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Friday 1 March 2013

How to make progged rag rugs

At last I have found time to show you another rug making technique!
 Today we are looking at progged rugs. Above is shown the tool you will need. It has a spring loaded handle and opens and closes rather like a pair of scissors. The only other tool is a good pair of scissors or a rotary cutter and mat.
Fairly firm fabrics are best for this method. Woollen blankets, tweed skirts and similar. A variety of textures makes for a more interesting rug. Again you will need hessian (burlap) for the back. This type of rug does not need to be worked on a frame and is suitable for doing when sitting down watching the TV if you like to have busy fingers.

Cut pieces of fabric around 3 inches in length and about 1/2 inch wide. In the photographs I am showing you the technique on a scrap piece of hessian. Yours will be a few inches bigger than your rug, Take the progging tool and poke it to the back of the hessian and out again a few threads away then open it up and grab the fabric with it. Then pull the fabric through so that both ends are showing on top of the hessian. At this stage the fabric will look floppy but as you add more pieces they will push against each other and stand up straight. Continue in this way until the rug is complete and then hem the edges as before.
Progged rugs have a lovely thick pile but the designs can not be made as detailed as hooked rugs. I have also included a close up of one of my completed rugs which shows the different textures used and how the pile stands up.

3 comments:

  1. Great tutorial - thanks! I'd love to have a go, but it's so much easier to buy one from someone like you who is so much more talented than I could ever be!

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  2. Thanks Erika
    It's a lot more fun and economical to make your own though and you can give old clothes a new lease of life.

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  3. That is great! I have never seen that before. You could create something so wonderful with this type of rug making!

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