Friday, November 2, 2012

Rag Rugs for August (I'm playing catchup)

 This week I had a chance to work on some more rag rugs. I had an idea for one made from t-shirt strips that was inspired by a really cute t-shirt rag rug tutorial, done by my friend Jackie, which is made using t-shirt strips but sewn in a rectangular rug  as well as a round rug that I had made before.

This is the picture of it:
I think I blogged about it but I can't seem to find the post right now. I liked the circular shape of it and the random colors.

 That was my intention to combine those two rug ideas in the first rug I tried.

Here is how I made the rug on the right in the top picture:

 I cut out a circle from an old pair of Ken's dress pants. The circle was about 22 1/2 inches across.
 I cut out strips from old t-shirts. I started out with ones all cut about 7 inches long but soon got tired of all the cutting and just started using a long strand and looping it back and forth.
The end result is a very fluffy and comfortable rug that has a kind of strange look to it. :-) I am not very fond of the way the colors ended up arranged. Oh well. I did spend a little time on it but otherwise it was just a bunch of old clothes that would have been trash anyway. I am sure I will find some use for it.
While I was working on that rug I decided that I would actually like the look of the strands looped back and forth and that I would prefer whole sections (stripes) of color instead of the weird pattern the first one got.

 So I tried again.
I like this one much better and it only took an hour or so to make. It is a sturdy and comfy rug too. The color combinations still might be a little lacking (I was using what I found handy) but over all I like it.
Here is a picture of my looping and sewing in progress.

If you want to make a rug like one of these and have any questions just let me know. I will do my best to assist. :-)

Here are the links to the other rugs that I blogged about this year:
  • A denim crocheted Rug in January
  • A Fluffy Denim Rug for February
  • A Hula Hoop Rug for March
  • A Many Strand Braided Rug for April
  • A Rug made Friendship Bracelet Style in May
  • A Rug Crocheted without a Hook and made by Jonathan in June
  • A Plastic Bag Rug for July
  •  A Woven Rectangular Rug for October

  • I started this post on Wednesday but this week has been just a wee bit busy - so I am finally getting it posted late on Friday night. Now it is time to head to bed- I am feeling quite tired!
     

    2 comments:

    Rachel said...

    You mentioned that the clothes would have ended up in the trash, is this because they were totally worn out or you have no one to give them to? I have several bags of clothes I was planning to donate to Value Village but maybe instead I should cut them up. The clothes are still nice so I may feel guilty cutting them, but they are mine that I paid for--oh what a quandary. I love all your ideas, BTW, your blog is one of the first blogs I ever read for crafting/homemaking ideas.

    Abbi said...

    Rachel,
    Thanks so much for your sweet comment.
    The clothes that I make rugs out of are generally stained or holey. I too would have trouble cutting up perfectly good clothes to make rugs with. I do repurpose that sort of clothes (that are the wrong size or style) in other ways though- like for other clothes.

    However if you really want to make a rug and don't have anything else I don't think it would be wrong to cut up something that you were going to get rid of anyway. Another option might be to ask at the place you donate if they have stained items. I know at least one of our second hand stores gives away bags of old clothes for the purpose of cutting up because the clothes were donated but have problems for using as is.

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