Permie rug idea thread

I am likely going to be in a place in a couple of years of needing rugs. I have a few rugs that I love, but they're all over 30 years old now and some are showing their age... like me!

So the purpose of this thread is to post ideas and inspiration. The inspiration doesn't have to be totally permie, so long as the idea *could* be permified.

What does that mean?
1. Can be made from 100% natural fibers - but that could mean anything from wool, cotton, burlap, leather etc. Upcycling is great.
2. Can be assembled on a home scale - so fabric or yarn could be purchased, material can be upcycled, but the actual turning it into a rug doesn't need more than what a skilled human can do in a house.
3. The end product can be washed - by machine if small, or by hand in a big bin outside, spot cleaned, but not something that requires dry cleaning or some professional.
4. Material can be home dyed in a natural/non-toxic way.
5. I can add to this list if I, or a fellow permie, thinks of something important.

I am totally happy for other people to post their ideas, or rugs they've made. This is all about inspiration and I will get us started with a Y tube rug in my next post.

Interesting how when I've been wondering about ideas for decorating, Y tube seems to read my mind...

So there's no indication in this video, how much is natural vs how much is a mix or not. But I can see how it could be made completely out of quilting cottons, +/- a heavier backing that might be something like burlap so that it will keep its shape and have a little mass.

I think it would be harder to find and scavenge wool to use for this idea, but I can imagine doing so if the opportunity arose.

I've started the video at the point where the artist is laying out her plan:



I can totally see this sort of idea beside a bed, as she did it, or if out of absorbent materials, for a narrow bathroom. No, I don't use iron on stuff as she mentions at one point, but I do know how to baste! In fact, in my opinion, hand stitching the rocks to a light backing, then quilting the whole thing to a heavier backing, would appeal to me more than seeing the stitching around each rock.

Suggestions:  hooked rug using cut lengths of wool yarn hooked into a burlap base, or specialised rug canvas.  Wool can be recycled. . . Latch hook required.  Can also be done with fabric strips.  We had these left over from WWII times. . .
Punched rug, special tool needed, burlap base. recycled wool yarn again
Yarn made from left over or recycled fabric cut into lengths and knitted or crocheted to shape; T-shirt 'yarn' rolls nicely, but may not be all cotton - best for smaller projects - it can get unwieldy.
Fabric pieced shape, backing and then quilted, no stuffing
Blanket, embellished with embroidery sewn on shapes, whatever ideas occur
Ha! the last two could be "fused".

Rag rug from recycled fabric? It can be crocheted, braided or woven. I saw this one in an antique shop:

I have laminate and tile flooring in my house and we have three throw rugs down at any given time (bathroom, front door, and a thick one at the kitchen sink).

For all of these, I crochet and knit rugs from fabric strips (often from discarded clothes or fabric). I also crochet and (to a lesser extent) knit rugs from rope, twine, and string. The women in my family make patchwork rugs too. I probably have about 25, as I rotate them out every few days as they get dirty.

Edited to add:
some years ago I found this list and made a few of these rugs. they were easy enough for me to figure out, not being a crochet master. Also i'm using what I have, i figure if it comes out a bit bigger or smaller i'll make up for it in gauge or whatever.
https://www.yarnspirations.com/collections/patterns?filter.p.m.global.skill_type=Crochet&filter.p.m.global.project_type=Rugs&srsltid=AfmBOooGmLBIbq5WweAzEHrp4cc-fjWsAI-XTb6OgCFEFnzq2fETSuMZ

this one is especially nice https://www.yarnspirations.com/collections/patterns/products/red-heart-textured-waves-rug

this one too https://www.yarnspirations.com/collections/patterns/products/red-heart-diagonal-rug

Hello again - decided to be brave and share my latch-hooked on rug canvas effort.  The top is shaped to fit around the curve of the brick underneath the wood burning stove.  Material is handspun wool dyed with onion skins,  shade depending on how many skins were available at any given time.  Colour chosen to match the result when an ember falls onto wool. . . it has lasted a good 20 years, although the pile has worn down somewhat.

