The Sari rug - and now for something completely different!

Here's the photos of the most unusual rug I've ever made

---

This rug is NOTHING like I've ever done before, or ever will again... I cut the strips very narrow, stitched very loosely except the final row.

I like to do different things with each rug... and having done this... I don't expect I'll do it this way again.

Colors worked well, but not ones I liked.

Mostly made from saris I "rescued" from an ignominious interment in a landfill when we lived in Chicago.

FINALLY- I got to finish a project, even though it was "just" a hot pad.

I always make my professors a hot pad of the colors of their choice. I made this for my Spanish teacher. Even though the "perfect storm" of ill health which beset me and my wife at the same time means I've given up that class, I still wanted to make the trivet for the teacher.

The hanging hook is the best I've made yet... I used a series of half hitch knots (which are also the ones I discovered work great for making an easy rug start) and then used a "basket weave" stitch to tuck the end under.

The other thing which went very well was how I "signed" it on the back. I do this with most of my rugs, but like the hanging hook, I never quite do it the same way twice.

With both, though, I think I'm on to something which works pretty well. Its in my nature to always experiment and look for ways to make a system better, but... once you've perfected one system, you get to move along and perfect another one!

If you look closely (or click for the full sized view) at the bottom picture, you'll notice I also showed the size in METRIC for my international readers.

Q&A: How much material is needed for a "normal" rug?

My dear friend is full of great questions today! Glad to answer them. I know being the husband of a disabled professor, that the question one person asks, 10 people have in their heads.

This is a more complicated question though, not quite so suitable to the "Q&A format" of the previous two posts.

There are SO many variables. Synthetic fabrics, for example, are lighter than cotton, which is lighter than linen. The plastics from which I make my umbrella/shopping bag/shower curtain rugs are VERY light, which is why that's the rug I usually take with me on the "L" or to Tess' doctor.

I have noticed, however, that one BIG gym bag full of strips will make a rug about the size of the rug shown above.

I can also tell you that this rug was made out of cottons and cotton polys- probably 2/3 cotton by weight. I weighted the clothesbefore I started the rug, and it came out to around 25 pounds. (Because I've been doing this so long, I knew what size I wanted the rug, and about what size the pile of "raw clothes" had to be to make it.) Zippers, seams, pockets removed, the finished rug was closer to 20 pounds.

So if you use clothing which is a mixture of cotton and poly, and want a rug about this size, this should give you some idea of how much by weight you'll need. For an all cotton rug, you'll need more by weight, for one heavier in synthetics, you'll need less by weight.


One other relevant hint: For my stitching, I've noticed that VERY consistently, 1 foot of strip = 1 inch of stitch!