Shag Rug Making Directions

Shag rugs are used by many people in their houses. They are quite popular as they impart a cozy feel to the room. A shag rug looks somewhat like a shaggy dog and can be easily coordinated with shaggy pillows and other matching accessories. Fabric or shag is used to make these rugs, and the outward strands give that shaggy appeal to them.

Different kinds are available in stores and good quality ones can be fairly expensive. One can always make a shag rug at home by utilizing old fabrics, which turns out to be an inexpensive option. It also gives a chance to your creativity to come up with ideas to make a beautiful rug.

• Old cotton clothes
• Gridded mat
• Scissors
• Measuring tape
• Glue filled in a hot glue gun

● Wash old cotton clothes you have chosen for making the rug. Check for color fastness as most cotton fabrics tend to bleed during washing. If dye is released, wash the fabric several times till no more color is lost. This must be done to ensure no color is released after the rug is complete.

● Once washing is done, dry the wet clothes under high temperature to let the fabric shirk, if it has to.

● Cut the dried cotton clothes into strips measuring quarter-inch in width and six inches in length. You can decide how shaggy you want the rug to appear, depending on which you can decide the length of the cotton strips.

● By the time you are busy cutting the strips, think of the pattern you want to design on the rug. If color shades have to vary in the rug, make separate lots of strips with different colors so that you don't face any difficulty while making the rug.

● Once you are done with the strips, it's time to cut the gridded mat of the required size. Take the measuring tape and mark borders on the grid mat for the size of rug you want, using a pen. Cut the mat along the border and proceed to the next step.

● To begin with, choose the shorter side of the mat and start tying knots right from its edge. To tie a knot, place a cotton strip under the mat and pull out its two ends above, from the squares of the mat that are side by side.

Tie a firm knot using the two ends of the strip. Using the hot glue gun, apply a drop of glue right in the center of the knot and tie another tight knot over it. This will help in holding the rug in its place.

● Repeat this step to entirely cover the gridded mat with knots of cotton strips.

● After you have tied knots all over the mat, turn it upside down and shake it well to straighten the knotted strands for easy trimming.

● Use a pair of scissors to trim down the pile of the rug. Start from the edge of the shorter side and move towards the other end. You can decide how much you want to trim depending on the look you want for your rug. If you want longer strands trim less else, trim more for shorter strands.

● While trimming, look at the rug from a distance to check if excess material is being cut from the rug.

● After you finish trimming, flip the rug upside down and give it a nice shake to remove the remnants, and there you have your cotton shag rug ready for use!

Rug making is an easy task and you can also learn how to make braided rugs. Rugs should be cleaned occasionally to keep them looking nice and fresh. Many cleaning tips are available on the Internet which can be used for maintaining rugs.