Rag Rug

I've made rag-rugs before, but always used a hook and latched hundreds of scraps onto a piece of hessian. It's fun, and fantastic for using up small pieces of irregular fabric that are left over when cutting pieces for dressmaking. However, it's also extremely time-consuming, and very hard on the fingers!

So I was delighted when I found a pattern in a magazine for a rug made with larger panels.

The pieces are layered together and stitched on the bias at a space of 1.5-2 inches apart. All the layers except the bottom one are then cut, and the whole thing is put through the washing machine to give this ruffled "chenille" appearance. Not every layer has to be the full size, and layers can overlap, as long as they are neatly sandwiched between a full-sized top and bottom layer.

 I was particularly pleased to find this pattern. My top and bottom layers were made up of some very good wool shirt fabric. Unfortunately the moths had had a munch on it, so it was full of tiny holes, but it was such fine fabric that I felt heart-broken at the prospect of having to throw it away. This provided the perfect use for it.

The other layers were made up of pieces of fabric that also meant something to me in one way or another. The brown floral fabric was a piece of vintage cotton that came from my grandmother. The black and white check, the red and turquoise/black/purple pieces were all left over from  various garments I had made myself. The yellow was a piece of corduroy that I had dyed to make the closest thing I could to a pair of medieval "Marigolds". Probably better not to try and explain that one, beyond saying that it was for a show I was in!

There are probably other fabrics in there too, but as they are not easily visible I won't bore you with descriptions.

I'm pleased with the result. Even hubby (whose constant cry is "Why don't you just throw it away?") likes it and was impressed with my use of seemingly redundant pieces of material. And it is comfortingly soft and fluffy under foot.

H.x