Make a large rug out of smaller ones

Published: Thursday, 10 May 2018

I seem to have a theme going on with rag rugs. What can I say? I love them. They're colourful, they're versatile, they tend to have a one-of-a-kind look, and they add a little earthy and eclectic feel to a room. And did I mention they're inexpensive?

I bought these small rugs at IKEA a long time ago, when I was planning on a different project, but then I changed my mind (as one does) and these rugs sat in storage, unused for several years... until a few days ago when I decided I needed a new runner. I looked everywhere (E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E) for a runner that had the right colour combinations, the right length, the right width (I'm very specific when it comes to rugs... rugs are no joke, ok?), but I couldn't find anything that I liked. Or perhaps I did, strike that. I didn't find anything my bank account and I could agree on.

So that's when I remembered I still had these rag rugs, these poor abandoned, neglected rag rugs. I had 4 of them, but they were too small to serve the purpose on their own. So what does a sewist (wait, is that a word?)... what does a sewing-aficionado do when faced with a dilemma? Exactly!

It took me about 10 minutes to turn 2 of these small rugs into the runner that I needed. Just the right width, just the right length (I promise I'm still talking about rugs here). Don't you love it when things come together?

So get ready for the simplest tutorial you'll ever see.

Here we go:

Step 1:

Take 2 small-ish rugs (or any size rugs you have, mine where 2' x 3'). Grab some cotton or jute twine and a thick yarn needle. I chose jute twine for my rugs because they had little jute tassels on their corners and some jute details on the weave, so... you know... match them accordingly.

Step 2:

Start on the underside of one of the rugs and sew along, joining both edges of your rugs with a slip stitch, AKA blind stitch (if you don't know what this is, you can find a tutorial here). Don't worry about making super neat stitches, this is a great practice project if you're a newbie. The rag rugs already have a rustic non-perfect look, which is what gives them their charm. Uneven stitches won't stick out like a sore thumb.