Blue Rag Rug

A while back. I made a rug for my front bathroom. Actually, I finished it this year, but I worked on it, off and on for a couple of months. It is a technique that a friend showed me. She learned it from her aunt, who in turn learned it from an older lady years ago. My rugs do not look like my friends, nor do they look like the ones my daughter makes. I guess we all have our own style and we tend to take over the technique to make it work for us.

I have been looking online for a rug similar to the one I made. This is about as close as I am going to get.

http://www.plowhearth.com/Country-Rugs_p216_S2002_D1042_C1016.html

Plow and Hearth Magazine

This is, I guess my inspiration... and then again, it is only similar.

Fabrics are torn into strips about 2 1/2" to 3" wide, selvage to selvage. Holes are cut into the ends of the strips and then they are joined just like you do rubber band strips, pulling the end of one through the hole of the other. I know, it sounds like - huh? It is really not that hard, I probably need to do a tutorial on it sometime. Using two strips (ends are folded small and then secured with large safety pins to make it easier to put ends into holes)

A series of knots are made, actually the same kind, one knot over and over, -- bring the top strip down and then bring the other strip around it and up through the hole from the previous row. I used fabrics from my stash, and an old sheet I got at a yard sale. I got the fabric stash at a storage auction a couple of years ago and I have made quilts, upon quilts and now I have made about four rugs (I still have too much fabric).

When your strip gets shorts, you add on another. Here is one of the joining areas. I have not had a problem with the fabric fraying too much.

I have started another rug with some of the leftover fabric for a bath mat by the tub. So far,I still need more fabric to finish it. Here is what I have done so far.

It will be similar, but different. These rugs tend to take on a personality of their own.