Happy Labor Day! For a fun change of pace today, I have the cute girls from Everyday Art here to show us How to Make a Rag Rug tutorial. I love their super easy technique! This is definitely a great craft for fabric scraps. {don’t ya love scrap busters?} enjoy! -Linda
How to Make a Rag Rug Tutorial
Hi, my name is Jaime and my sister-in-law Emily and I are craftaholics. :)
We like to share our creations on our blog, Everyday Art because we think that everyone likes to create a little art everyday.
We’re excited to be here at Craftaholics Anonymous® today sharing one of our recent projects.
Introducing, the Pink-and-Blue Rag Rug:
And I must say, phew!, what a long, loooong time this project took me! Many hours sitting watching shows/listening to audio books while working on this puppy. But, I have to say, even knowing how many hours (days, weeks, months) I’ve put into this, I’m so pleased with how it turned out. I love it. :)
We recently moved and I put my two oldest girls in a shared bedroom. One loves blue, the other pink. So what to do but make a pretty blue-and-pink room for them? After completing the blue-and-pink quilts for their bunk beds, painting the walls blue, and hanging pink curtains, I tackled the rag rug as my next project.
As you can see, it turned out cute, coordinating, and much loved by the two girls.
The rug really was simple to make, just time-consuming. Basically, I used strips of fabric (1000s of them) cut about 1 inch x 5 inches. I stuffed these strips into a non-skid rug mat and voila! No need to even bother tying the strips.
You can see the rug mat in this image and about how often I skipped holes. Obviously, I certainly could have made it more full by skipping less holes in the non-skid mat, but there really wasn’t a need to make it any more full. I used leftover fabric from their quilts plus other scraps and purchased fabrics.
The rug has been in the girls’ room for about 2 weeks now and it easily fluffs up with a little shake and appears to be holding up well. With projects like this, the personalizing possibilities are truly endless–any color scheme would be fun.
Ready to make one yourself?
Rag Rug Tutorial
Supplies:
- 1″ x 5″ strips of fabric
- Non-skid Rug Mat
- Latch Hook Tool {optional}
Here’s an image-tutorial on how to make a rag rug:
I hope your rug goes well! I think this was one of my all-time-favorite handmade items.
Thanks Linda for having us. :)
Lots of love from the gals at Everyday Art!
Follow along on Pinterest for more Crafting Ideas and Inspiration!
Share and Enjoy
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Is it 3 yards of each color of fabric?
Love love love the rag rug.
Hi..I LOVE the rag rug! I’ve looked at Joanne’s and Michaels but can’t seem to find the non slip rug in bigger sizes. May I ask where you purchased yours? Thank you! It’s adorable!
Thanks, Coleen! You can find them on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1kubFl6
Beautiful rug & colors! I’ve been wanting to try one for a while and a couple days ago found the non skid mat, 39 X 47, at Dollarama for around $3….fantastic price. I’m going to go back and get a couple more for (hopefully) future projects. The first one will be a bed side rug out of old holey Tshirts.
Did you use pinking edge?
No, but that would be a good idea. But it would also take a really long time to hand cut all those strips with pinking shears.
You could use a rotary cutter with a pinking disk when cutting your strips! Then you would get the “pinking shears” effect ;)
I totally forgot that you can do that with a rotary! Good idea!
Love the look of the rag quilt
Can I get the non skid mat AT JOAN FABRICS? If not she
Where and how much ? Can get a big piece or I could hook together and you really don’t the 99th e m ?
A reader commented recently that she found the non-skid rug mat material at Joanns. You can also find it at Target, Walmart, or other home stores or on Amazon.
Where do I buy the mat and how much ?
You can buy them at your local home store or Amazon: http://amzn.to/1kubFl6
I like the idea of knotting them to help the fabric not slide around. For those of you who did this how much longer did you cut the fabric. Wondering if the fabric should be 6 inches long instead of 5.
lovely and different!
How do you launder this?
In a laundry bag or pillow case. Lay flat to dry.
Love this idea!
So- am I understanding this right? You did NOT tie these into the holes? I would love to make one! Thanks!
No they are just looped
No, they are not tied
Did you do anything special to stop the fabric from fraying?
no
Does the cotton ever fray? I want to make this for my living room thinking 8×10.. Any tips?
Yes, it frays. If you don’t want it to fray, use a knit fabric.
What kind of material was used?
100% cotton fabric was used. If you don’t it your strips to fray at all, use a knit fabric.
I am so in love with this little rug and about to get started on one. I just purchased all the supplies and I had a very hard time finding a rug pad that looked like the one shown and would work to hold fabric. The Amazon one looked fine but could only be purchased as an add on purchase. After running around to all the stores mentioned on this sight and having no luck I finally discovered that Jo-Ann’s sells this by the yard and it’s perfect and cheap! It’s called utility liner. Just wanted to pass that along.
Good to know! Thanks for sharing! I’m sure that will help many crafters out.
i found the non skid pad at walmart for around 8 or 9 dollars
Fantastic project. Really am going to try one. What about using microfiber and a bath rug?
