Many people don’t know that a rag area rug has been around for a few hundreds years. As early as the late 18th century, rag rugs were crocheted with fabric strips cut from old clothing. At that time, this was a necessity because old clothes were not just thrown away, or given out.  Every old bit of anything a family owned, was recycled and put to good use.

It is a traditional and somewhat classic hand woven craft, and as in the days of old, today,  it can also be made from old unwanted clothes. This is a great way to recycle your old garments, including old jeans, blankets and leather, and you can make one for yourself in just a few days.

USE YOUR OLD CLOTHES WISELY AND CREATIVELY

The best rag area rug has a good mix of fabric in a planned colour coordinated finish. A variety of materials can be used to make a rag area rug, materials such as sheets, blankets, jumpers, dresses, ribbons, leather and even plastic bags. You can also purchase cheap yards of different types and textures of material from a local fabric shop. You will always find great bargains for materials that you can make an area rug from.

Asides using a rag rug as an area rug,  there are other  variety of things you can make using the rag rug system. People have made cushions, tea cosies, wall hangings, chair pads, blankets, and even neat table linen out of rag rugs.

To make an area rag rug is simple and straightforward but you need to be able to crochet. The most basic and simple technique of crocheting will suffice.

When the kids are on vacation and want something exciting to do, why not give them this fun task to make a beautiful rag area rug for their bedroom, or for any other space in the house.

Better still, they can make a bit of money by making these beautiful area rugs and sell them inexpensively to family and friends.

The things you require to make a rag area rug are easy to find items, and you probably have them lying around the house or tucked away somewhere, deep in the closet.

Like i said, if you know how to do basic crochet, then you are good and ready to go.

You first of all need to assemble these implements

• Needle and thread (or a sewing machine if you possess one).
• A pair of good sewing scissors
• A crochet hook (the US size Q is perfect for the job), large size.
• Old unwanted or discarded clothes, blankets, linen, jeans or whatever form of material you may find around the house.

Now you can proceed with your craft.

If you can crochet with yarn, then you can make a rag area rug. It’s the same basic principle you will use to crochet fabric strips.

Don’t worry too much about perfection because the idea of a rag area rug is not to achieve a the intricate look of a machine woven carpet. Remember that this is a homemade rag area rug and a work of art, so it's not intended to be perfect.

Using a large crochet hook allows stitches to be relaxed. It makes it easy to unravel if you hate the end result and you want to do it all over again. If you think you've made a mistake, just unravel it and begin again. You will eventually get it right.

And when you are pleased with your results, iron the rag area rug you just made with a steam iron, especially if you find the edges are ruffling.

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