugs. Why not be eco-friendly, resourceful, and creative all in one go? Here are instructions for hooking, machine sewing, and braiding your soon-to-be rug.

Obtain canvas webbing with a minimum of 1/4 inch openings. This is available in larger opening sizes as well from most sewing and craft stores. Most will have canvas webbing with drawn-on patterns to guide your color choices.

Cut your fabric into pieces. The size you choose will depend on your webbing. If you can, be e-co friendly by using recycled fabrics such as old clothing. Cut them into strips that are a maximum of 1/2" (1.25 cm) in width and 3-4 inches (7.5-10 cm) in length. Keeping the lengths uniform results in a smooth "pile" for your rug.

Sketch the design you want onto the canvas mesh. That is, of course, if the canvas didn't come with a pattern on it already. Permanent markers work well for this; just take care not to get marker on any surface underneath the canvas.

Hook your rag strips onto the canvas in the manner of a hooked rug. In a couple of hours, you'll have a new rug all your own. Ta da! No glue, sewing machine, or real skill required.

Sewn Rug
Cut your fabric into strips that are the width of your finished rug. This method will be assuming you're making a fairly standard rectangular rug. However, it's up to you whether or not you want a fringe on the edge.
Pull the ends of the strips slightly to make them curl along their long edges. This gives your rag rug volume, texture, and character. Who knew a rug could have character? Well, yours will, that's for sure.
Lay the slightly curled strips side by side with their ends even. Do this now to see how the colors and patterns line up. You may not like how the shades frame each other and need to adjust before you make everything permanent.
Machine stitch the strips together perpendicular to the lay of the strips. That's right; perpendicular. This makes the rug sturdy and gives it interesting visual lines.
Sew parallel lines, too. You may have some edges that look like they need to be shown their place; in that case, turn your rug 90 degrees and start sewing parallel lines. These can be spaced at your discretion.

Braided Rug
Cut your fabric into strips of equal width. Somewhere around 3" (7.5 cm) is perfect. You'll need what can only be called "loads" of fabric, so cut strips that are as long as possible. You'll only know if you need more fabric at the very end, once the rug is coiled together and the size becomes apparent.
Sew all the strips end to end to make three long strips. Don't worry about the colors or material matching -- you just need three super long strips to work with.
Braid the strips together tightly. This'll be easiest if you can devise a way to hang the strips so you can stand while braiding your feet upon feet of fabric. A clothespin will be handy in keeping the braid together.
Once you reach the end, coil up the braid. Start from the beginning and spiral out. If the rug is big enough, great! You're finished with braiding and can move onto sewing it into its circular shape. If it's not big enough, simply sew on a few more fabric strips to elongate your three master strips and continue the braiding process.
Sew the finished braids together. Uncoil the rug and work from the very center. Sew along the inside edges to join the braid with the length of fabric that surrounds it, going around and around and around. Coil up your rug as you go, following with your string.