Will you be doing a tutorial on how to finish the rug? I think your instructions are wonderful! Easy to see and understand what you are doing. Can you do an instruction on working around an end?

Thanks!

Thank you. I just received my toothbrush braiding needles in the mail, (Outlandish shipping chages no matter where i looked), and was anxious to get started. I have seen some limited written directions on various websites and was truly longing to find someone that knew how to work the technique so that they might demonstrate it for me. (I’m such a multi-modal learner) Surprise to me. I found your videos tonight. Your videos are wonderful. You spoke clearly and explained everything in detail. I don’t believe that I’ll even have to watch them a second time. God bless you.

Thanks again,
Jodie

HI again! I started working a round rug - just to see if it was as easy as you made it look and (ta da - trumpets please) IT IS! I just wanted to share something with you since you’ve shared your rug making skills. When I have done macrame in the past, I used a cork board - a message board, push-pin board that you can get for a couple of dollars at Wal-Mart - to keep my work still/steady, pinning the macrame to the board. The smaller the board the easier to move your work around if you need to, or to cart it if you wanted to work in front of the t.v. I started my rug by pinning it to a small cork board and that seemed to work well for me, instead of using my bed. One I got to the point where I removed the pin, I just took it off the board. Thanks for your web-site (again)! I can’t wait to get good enough to do a “real” rug (I’m still practicing - LOL!)

Hi Brenda,

Thanks for letting me know that this was helpful; I love picturing you at your ironing board! Great idea for a rugging spot.

Hi there !
Me again. Just wondered…and I may have missed this somewhere along the way…what length should the strips of fabric be ? I am using bed sheets and have found I get tons of tangles if I use the strips at their original length.
This new endeavour is keeping me very busyand happy as I see progress so quickly.
Thanks again for taking time to give me a hand.
Brenda Jane

**Please forgive the typos!! I’m disoriented with excitement!**

Thanks so much for the videos! Like you, I had looked for instructions, but none were clear enough for me. I had bookmarked some sites to re-read. You have saved me much time and frustration because I found your site before going back to the others.

My new rug is now about 6 inches in diameter! :) It works up so fast, I know I will have it done before long. We have wood and / or tile floors in our new home. I will be making rugs for some time, but that is just what I wanted to do.

Thanks again.

Thank you soo much I can’t sew to save my life
You make it look so easy I will start my rug soon.
Also wondered if you knew how to make a square rag rug that I saw on HGTV. She started out with 3 pieces of fabric with a knot tied at the top then braided to the end and ended up with about 8 braids and some kind of way connected the braids together by weaving fabic across the braids and that’s where I got lost

Thank You for this video!!!! I can show my mom how to do these rugs know. She’s been trying to find instruction on how to do rag rugs like… forever. I can’t wait to show her something for a change. She knows how to quilt very well…but I on the other hand can knit & crochet (only blankets..lol). I’m just glad we can add something else to do. Thanks again!!!

A reader of my blog told me about your entry here. Glad to see someone else trying to keep this fine old craft alive!

Like you, I’m a terrible crafter- I can’t cut or draw a straight line. My mother and grandmother taught me as a child, when I was too young to know better, *grin*

I’ve not watched all the videos (I’ll come back and do that another time… I’m adding a link to this page to my blog and mentioning it in a post today) but what you say in general is apt.

Cotton and cotton poly blends are the easiest for beginners. Plastic grocery bags are pretty easy too, provided you carefully do just enough “double” stitches. They’re a great way to recycle shopping bags, and work great as mats in the kitchen and bathroom, or as a doormat.

By far the best thing for a beginner to use is an old sheet. You will probably need wider strips than 1″, but the cutting and sewing is very easy. My wife just took up the craft, and after some false starts where she tried to be as ambitious as I am, she is now working on a rug made of various sheets I’ve “liberated” from their ignominious and eternal entombment in landfills. (I live in a big city, people are always moving in and out, so I’m never at a loss for free mat’l.)

Believe it or not, jeans are also very easy to work with- they just take a lot of effort to cut and sew. But the fabric itself is VERY forgiving… I’ve never had a jean rug pucker [from too many doubles] or cup up [from too few] on me. And the finished product is astonishingly beautiful.

One other comment- while one inch is a good general rule, it depends much on the nature of the fabric. Lighter weight mat’ls such as a sheer blouse you might need to go up to 2″ or more… thicker things such as a pair of men’s dockers, half an inch should do. For jeans, you don’t want to go MORE than 1/2″ unless you intend to use this as a form of resistance exercise.

Square rectangular rugs are also possible, but they’re quite advanced. I’ve tried to explain a little about it on my blog, but I’ve yet to figure out how to explain it to a novice. No one in my family knew how to do them until a crocheter friend of mine in high school saw me working on a rug and gave me the idea of reversing back on the row. Best advice there- make 4 or 5 rugs, such that your fingers “know” the craft, then try tackling a square or rectangular rug.

Anyway, good for you, look forward to seeing your videos. I have an entire blog dedicated to the subject, so if you want to read more of my tips, see the videos I’ve done, they’re all there.

OK, the link on my site (toothbrushrugs.blogspot.com) is up.

A question- who is “Aunt Philly” and what is the url of her website?

A comment on tools: Yes, sadly, most toothbrushes are too high tech today to work as needles, but two excellent substitutes are readily available:
- A small paintbrush handle (just chose the size which you want.) The shape is PERFECT, putting the point on is easy. You’ll probably have to widen the hole a bit.
- Small spatulas (the sort with a rubber head you’d use to clean out a bowl, not the kind you’d use with a grill.) Go with quality, the cheap ones break too easily. The process of making a needle from a spatula is the same as from a flat toothbrush. My sister prefers the VERY high end ones which are flexible and essentially unbreakable. With one of those, she can do 3 to 5 stitches in the time it takes me to do one. (She also does a looser stitch than I do… its been said my rugs could double as bullet proof vests.)

Your rag rug instructions are great! That’s so nice of you to post this. Thank you!!!

Finally! Video that actually shows close-up exactly how to do this! Thank you, Rag Rug Cafe!

izzie, here’s the math according to Aunt Philly: After deciding how big an oval you want, subtract the width from the length. For a rug that is 18″ x 36″ you will need an 18″ staring row.

How is everybody doing??!

thats cool that u put this on here, i searched every where trying to figuer out how to start since an instructor lady wouldn’t say unless we bought a class, thnks!

i was woundering the tool that you made with a wire hanger how did you make that? i love your videos and i want to get started i have a hanger here and wanted to know how you make it.so that i can get started on my rug

Hi Sherry.

Yes! Go tighter and I think your holes should disappear.

The trick is to find the right balance–tight, but not too tight.

You’ll find that happy medium in no time.