Rag rugs
In olden days, rag rugs were made with fabric strips cut from old clothing. At that time, the concept was to reuse every bit of everything a family owned. Every one wants to recycle some old clothing into rag rugs too or one can purchase yards of fabric especially to crochet rag rugs with it. Check the negotiate shops at the local fabric market. It can be made out of fabric the same way it is crochet with yarn. The only difference is the material using to crochet with. It can be made at home if the person knows how to do single crochet stitches, the main knowledge require for rag crochet is in knowing how to plan the fabric strips to crochet with. Not just for making rag rugs, fabric strips are frequently used as a material for crocheting baskets and chair pads too.
Type of fabric require for rag rugs:
Rag rugs are prepared from a variety of fabrics like wool, cotton, silk or rayon. It is suggested not to mix the fabrics of all kinds to make any one rug because the shrinkage of fabric differs between woolens, cottons and silks. If the person wants a finer, softer rug, choose soft material. Hard fabrics may cause a coarser rug. If there are certain shade in mind and it is not available anywhere, then one may get adventurous and dye some white cotton fabric to get the desired colour.
How to preparing the fabric strips:
Strips cut that are cut on the bias of the fabric will be stronger and are will not tangle. Now fold the fabric so the horizontal small piece is parallel to the vertical piece. Mark a straight line along the bias, using a sewing chalk pencil. Mark cutting lines using a ruler and a sewing chalk pencil, mark bias strips as desired width on the fabric. With pointed sewing scissors, cut along marked lines.
There is no need to finish the edges of the fabric with stitching because bias strips only ravel a little. The minor furry raveling is part of the look of a rag rug.
Now sew the ends of strips together to make one very long strip to crochet with. Hold right sides together, overlap the strips and cut the edges at an angle. Machine or hand-stitch the two strips jointly with the layer being about 1/4 inch from the edges. Repeat the whole thing with each strip being joined. Wind the strips into a ball to make it easier to handle.