Rag Rug Crafting

The idea of “repurposing” is to transform one item–most often an unwanted item–into an item that’s more usable, or at least more desirable.

When our entry hall rug began to shed rubber backing material all over the floor (not very useful), we decided it was time to replace it. Rag Rug | How to make rag-rug yarn from sheets and fabrics.

We committed ourselves to purchasing the replacement from a “reuse” source, such as a thrift store or a garage sale. We searched for several months, but to no avail. Meanwhile, the rubber backing material had migrated throughout our home.

We brainstormed, and gathered an idea from our past. In 2002, we made braided rugs from strips of flannel pajamas and sold them at various trade shows and farmers markets. They were beautiful and unique, and they sold quickly (fortunately for us). Yet, as seems to be our M.O., Rag Rug Rose Fabric | How to make rag-rug yarn from sheets and fabrics. we never made one for ourselves. Now, we thought, would be a good time to dust off our old rug making skills.

We wanted a neutral color (the rug we were replacing was light tan); yet, we were willing to add a little color into our life if the right fabric came along. Over a period of two months, we determinedly searched our local sources and found three queen size sheets with a few tears — gorgeous fabric!

So, in actuality, our “rag” rug is not exactly made from rags. But anyway, we loved the pattern, and Rag Rug First Round With Hook and Yarn | How to make rag-rug yarn from sheets and fabrics. these sheets were bound to be rags at some near future point. At first we thought we could make braided rugs, but the texture and the colors seemed to lend themselves better to crochet. And, for this project, we would need a HUGE-MONGOUS crochet hook. Size N! That’s “n” for Need a Strong Arm to Crochet with It.

To turn the sheets into yarn, we cut them into 1 1/2 inch strips and sewed the strips–right sides–together. This image shows how they looked at that stage.

Rag Rug Seam Joining | How to make rag-rug yarn from sheets and fabrics.

The best way we found to manage the sewn strips was to roll them in a ball (just like you would regular yarn). We set the ball of yarn in a bowl so it wouldn’t roll around while we ironed and ironed and ironed and ironed.

We ironed the sewn strips by folding each edge toward the middle, rolling it all into a coil as we went along.

Rag Rug Ironing Folds | How to make rag-rug yarn from sheets and fabrics.

This kept the “yarn” from becoming tangled, and it helped us see how much was left as we were crocheting. This is always the tricky part when working with repurposed materials: our creativity is limited (or enhanced) by the amount of material available. You rarely can just buy more.

Wrapping Rag Rug Yarn | How to make rag-rug yarn from sheets and fabrics.

Using our strip-yarn, we began crocheting the first section.

Rag Rug Yarn Wrapped | How to make rag-rug yarn from sheets and fabrics.

While we were at it, we decided to replace our tattered—and becoming hazardous—kitchen rug as well. It was slow going because we didn’t have a pattern. Even though the Internet is loaded with free crochet rug patterns, our rugs needed to be a specific size and shape. So, we just used the old rug as a measuring stick, of sorts. We single crocheted the first row until it was the same length of our existing rug’s first row. Rag Rug First Round With Hook | How to make rag-rug yarn from sheets and fabrics.

Next, we made an oval that matched the shape of the old rug. We then kept adding rows to create the pattern and style that we felt would look best. For a while there, we considered physical therapy for our arms just so we could finish the job. Who knew that crocheting could feel like pulling a tugboat through ice cold water with one hand. Yowza! Thankfully, because we both crochet, we were able to spread the muscle damage around a bit — enough to finish, anyway.

Rag Rug First Round Close Up | How to make rag-rug yarn from sheets and fabrics. Regardless of the intense upper body workout (or then again, maybe because of it), this is a project we intend to do again in the near future.

If you know how to crochet, this is an easy (aside from the arm thing) and very satisfying project. If you don’t know how to crochet (yet), be encouraged that this is made with the most elementary stitches; a single crochet and double crochet is all we used to make this wonderful rug. And, if you’re not interested in learning to crochet, there are loads of braided rug how-tos on the Internet.

We hope we have inspired you to put otherwise discarded items to good use. Be warned: Rag Rug Finished | How to make rag-rug yarn from sheets and fabrics. repurposing — especially your own household and personal items — is extremely satisfying and addicting. We highly recommend it.

In Kindness, ~JnK