Information and Tutorials on Fabric Yarn Crochet Projects

I was asked a little while back to give some more information on the crocheted rag rug project. 

I digged in my bookmarks and searched the net and found some tutorials that I had used back when I did the first rug.

Here you go - general instructions on how to crochet a rag rug:

Crazy Mom Quilts

Ruby Glen - Round crochet rag rug

How to make a Jean Rug

The vintage chica

The Sunroom - Circular crochet rag rug instructions

Sugar Bee - Rag Rug Tutorial

By looking at all of them ... and there are many more out there, just google ... you will soon see that there are MANY ways to do this!

So I encourage you to look at a couple tutorials and just figure out what you like best and what would work for you. At least that is the way I did it. :-)

Here are some more or less random bits of how I do it:

MAKING FABRIC YARN

In order to make the yarn you can cut your strips which ever widths you want to. Just experiment a bit!
If you cut them wider - use a bigger hook! If you cut them narrower - use a smaller hook.

Also keep in mind the wider you cut the strips the thicker and more stable (and less soft) your endproduct will be!
(And the harder it might be to crochet.)

Also if you have cut your strips too narrow you can still simply use two strands instead of just one.

Some people cut their fabric with scissors, some use rotary cutters, some rip it. I have to say that I like to use scissors - that makes it easy to do even while watching kids or a movie or something ...

It DOES take quite a bit of time to cut up enough fabric!!! Most likely it will take WAY longer than you think. :-)

Also it does get a bit messy depending on the fabric ... as it usually does fray while cutting.

When you have cut your fabric you most likely end up with different bits. So how do you get a continuous strip? 

There are several methods explained in the tutes. Some just knot the strips. That is fine - but you might end up seeing the knots and it might be a bit "bumpy" for a rug. You can sew the strips together. But that was NEVER an option for me. Way too much work. :-)

I have found the "cleanest" look with little work is achieved by knotting the strips in a special way.

I did not have the link anymore to a tutorial that explained the method I use ... but ... for you guys I would do almost anything right. ;-)

So after A LONG time of googling - and some very odd search terms! - I found one:  :-)

*drumroll PLEASE*

Tottie talks craft

WHAT MATERIAL TO USE FOR FABRIC YARN?

Well, any really! You will find that some material works better for some things than others. But if you are just making a rug I think anything should be alright. Just adapt the widths of the strips according to the thickness of the fabric. 

(So if you use a thicker and a less thick fabric together - cut the thicker one narrower.)

For rugs I like to use cotton fabrics that I can wash on hot. Just simpler to clean. But you can make other things than rugs ....

I have made this tiny cute bag 

and this doll crib to carry around

I would love to make some "boxes". As the fabric "yarn" is rather thick the crocheted product has a nice "stand". 

Also I found out that fabric that I would not like to use for sewing - like artificial stuff - works great for crocheting. And do not worry if the fabric frays alot while being cut. That actually might end up to give a fun fuzzy look to the end result! :-)

If you want a more "clean" look jersey is a great option. So save all those stained shirts!!!

But if you are going to make a rug you will need LOTS of them. Seriously!!!

With the big rug I made I used bed sheets and I needed SEVERAL!

Okay, I hope that kinda helped. Feel free to ask any questions!!! Am happy to answer! :-)

Sharing this here:

 

Crocheted Recycled Rug

Don't you love it when you tidy up and you find a project that is almost finished but not quite ...

But it needs just a bit more work - and you are done!

You get this awesome feeling that you have finished something even though you have only been working on it for a little bit. 

I LOVE that.

Happened to me with this rug. I started it a long while ago and it was supposed to become a BIG rug. *cough* 

Well, a girl can dream right?!

After a bit I gave up changed my mind.

"Really? Why?"

I decided it will become a small rug. :-)

And what does it get used for?

Perfect for tiny feet ...

;-)

Tiny feet in the bathroom!

Oh, almost forgot. It is made out of cut up shirts! Just cut them into strips, join the strips ... and you have yourself some nice "yarn" that you can crochet into some nice rug with a huge crochet hook!

It is FUN!