I knit rugs from scrap clothing that I don't want to save as patches or other projects. I cut them into strips, as long as possible and then use ~5/8" dowels as knitting needles. These don't exactly meet criterion #1 because while all the clothes that went into these claim to be 100% cotton, there's poly thread or something seemingly in everything. But one *could* use this technique with all natural fiber, of course.

Nice rugs there Christopher!!

Christopher Weeks wrote:I cut them into strips,

Any suggestions on how to do this less painfully? I had a sofa delivered a few months ago and it came in a giant fabric sock, for lack of a better word. It's crap fabric (certainly polyish) but i'll be dagnabbed if I'm going to landfill it. But just thinking about cutting this monster (the size of my car) into strips has me on the floor in a puddle. Of course, it's knit jersey and doesn't tear (that would be too easy). Every so often I put on an audiobook and give it an hour but, damn. And I can use scissors with both hands, so I switch off.

You can fold it and fold it and fold it and if you're careful, cut through all those layers with a rotary cutter on a mat, if you have that stuff. I've made strips like that for piecing quilt tops. For these, I've mostly used scissors slowly while the TV is on or I'm listening to podcasts.

I have seen some neat mats made from old fire hose which I believe were heavy canvas. Not really a rug but if you need a heavy duty mat that’s an option.

Tereza Okava wrote:Nice rugs there Christopher!!

Christopher Weeks wrote:I cut them into strips,

Any suggestions on how to do this less painfully? I had a sofa delivered a few months ago and it came in a giant fabric sock, for lack of a better word. It's crap fabric (certainly polyish) but i'll be dagnabbed if I'm going to landfill it. But just thinking about cutting this monster (the size of my car) into strips has me on the floor in a puddle. Of course, it's knit jersey and doesn't tear (that would be too easy). Every so often I put on an audiobook and give it an hour but, damn. And I can use scissors with both hands, so I switch off.

I was going to suggest tearing. I've ripped up a bunch of old t-shirts that way. I just cut little notches at the base of the shirt, however many inches wide as I want the strips, and then *rip* the shirt to the top. It looks like you're saying that it doesn't rip, so that's a huge bummer.

Do you have a rotary cutter, a fabric mat, and clear rulers? That's how my mom would cut all her quilting fabric. Line the clear ruler on top of the fabric at the width you want it, and put the rotary cutter next to it. Then, slide the rotary cutter next to the ruler until you come to the end of the ruler. Then move the ruler the next distance and repeat. It's faster than cutting with scissors, at least!

Nicole Alderman wrote:

Do you have a rotary cutter, a fabric mat, and clear rulers?

I had a friend who did a lot of sewing and she had made a special table that had 2 fabric mats end to end. Then I would use either a meter stick, or hubbies 4 ft drywall cutting square to do the cuts if I were working with large fabric like bedsheets.

It would take longer, but at one point when I needed long strips of jersey fabric, I carefully cut in a spiral going up the shirt. It was tricky keeping the strips at the right width because I couldn't just mark it with chalk and ruler. In special circumstances I would do that again, but I think I'd bodge up some sort of marking gauge.

Certainly using fabric that rips is the easy approach, but the softness and absorbency of old T-shirts is hard to pass up, particularly for something like a bathroom rug.

I wish corduroy hadn't gone the way of the dodo - it was awesome for making rag rugs. It ripped easily, came in a good variety of tones, and plenty of people were willing to give me their lightly worn pairs.

Other permie options could be rug twining, and rugs made on a peg loom - just depends on how/ where you source the fibers, but both are adaptable to anything from fabric scraps,  yarn, and rope, to raw wool twisted as it is woven.
Twining:  

Peg loom:  [youtube]https://m.youtube.com/shorts/UOQCzX08FNE[/youtube]

Nicole Alderman wrote:Do you have a rotary cutter, a fabric mat, and clear rulers?

I have a cutter, but none of the rest of the goodies (like the sharpener??? or the mat? no idea where these things ended up). I have made quilts but I think the rotary cutter was one of those things that I bought (when I worked at a fabric store) and carried around the world but never actually used, go figure. To be fair, I have some really, really nice scissors.
I just downloaded another audiobook, tonight is my craft night and we'll see how much I can just buckle down and do.

Tereza Okava wrote:

Nicole Alderman wrote:Do you have a rotary cutter, a fabric mat, and clear rulers?

