Some rugs are expensive, but they are important in giving vibrance and colour to your living room or study area. Rugs have an innate ability to pull things together in a room and at the same time anchor that couch to the floor. Choosing a rug for any part of your house can be a daunting task. Sometimes the colour doesn’t go with the overall scheme, or you fuss over the pattern and texture of the rug. Some rugs are flat with an intricate design, while others have bold patterns on them. It is almost always hard to get the right combination. In this blog, we will tell you simple DIY rug ideas that you can try at home. Here’s how to make a homemade rug at home!
Let’s begin
How to Make a DIY Rug at Home
Before we begin explaining the different ways of making a homemade rug on your own, you must know that it doesn’t require a professional to carry out any of these tasks. It is good if you know how to sew or crochet, but there are many DIY rug ideas that require a minimum skill set. You don’t need to be a crafty person either. Simple tricks can turn a rag into a rug.
Check out these ways to make a DIY rug at home.
- From old t-shirts
- Using rope and glue
- Felt pom poms
- Crochet
- Hoola Hoop loom
- Paint it
- Colourful playmat using felt strips
- Shaggy rug
- Braided towels
From old t-shirts
Fancy a rug in your living room? No need to run to a store to buy it. You can start making your own with most of the materials available at home. If you have decluttered your home this weekend and there is a stockpile of clothes that you can’t do anything about and they are not even good to donate, you can put to use by making a DIY rug at home.
Cut the t-shirt into strips and use it as a yarn to crochet a rug. You can also repurpose your old t-shirts by cutting them into strips and use it as a braided rug.
Using rope and glue
Twine, jute or rope are some of the finest mediums to craft a handmade rug. If you are planning to create a mat for your bedroom, go for a jute rug. However, if you buy a jute rug from the market, it is going to be very expensive. So, why not try weaving one at home. You only need a few balls of rope. Twirl the rope in a circular way sticking it with glue all the way and let it dry. The handmade rug is ready.
Felt balls or pom pom rug
You can use felt balls or pom pom for a rug to add a cheery addition to your playroom. All you have to do is take some pom poms or make balls out of felt fabric and string them together using a thread and needle.
If you want to make a rug on a low-budget, then make your own pom poms. You would need some wool and using a cardboard wheel or simply a fork twine the yarn around the fork and tie a knot in the centre. Then cut off the yarn from the top and the bottom to create furry pom poms. Trim it to get the perfect shape.
This particular rug does not only add a fun element to the room, but it is extremely comfortable to tread on. The feel of the pom pom balls is very relaxing.
Crochet Rug
Take out the yarn and crochet hook from your cupboard and start knitting a thick rug for your living room. If you have never tried your hand at crochet, you can find interesting patterns and detailed tutorials especially for beginners. Learn the skill on the internet.
Go with a basic crochet and weave a rug that adds style and grace to your lounge area. You can also place this crochet rug under the centre table. You can also add some small light bulbs inside the crochet rug and let it glow at night. Remember to choose light bulbs that don’t heat up when covered. Your kids would be so happy when the rug lights up at night!
Hoola Hoop loom
This particular rug is made out of rags and is quite easy to make. You need a large hoola hoop and some old t-shirts or tight children’s t-shirts and old clothes for this. Cut out t-shirts and take the hoola hoop and put the strips across the hoola hoop in a dissecting manner to create sections. Roughly, you will need 10 strips which will make a total of 20 spokes – just like the spokes in a wheel. You would need an odd number of spokes in order for the weaving to work.
To begin your weaving, tie your first t-shirt strip around the double spoke and then begin weaving – go over and under each spoke. Make sure that your t-shirt strip is tight but not too tight because then it will become a ball when you take it out of the loop. When your t-shirt strip comes to an end tie another strip and carry on with the weaving. You can choose a different colour so that the final product is colourful and nice. In the beginning of this weaving pattern, you will continue weaving using two t-shirt strips on the hoola hoop as one spoke instead of counting it as two.
Once your inner circle of the weaving pattern is about 6-7 inches wide and by this time the colours you have used will start showing a nice pattern on the hoola hoop. It is now time to split the double spokes. Now, use single spokes and continue weaving. This is done to maintain an odd number of spokes to work with. Continue weaving like this until you reach your desired diameter of the rug you want or if you have run of t-shirt strips.
Now, place the hoola hoop on the floor and cut off the loops and tie a square knot, covering all the loops. Voila! Now, you can boast in front of your friends – your own handmade rug made out of old clothes.
Paint it
Had you always dreamt of decorating your drawing room with a cow hide or a zebra striped skin, but always found it a tad bit expensive for your pocket? Don’t worry, we will tell you how you can turn that dream of yours into a reality.
Use a faux suede fabric – which is made from plastic microfibre and is more durable than natural suede. Cut it out in the particular shape for a zebra hide and paint some black smart zebra stripes on it to give a zebra hide effect. Place it proudly in your living area. It would mimic a real zebra hide. Place it under the table or in low-traffic areas as the material can shift on the floor. Best is to anchor it from a table or from your couch.
You can also paint more intricate designs on a piece of canvas and stick it on an older rug to give a ‘new’ look to a dilapidated and worn out mat.
Colourful playmat using felt strips
Looking for a durable and sturdy mat for your little one? Why not make your own homemade rug? You will need to construct a basic foam mat for this. Once you have stitched the base of the playmat, just cut out some strips from felt material and paste it on the floor mat.
You can make a variety of playmats for your baby using this technique. You can add different shapes or use felt material to create interesting characters your baby loves and stick them onto the mat.
Shaggy rug
Everyone has seen what shaggy rugs are. They look beautiful and feel heavenly on the feet. To make a shaggy rug, you would need to use a plastic mesh as the base of the rug. To make the shaggy part of the rug you would need some yarn and bobby pin.
Make small balls out of yarn using the same pom pom rule as discussed above. However, the balls would be smaller in sizer and less thick. Just like you make pom poms using a fork, twine a yarn on your fingers and tie a knot in the centre. Don’t cut the edges right now. With the help of a bobby pin use the left out string from the knot and insert it into the holes of the plastic mesh that you have used as a base.
Once you have filled the entire mesh like that, cut off the top edges to give a shaggy look to your rug. Trim it nicely so that it gives a uniformed look.
The texture of a shaggy rug is so comfortable that you would want to roll on it all day. Adding small balls of yarn one-by-one might be taxing for some, but when you are done with the job you will feel proud of yourself.
Braided old towels
We have covered how you can make a rug out of rags above, but how about using old worn out towels and create a stunning DIY rug! This kind of rug can be placed outside the bathroom to soak up any water trails from your wet feet.
Those towels that are on their last legs can be used for the purpose. Just braid them together like we did with the t-shirts. You don’t want to sew the thick towels though. Simply glue them together and you will have a beautiful rug out of old towels. The best part is now you can buy a new set of towels for yourself!
So, these were some easy ways to make a homemade rug. During these times when you are at home in a lockdown, it is best to use your creative abilities and upcycle things at home into something useful. You can also take a look at some of these DIY scrap wood ideas and other DIY projects to complete in an afternoon.
Don’t forget to write to us at blog@zameen.com and we will surely get back to you. Make sure to visit Zameen Blog, the best lifestyle and home decor blog in Pakistan. Subscribe to the Zameen Newsletter appearing on the right hand side of the page. Follow our social media pages i.e. Facebook and Instagram for regular updates regarding construction and property trends in Pakistan.
