t-shirt shag rag rug

I decided it would be cool to make Sister Suzy a rug to match her memory quilt.

I did some research on rag rugs.  Ilona over at Life After Money made a couple using the latch hook method.  Instructables has a how-to on braided t-shirt rugs.  Craftstylish has a how-to for crocheting a rag rug.  SheWhoMeasures has a how-to for knitted rugs.  Wow, look at what I just found, a PDF booklet on knitted rugs.  Spoonful has a tutorial on making a round woven rug and this one from Craftpassion is done with sheets but I think it would work for t-shirts as well.

But none were exactly what I had in mind.  I wanted a shag but didn't want to spend any money on a latch hook backing and I didn't have any netting like Ilona in my stash of craft goodies. So I pieced together 4 left-over backs to get a good sized backing.  I used a pieced quilt block design of a heart for the center motif from Simplicity and then doubled it.  I drew a 3" x 3" grid on my backing.  I decided based on what I had left in scraps that two-and-a-half-inch shag would use up too much fabric.  I went with 1.5" shag or a 3 inch square of fabric sewn every half-inch and then snipped in half inch segments.  I choose to use 3" strips of fabric as opposed to 1/2" wide strips because I thought it would make the sewing easier.  If you wanted a tweedy look then you will have to work with a lot of little strips.

As you can tell my half-inch seam allowances are approximate.  I would suggest drawing the seam lines if really straight lines are important to you. I ended up marking the ends, middle and quarter to help keep the middle from getting away from me.  I also discovered I was off on my grid work by a half a square lengthwise and width.  So I should have waited until I laid everything out or spent more time with a paper and pencil!  Most of the sites I read suggest spacing of a 1/4" but I just didn't have the fabric.  Or the stick-to-it-ness to pull that off!  I struggled with the second half because I got bored.

To finish you are suppose to pull each strip until it curls.  It really adds a nice finish to the parts I have pulled but I got bored and have not finished that part.  I'm hoping that the strips will curl after a run through a washer and dryer like t-shirts with cuts and tears.  The last thing for me to do is paint on some non-skid rug backing.

Now for a kitty picture:

She is so concerned about being where she doesn't belong!

Hope every one is having a good day!

Judy