How to make a rug with your own hands
In every house there is an old thing that is no longer used, but it is a pity to throw it away. If you put all the unnecessary together, you can give it a second life and transform the interior with a handmade rug. There are a lot of options for creating a beautiful thing, you just need to prepare everything you need and spend a little time to bring the idea to life.
How to make a rug with your own hands
After going through the closet with clothes, you can find many things that have not been worn for a long time, this will be the first step in creating a masterpiece of needlework. There are a lot of ways to make a rug - it can be knitting or crocheting, weaving macrame and braids and fixing the elements with wire and paper clips. Before starting your creative activity, you need to prepare material, tools and decorative elements for creating a product.
Depending on the manufacturing method, you may need:
- large diameter knitting needles and crochet hooks;
- scissors for cutting material;
- safety pins for pre-fixing;
- metal clips, if you decide to create a rug from belts and thick leather;
- glue for fixing elements on the base;
- thread and needle.
Such a small set and a little imagination will help you create a carpet of any size with a different texture, color and design, depending on the source material.
From old leather belts
For the manufacture of a rug, two methods are used - this is gluing individual elements to the base and fastening to each other. For either option, cut the buckles and align the straps to length.
When connecting the elements to each other, holes must be made at a distance of 2-3 cm along the diameter of the connecting cord. A clothesline will do. If the rug will be used in a hallway or bathroom, it is better to choose a synthetic cord, it is not subject to decay. You can connect the strips from the belt to each other arbitrarily: across, crosswise or diagonally.
In the second method, the belt strips are glued to a base made of durable material. You can join the strips in a checkerboard pattern, make a zigzag or herringbone pattern, or just stick along the canvas.
From old fabrics
When carrying out an audit in the wardrobe, you need to select things that are no longer worn or the remnants of sewing material, and create a soft and cozy rug out of them for the bedroom or nursery. Items made of synthetic threads can be cut and created from them into a product in the bathroom or hallway.
Stages of preparing the material for knitting or weaving:
- Select fabrics and sort by thickness. Do-it-yourself carpets are made of any materials that do not split and keep their shape well.
- Cut off any excess: collars, buttons and seams. You should get a solid canvas without accessories.
- Cut the material into strips of 1-5 cm. The thicker the fabric, the thinner the cut should be, but this depends on which manufacturing method is chosen. Crocheting and knitting involves a ribbon no more than 2 cm wide, for weaving braids, you can cut 3-5 cm, then the rug will turn out to be more voluminous and thicker.
- Connect the strips together with a knot and roll them into balls in color, so it will be easier to form a palette and create a pattern.
From such homemade threads, you can create a rug with knitting needles or crocheting. The knitting pattern for such products is simple. The simplest loops are used, which are the basis for creating things. A regular column or with a crochet for a crochet and alternating front and back loops on the needles, for thin stripes, you can use an elastic band.
From old towels
Such a rug can be laid in the bathroom or in the bedroom. It is very pleasant to get up with bare feet on a soft and cozy canvas.
To create such a product, old towels and terry dressing gowns are suitable, which must be cut into strips of 5-8 cm. If you want to make a large rug, then the resulting ribbons can be sewn together, the knot connection is not suitable for this material.
Weave braids from strips, this can be done from a plain or multi-colored fabric, then you get a bright shaggy rug under your feet.
The pigtails need to be made of the same length and sewn together with an elastic thread, without stretching, the canvas will turn out to be even. You can connect the braids in a circle. The size and shape of the finished product depends on the amount of material and the desire of the needlewoman.
From wine corks
Such a product is suitable for a bathroom, it gives a light massage effect and retains heat well. The size depends on the number of wine corks in the house. Many needlewomen have been collecting material for years to decorate the bathroom with a beautiful rug under their feet.
Step-by-step manufacturing instructions:
- Choose a base. A sheet of polypropylene, rubber, or felt will do.
