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!

Q&A: Mixing materials in a rug - The "Levitical myth"

I decided to make this a separate "Q&A" post because it comes up a lot.

I call it the "Levitical myth" because Lev. 19:19 (among other places in the OT) prohibits the mixing of two different fibers together in cloth.

The specific question as seen in the comment to the previous post was if she could start with flannel and add other things later, but I'm going to abstract it out to be more generally relevant.

Q:Can you mix different types of materials in the same rug? Will it make the rug weaker or the junctions less durable?

A: In the broadest sense, the answers are "YES" and "NO," but see following discussion.

There's no functional reason why you can't mix different types of fabrics together in the same rug, or even fabric and non-fabric. One of my most beautiful rugs was one with a leather center and a blue jean body (pictures and a video of it are in back posts.)

The major issues are:

• Aesthetics- how will they look together?
• Functionality- where and how do you plan to use the rug?
• Strip size- different materials need to be cut to different widths, or else the thicker fabric will tend to overwhelm the thinner rows, and create problems with the tension of the rug.

On functionality for example... I like to make rugs from plastic bags, shower curtains, and umbrellas to use in the bathroom and kitchen. You'd totally destroy the functionality of these rugs for use in wet areas were you to mix in normal fabrics which absorb water.

Likewise, jean rugs are great for heavy use areas, places where pets and children are likely to get to them, etc. Chiffon might look nice enough as an accent in such a rug, but its not going to be as durable.

But so long as the aesthetics & functionality work, and you adjust the strip width to get a relatively constant row thickness... have at!

Q&A: "I just put my foot through a flannel sheet, can I use it?"

Q: How do flannel sheets work up. I put my foot through a hole in my fitted sheet last week so figured it's time to rip the entire set up!

A: Flannel sheets work great, but the weak spots or places where its thinned out you'll want to cut especially wide, and avoid having junctions in those spots. For the undamaged areas, you'll probably want to cut it 3/4ths to 1" wide... that should be enough to provide for the weakened areas provided their localized. If a large area of the sheet is getting thread bare or weak, increase that by 50%.

The fabric itself feels great in a rug when done, very cozy, and since its cotton, the tension will even itself out nicely if you add or omit the occasional double/repeat stitch.

You'll find that it doesn't pull through quite as easily as broadcloth, since flannel does have a somewhat textured surface, but I've never found it a problem, and I stitch so tightly that people joke you could use my rugs as bullet proof vests. (Only my grandmother stitched more tightly- when she was done with a rug, she sometimes had to put it under several mattresses for several months to flatten it out! *grin*)

For the needle, I'd recommend one with a nice large hole, but a more rounded tip. If the sheet's already ripping, the last thing you need to do is "spear it" with an especially pointy/sharp needle.

I think a rug made out of JUST the sheet set would look spectacular. Send me a picture when you're done, I'd love to feature it.

Same applies to other "Rugsters" out there, I'd love to share your pictures and stories!

Administrativia: The contact form & Please send questions and suggestions for improvement of tutorial videos

On email and the comment form

I added a comment form to the bottom of every page. I tried to put it in the sidebar, but the widget wouldn't fit no matter what I did. The verification code can be a ROYAL pain... it took me 6 tries to get it right.

You can always send me email to the dedicated email address I posed earlier. When I have the time, I'll modify the image on the page header to include it, but right now... that somewhere below sorting my ties by color and length on my list of priorities.

Please send suggestions for how I can make the beginners' tutorials better

Two people over at Youtube have had some very helpful suggestions, but I've just not had a block of time to put into it which has coincided with my wife being well enough to assist with the camera work.

So until then... keep the comments and questions coming! Really- no matter how picky or seemingly trivial, I want to know how I can make my tutorial videos better and more useful. When those planets do align, I'll incorporate as many as I can.

(One bit of "behind the curtain" info for you though- I do NOT have software which is capable of editing and adjusting the brightness, sound, etc., on videos, nor a machine which has the "horsepower" to run said software, so... if those are issues, we'll do our best with where we shoot the videos etc., but our hands are pretty tied on this count.)

So post them here as a comment, send them to the email, use the comment form, what ever...

Q&A on rug starts, continued

This picture is of the BACK of my "magnum opus" Anniversary Rug, the one shown in front view, B&W, in the letter in the Chicago Tribune.

Click on it to make it large- see that "v" shape, with the tail coming off the top left? That's a "fix" I did because the material I used to start this rug wasn't sturdy enough. As the rug grew to immense size, I noticed it was tugging pretty hard at the center. So I reinforced it using the same technique shown in the video series with my mother.

The moral of the story... even if you plan to use something with a loose springy weave for most of the rug, make your start (up to at least 5 rows) from a fabric which does NOT stretch and is very sturdy. Your basic cotton poly blends in a normal dress shirt or sheet work great, or you can even go with something more rugged like a light denim or men's dockers style pants.

I have gotten some more great questions here and on Youtube, and I'll be working to answer them both text and video. Thanks very much! I love getting questions, it helps me refine my teaching technique, and tells me what you need! I'll do it with my wife, since she's just learning to make the rugs herself, so she also asks good questions.