That should work!
What about fleece? Would that be too thick?
It might be difficult to pull fleece through the little holes in the matting.
I have a rug pad that is woven almost 1/2 inch wide. Your fleece sounds great to me. However, I would use only 1″ strips and I would Loop the strips through. OR tie them. I purchased for $60. a rug pad for my mom that had much larger holes. Obviously the one I have now is a dollar store item $@.00
has anyone besides poster made this? how well does a diy hold up? thanks!
How much material did it take total
around 5 yards
Your right it is very beautiful….but i don’t know if i can cut all those strips and work on it for months….wow
This is a stupid question. Do you knot it?? If not does the fabric strips fall out??
She did not knot the strips.
Has any one tried using a rug hook with fleece and maybe cut 3/4″ x 6″?
Just wondering if you can throw it in the washer?
If you use a laundry bag or pillow case, then yes, you can put it in the washing machine on a gently cycle. Lay flat to dry.
Hi…I think the rug looks really fun. From the pictures…it looks like you pull the material through…but don’t tie it…am I seeing it right?
Sorry…I should have read all of the comments first…I see now that it isn’t tied.
Going to make one for my grand daughter!
Could not find where to buy the none skid rug matting…… Please help????????
You can find them at Home stores or online here: http://amzn.to/1n4aoaj
How can you wash these rugs? Would it be better to tie a knot, Or looping the strips?
You can find them at home stores or online here: http://amzn.to/1n4aoaj
What happens when you wash the rag rug. Do the fabric strips stay in the rug mat?
To wash, put in a laundry bag or a pillow case and lay flat to dry. They do pretty good with that. If you are really worried, you can hand wash.
Love the rag rug!
A little nervous, about not knotting the strips. Please let us know how it holds up?!
If you are using cotton why not just tear the strips?
Great idea!
Hi there. I’m just wondering…. won’t the fabric fray? Or do you cut the strips of material a certain way to avoid this? I’m sorry, I’m not really a seamstress and haven’t worked much with fabric before.
Yes, they will fray some. You could use pinking shears to help prevent it from fraying or use knit fabric and that won’t fray at all.
What type of “knit” would be best? I went to the fabric store and apparently there is a bunch of different types of “knit” Thanks for the comments as I am not very well versed in fabrics.
jersey knit would well
I absolutely love this and I am eager to learn how to make this I just would like a little more instructions!
Beautiful rug
REALLY GREAT~!
Love crafts and this rug!
Is there a reason you don’t knot the strips?
Better texture and softer on your feet
I should have read this comment before trying to tie the strips! You are definitely right – the knots are hard on the feet! I was concerned that my grandson-to-be would pull out the strips, but decided comfort was more important than little strips pulled out. Besides, if I make it fluffy enough, then losing some of the strips won’t even matter.
A great idea to use leftover . thank you
You could have saved a lot of time by using a latch hook just to pull fabric through. If you wanted a knot you could do that with it.
Love love love this idea!!!! My twins share a room…. And finding things that are gender neutral can be difficult. I am adding this to “the list” lol.
Thanks again!!!!
Thank you so much for your post! I wanted to use leftover fabric scraps to make a little rug for my grandson-to-be. I had a different type of “rug gripper” fabric, but it still worked. At first I went ahead and tied the fabric strips on. I decided to try standing on it on tile…and it hurt! Ouch! Who wants to sit or stand on a bunch of knots? So I went back to your original instructions and am currently tying on strips of flannel fabric, to make it softer. Thank you again! Looking forward to seeing how fluffy it gets and if it works in the bathroom.
I’m working on a rug like this now and I’m about 1/3 of the way through and it is looking absolutely beautiful! I’m using the baby flannel and I’m tieing each piece and pinking the tops. For anyone who is worried about feeling knots under your feet (like I was) it’s not a problem at all. It is so plush when the large areas are done you couldn’t begin to feel any knots under there and it will stay together! It is VERY time consuming but so worth it!
I love this idea it is so cute! My family is starting foster care and I am going to do this for the nursery!
That’s awesome you’re going to do foster care! It takes special people to do that service.
love this, cheers
Did you skip a row between each row?
You could cut strips on the bias to avoid fraying :)
Good point!! That is a great solution.
Have you washed it yet??? I would love to make one but having 3 boys in my house … it is guaranteed to need a wash at least once a week! Just wondering if there is anything that I would have to do differently to it so that it withstands the washing machine and if the non-slip rug would hold up in the washer as well! Thank you!
Hi Dana! The non-stick mat holds up just fine in the washing machine. Avoid putting it in the dryer as the heat will slowly break it down over time. You’ll want to put the rug in a laundry bag before putting in washing machine. Then lay flat to dry. This helps keep the fabric in tact.
Thank u so much!!!!
Is there a technique to cutting the fabric? Or a toll that folks use. Or do you just cut the individual strips one-by-one?
Thanks!
A rotary cutter is highly recommended! Lots quicker and will save your hands :)
I LOVE this! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks!
I see this as a wall hanging! Beautiful!