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Old 10-13-2011, 05:08 PM   #9
Marielle
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Default Re: Rag Rug Craftalong

SWS - LOL. Glad I could provide some evil distraction.

Okay onto part 2.

I'll be focusing on the toothbrush rug method but aside from the way the stitch is formed the rest of the tips also apply to crochet and to some extent a knit rug as well. Here's some history/info on the method as I learned it. http://thelibrary.org/lochist/period...weet/sp81g.htm And here's another site that came up recently with some more info and videos. http://www.ragrugcafe.com/ Also, this guy is an enthusiast and like the first link to the Missouri library site uses a method that doesn't involve a "runner" piece of fabric. http://toothbrushrugs.blogspot.com/ He has some videos on youtube but I find them a bit hard to see so I'll post a couple of videos myself in the next posts. Most toothbrush rugs today involve carrying one strip of fabric as the "runner" and another one as the working strip. The stitch is formed around the runner with the working strip. That drives me crazy so the other method with just a working strip is my preferred method.

The tool:

1. You'll need to locate a toothbrush needle. You can buy one at Aunt Philly's http://www.auntphillys.com/html/needle.html or I've seen some on etsy.

2. If you're too impatient like I was you can make your own needle using a toothbrush with a hole in the handle. Here's a tutorial for making your own out of a toothbrush or a spatula. http://www.hookyarnandneedles.com/oldstuff/Rndl For reference, my aunt philly toothbrush needle is 4.25" long, 0.50" wide, 1/8" thick and the hole is 1/4" in diameter on the inside.

3. If you google toothbrush needle you can also find some people selling wood versions if that's your preference. Here's one on ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/WOODEN-TOOTH...-/280431187273

4. A final option is the desperate but quick one. I did not want to wait the first time I made a rug so I used a plastic yarn needle. It was thinner than a toothbrush needle but the eye big enough to slip the fabric in and the one I used had a bent tip. It wasn't any harder to use than the toothbrush needle, just a bit different. The longer one in this pic is exactly like the one I used: http://halcyonyarn.com/products/Equipment/70002150.html


The materials. This being a rag rug you can definitely use rags (old clothes, sheets, yardage you don't particularly like as a whole). Wovens are the original fabric used, typically old sheets or clothes. I would stick with something similar to quilter's cottons since they are not too heavy, nor too light. I've seen jeans used but for your first project I would say they're a bit too heavy. You can also use knit fabric, typically tshirts, or jersey sheets or even yardage if you want to get fancy. However, I would advise against mixing different types of fabric. Either do wovens OR knits but not both. Knits, once cut into strips will stretch a bit to a thinner strip as you manipulate them into the stitch and it could get kind of funky looking between a thicker stitch with wovens and a bit thinner stitch with knits.

My first toothbrush rug was an oval about 2 1/2 feet long and shy of 2 feet wide. IIRC it took about 7ish yards of 44" wide fabric. These things will eat up fabric so don't be surprised if you need more at the end, and then more, and then more. Also I found that fabric with no wrong side worked great but even if you get prints or something that does have a white side to it it ends up looking fine or you can sort of keep an eye on the way the fabric is facing as you weave to keep the majority of the right side facing out. I'm not too picky about that.

If you're crocheting a good option is also kitchen cotton. The rug in front of my kitchen sink is a scrap kitchen cotton rug. I think I used a K hook, carried two strands of cotton yarn and done in single crochet as an oval. I had a bunch of bright scraps of yarn that I carried along with a huge cone of white/yellow ombre adding the brighter remnants as another color finished. I won't lie, I ran out of remnants and had to buy more yarn to finish the rug (it's about 3 1/2 " long and about 18" wide) but it was fun to have something mindless to do in front of the TV. You can also crochet with fabric strips but I would recommend a larger hook, either an N, P or Q depending on your fabric and gauge.

Back to the fabric. ALWAYS prewash your fabric. Don't skimp on this. With old shirts, or sheets this isn't an issue but if you're buying new tshirts, fabric or other items then prewash to avoid the heartache of bleeding colors and/or a fabric feeling very different once the starch has washed off. I'm very lazy but not when it comes to prewashing.

Once your fabric has been washed and dried you need to cut strips. If you're crocheting a rag rug you'll prefer to have as much of a continuous strip as possible. Here is a good method for turning a chunk of fabric into a continous strip. http://www.craftstylish.com/item/472...et-with-fabric and here's another way of getting continous yarn when cutting up a tshirt. http://www.craftpassion.com/2009/05/...hirt-yarn.html

For the toothbrush method you'll need manageable strips so not continous. I usually cut 2" wide strips and while you can go precise and use a mat+rotary cutters+ruler precision isn't necessary. The one I made my daughter I just eyeballed the strips and cut them as needed on my lap with shears. Not exact by any means. Cut as you go or cut all at first, whatever works for you.

Next I'll show you how to make your "start" and then begin the rug itself. I hope to shoot some video too but if you can't wait the rag rug cafe and the blog posted earlier are a good start too. I realize this is quite a bit of info. It may seem overwhelming but this is typical for me. I hem, haw, research, research some more and then finally I make. I can't just jump in and actually make mistakes (although I still do). No, I have to overdo the planning stages. Thanks for putting up with me.

Oh and if you want to geek out on something cool, look at this method of turning fabric into something more like yarn.

http://mademoisellechaos.blogspot.co...ic-scraps.html
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Marielle
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cook, sew, knit, crochet, repeat - my blog http://www.maricucu.blogspot.com

Married to T for 13 years and watching over the herd:
I 10.5 yo
R 8.25 yo
N 5.5 yo
M 3.75 yo

“Never put off till tomorrow what may be done day after tomorrow just as well.”

-Mark Twain

Last edited by Marielle; 10-13-2011 at 07:43 PM.
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