I have a cutter, but none of the rest of the goodies (like the sharpener???

They make a sharpener for those?! I think I need to put that on my Christmas list. Mine has one spot that is dull, so I usually have to manually snip the uncut bit with scissors.

Nicole Alderman wrote:rotary sharpener

I only know because it's another piece of equipment I toted around the world with me (and never used...)

This is what I have https://colonialneedle.com/products/sharpeners?srsltid=AfmBOop2_mztSu06e_GAL4Zewp-6L2wUOVe7KaiVkbbPoz5imTUmoumr
but maybe save your money??
https://www.reddit.com/r/quilting/comments/qzwihw/do_rotary_blade_sharpeners_actually_work/

Tereza Okava wrote:

Nicole Alderman wrote:rotary sharpener

I only know because it's another piece of equipment I toted around the world with me (and never used...)

I have hardly used mine, because I'm usually doing fiddly stuff and find my good fabric scissors are easier than making a mistake.

That said, when I bought my cutter it was a good sale so I bought a pack of spare blades as well. It sounds from the reddit link that new blades is a popular approach. That just reinforces my idea that using my 30+ year old scissors is a good approach!

However, if I was cutting large amounts of strips for making a rug, I think I would go for the ruler/roller cutter system and likely buy the second mat as well. A large project would make that investment worthwhile, and I see several large projects in my future.

I wonder if Hubby's Rotary tool with a grinding blade in it would do a better job with the sharpening. I didn't read the whole reddit post. That's what Hubby uses to sharpen his chainsaw which is a pretty fiddly job.

If you have a source for raw wool, there’s always felting.  There are videos on youtube.  It’s not complicated but depending on the size it can be strenuous.

I made a nice mat that is about 1/2 inch thick dense felt.  I love standing on it, but the cat has usurped it!

I have seen but haven’t tried yet, a rug that looks like a sheepskin, but on the I back where the skin would be is felt.  Remarkable really.

The mat I made in a plastic water tub because it was winter and didn’t want to work outside.  I put 5 layers of hand “teased” wool one after the other in to the bottom of the tub.  It could have been carded, you just need to fluff up and separae the fibers some.  If working with roving, I would have laid the fibers perpendicular each layer perpendicular to the layer immediately below.  

Then I sprinkled some grated soap on over it, poured boiling water onto the fibers, and pressed the mass down, until the wool was all wet.  Then I pressed and rubbed the wool. I just did yhat until I got tired of it.  The next day I poured the soapy water out, gently, leaving the felt undisturbed on the bottom of the tub.  Then repeated the boiling water process.

There is a fair amount of shrinkage with the agitation and the temperature shock makes the scales on the surface of the individual fibers make the fibers take hold of each other, which is how it becomes felt.

This prototype is an oval.  A larger rug could be made if I had a square or rectangular tub and could make pieces to stitch together.  Or, in warmer weather I could use a larger water trough and walk on it to agitate it— that would be an outdoor project.

My absolute favorite 😍


3 parts: links followat the end of each part.. old internet energy but it makes a great rug.. I used denim, gave as gifts to my niece and friends.  They really hold up. Anyway, hear her out.

Inspired by this thread, I started a braided rug from 3.5 yards of fabric today. About 1/7 done and the pattern is showing. Next one I want to try tablet weaving. I can imagine the threading is going to take forever!

Good, someone else remembered the braided and sewn rug.  
Making strips from light to medium weight woven fabrics should be easy, because the fabric can be torn - a small snip, grasp firmly and tear.
Knitted t-shirts just won't tear - it is knitting after all.  Also it is rare to find 100% cotton Ts these days, as the thread is usually core spun, i.e. cotton spun around a core of polyester.  This is why well worn Ts tend to become semi-transparent.  Core spun may also apply to bedsheets.   Not a transparent world any more.  

I made sheep hide rugs two years ago and they are still doing great.  
I used rams hides and I sheared them a couple months before harvest.   I used a pickling technique to tan them.   They are much more flexible than rawhide, are easy to hand wash and they dry quickly.  I mostly just shake them off and beat them outside when they get dusty.   It is such a luxury to step on soft wool with bare feet!