- Wine corks must be washed from the coloring pigment and dried.
- Cut the material lengthwise with a sharp knife and sand paper the cut.
- Apply a little glue to each half of the cork and stick to the base. The drawing is arbitrary, it can be laid out in a checkerboard pattern, herringbone or longitudinally, the main thing is that the plugs fit snugly together.
The more raw material is used, the larger the canvas will turn out.
From leftover yarn
You can make a bright fluffy rug that will fit in any room. The pattern and color are usually matched to the tone of the furniture or make a bright contrast in the interior.
To create a carpet with your own hands from yarn, you can use the leftovers from knitted things or loose old sweaters and suits.
You will need a special weaving hook, which is convenient for making a loop, if this is not the case, then you can use an ordinary tool. You also need a base for creating a carpet, it can be a canvas with holes or a construction dense mesh.
If a drawing or ornament is created, it must be applied to the surface and the threads must be prepared in different colors.
- The yarn must be divided into equal lengths of 5-10 cm, depending on how fluff the product will be. It must be remembered that the more colors in the picture and the transitions of tones, the shorter the length of the threads should be, otherwise the image will turn out to be blurry.
- Start to weave the carpet from the middle or from the largest object in the design by tying knots in each cell of the mesh, changing the color of the threads.
If you are faced with this type of needlework for the first time, then it is better to start with plain weaves or choose a simple geometric pattern.
From ribbons
Usually, a satin material is used, from which you can create a beautiful product and use it as a floor rug or cover on a sofa, bed or armchair.
Any technique can be used with ribbons - this is braiding and stitching into a canvas in a circle, square or rectangle, crocheting and creating patterns by alternating colors.
The material is widely used in the macrame technique, which can be used to create a masterpiece of needlework.
Features of a knitted rug
Using different tools can make the finished canvas feel airy and soft or dense and stiff.Also, a lot depends on the starting material that is used to knit the rug.
Crochet
Easier and faster to work, less effort is needed to create a beautiful interior element. Crocheting does not require a certain stiffness or softness of a thread or ribbon, it is easier for them to create different shapes - this is an oval, a circle or a wave. And for this you need to know the two main loops that are used in the technique, this is a loop loop and an unshaped loop.
If you master this simple technique, then you can try to knit embossed patterns and airy and openwork ornaments, but more often simple patterns are used to make rugs with your own hands.
Spokes
More difficult to work with and more demanding on the density of the thread. For beginner needlewomen, only front and back loops and elastic knitting are available, but using this technique you can create an original drawing and a beautiful thing.
It should also be remembered that the rug created with knitting needles dissolves worse if a mistake is made.
Many novice needlewomen do not know how to weave rugs from old things with their hands without a hook and knitting needles. Try the macrame technique; just master a few simple knots. Braids also make very beautiful and cozy products.
How to choose the right size for your rug
It all depends on the purpose, the amount of source material and the patience of the needlewoman. In the bathroom, one 50x70 cm rug by the bathtub or several small ones created in the same design are enough. The usual size of knitted items is no more than 1 m in diameter or area. But having created several small pieces in different techniques, many needlewomen are thinking about creating large canvases that can replace purchased carpets in the hall or bedroom.
Where to place the rug in the house
To create a cozy home interior, a knitted or wicker product will be appropriate both on the floor and on the wall.
In the hallway, it is better to use a small size made of materials that are easy to wash and are not afraid of moisture. For a bathroom, a cork mat is perfect, which does not slip and is always warm. The product made of towels can be placed in the nursery and next to the bed in the bedroom.
In the kitchen, non-slip materials are used, leather or fabric will do. In the living room, you can use combinations of different sizes and colors, it will look especially beautiful when creating a rustic flavor. A small patterned rug will brighten the room when hung in a frame on the wall.
Having created a simple product, needlewomen rarely stop, improve their technique, master new methods and delight loved ones with the masterpieces of their art.
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