Samantha, I would love to know how to tan a sheep skin with the hair on. I had a ram slaughtered and not knowing what to do with the skin. I froze it and it is in the freezer still, I haven’t wanted to buy a commercial toxic tanning solution and I have worried that softening the hide would be too much work. Just how hard was making your sheepskin rug?

Thanks

I got the braiding done and arranged it to have a preview. I am going to secure it and sew the parallel braids together. I haven't decided how to finish the short edges.

Here are some more details. I started with 1 yd long suiting fabric scraps not big enough to make garments. I did a small sample to get an estimate of how much material to use. To make ripping easy, the strips are 1.5 to 1.75" wide.  Roughly the braid area is reduced to 1/8 to 1/10 from the original fabric yardage. I wanted the rug to be a certain size so I calculated the amount needed for each color. The repeat is AABA'BA'B with the A and A' being darker colors and B the light one. The width, pattern and tension need to be consistent during braiding, otherwise the larger pattern wouldn't be as neat.

I got to rest my fingers for a few days before starting the next project!

I remember some old rugs my mother in law used to make herself.
They required a home made loom (Really a rectangle in the shape/size of the rug to be made with hooks all around if I remember right. I think then she used a really strong string to go up and down the long way, hooking the string on opposite ends as she went. (I wish I remembered what kind she used, but it looked like the type of string used to tie a roast together. It was really strong.
Grandma always had a trove of old clothes that could no longer be patched. She would cut them in long narrow strands that she would twist for added strength. That also stopped the unraveling. She would start at one corner and weave the twisted strands until she ran out. Then, she would just do a double knot with the next twisted strand until the rug was done. These multicolored rugs were nothing fancy to look at, but we could wipe our feet, dry a wet pet, toss it in the wash and put it to dry on the line. She had maybe half a dozen. She also used those to wash the floors with.
That production was a great win-win: using old clothes that could not even be given away and she made a rug or two, every now and then. When they would start falling apart, they went in the garden alleys where they would slowly decompose. Remember that in those days, there were a lot more clothes made of cotton.
For a while, you could even find some of these rugs locally, but I guess not enough money could be made from selling those. I have not seen one in ages, but I still have one I cherish in the garage, to wipe my feet. I used some to cover my caged tomatoes in a frost too.
It's a pity they are no longer sold. The fibers used today are made of so many things, I'm not sure they could be used the same way.

Linen makes a very strong warp string.

I have woven rag rugs on cotton warp, but cotton fails much sooner than linen.

You can find linen warp (string) sold with other weaving supplies, whether on line or locally.  Weavers are very particular about fiber that goes into their projects.  It should not be any trouble at all to get all natural fiber.

Large pieces of fabric can be harvested from old sheets, walking skirts or house dresses and it's easy to turn them into fabric yarns. Not so much comes to clothes with many seams. I collected some wool jackets from the thrift store and found repurposing choices quite limited. I made a quilt top with some cut into squares. I also used small scraps for stuffing but still have a bag of medium scraps sitting for years. I might turn them into a Marimekko inspired rug.

How about shaggy rag rug? It uses up lots of knit scraps and is very plushy and absorbent. I have cut up a dozen old T shirts and leftover scraps from sewing projects and I am only half way through. I'd like to get it done before the rainy season starts.  

Thekla McDaniels wrote:Samantha, I would love to know how to tan a sheep skin with the hair on. I had a ram slaughtered and not knowing what to do with the skin. I froze it and it is in the freezer still, I haven’t wanted to buy a commercial toxic tanning solution and I have worried that softening the hide would be too much work. Just how hard was making your sheepskin rug?

Thanks

Hello Thekla!

The technique I used was super easy.   I was experimenting with how I could do it with as little work and time investment as possible.   I laid the hides out wool side down and sprinkled them heavily with a mix of salt, borax and baking soda.    This pulls out a lot of water from the hide so as the water came out I had to prop up the hide from the middle so the water could run off.   You will want to do this in a cold room where you can put down a drop cloth to soak up the drips.

It took about a month and then the hides were ready to move to a warmer room and be allowed to dry out.  

Thanks, Samantha!

Salt, soda, and borax for the tanning compound