"Hey Mommy, could you stop taking photos and play with me?"

Sorry, gotta go ...

Edited:
I completely forgot ... I have made a similar rug before. The one I have made before is circular and bigger. You can see it HERE.

Folded stars

January is over ... and I have not even posted ONE 

repurposing project! 

Bad!!!

So here it comes ...

I actually made these already a while ago. But somehow finding the time to type up posts becomes harder and harder.

Well, just shortly before Christmas ... and during Christmas actually ... I learned how to make these folded stars. 

They are made out of square papers and are just folded - and stuck together. 

You have to fold 30 pieces of paper. 

In Germany they are called Bascetta-stars. 

Anyone can tell me whether that is the same in the rest of the world?

This one is a star made out of special paper that has different prints/ colors on both sides. 

It looks really pretty, don't you think?

After I had made this one I was out of the pretty paper ... and I figured I could ge a bit inventive ...

So I ended up using this:

This is a rather old book with musical notes.

I love musical sheets. 

So I had to try whether it would look good. And this is how it turned out:

I totally adore it!

And as you have to cut the pages to squares there is always a paper strip left over. So what did I do?

I cut squares out of the left over bits ... and made a tiny star:

Here you can see both together:

This was so much fun!

I am actually working on another recycled star. 

No musical sheets though ... curious? ;-)

But it might take a bit until it is done ...

The folding and the putting together is really relaxing ... but the cutting of the squares is simply booooooring! :-)

 

     

  


 

Resolutions AND repurposing LINKY PARTY

Last week was kinda rough and posting slow ... hope it will get a bit better again this week.
But on the positive side - I had just an awesome day yesterday!

So I feel ready for a new week! :-)

I actually wanted to FINALLY post about the  

cute hooded scarf

  I made for my daughter for Christmas. The post is all ready to go.
But I still have to take a good shot of her wearing it ...
So need to wait until she gets home from kindergarten this afternoon.
Hoping it will not be too dark then to take some photos.

Until then I figured I might chip in a quick post about 

New Year's Resolutions. 

I know it is a bit late. But I figured better late than never. ;-)

Last year I had so many resolutions. Too many. I should have known. Anyway. I did quite well on some. Not so well on others. This year I want to make it easy. Of course I have many goals and things I wanna try, do, make better ...

But I will only have ONE resolution. But an important one.

GET RID OF THINGS!!!!

When trying to find our Christmas boxes and the next size of clothes for little man I once again realized we have WAY TOO MUCH STUFF!

WAY too much stuff!

And since we might be moving sometime this year - and if not this year then pretty sure next year - we have to reduce it! A LOT!

And when I read this nice post at Somewhat simple about how she sorted out her clothes I felt kinda inspired. :-)
Thing is I find it really really hard to get rid of things.
I can not throw things away that are fine. Even if I am not using them (anymore).
And with most things I think - I can reuse it, recycle it, make something else of it!

I might need it some day!

The really bad part of this is - I am often right!
Which of course makes me more reluctant to get rid of things.
But the other side is of course - trying to reuse all things that we have accumulated this far would take FOREVER! I simply do not have that kind of time!

So, this year I will try to get rid of as much stuff as possible. 

Including reusing as much stuff as possible in projects.

(And try not to get new stuff!!!!)

I figured in order to stick with it I will try to post some recycling projects I did each month.
I first thought I will try to challenge myself to one project a week.
But life with two kids can get quite stressful at times. So I do not want to put that much extra pressure on myself.
But I will try to post - let us say - at least 3 projects each month.
It is not that much - but it is something.

Also I figured it would be nice to have resource for recycling projects and maybe other people are doing similar things throughout the year ... so I decided that I would create a

repurposing linky party

where
you can add all your 
recycling 
or 
repurposing 
or
reusing 
projects! 

I will leave it open all year so you can come back and check it out as it grows ... and of course come back and link up new projects that you are doing! 

I will put it on an extra page HERE - so it is easy to find and always "on the top" :-)

Now, I have to tell you I am SO excited! I have been wanting to do a linky party for a while now ... but did not have a great idea. And I feel a bit nervous now.

Please do not disappoint me - and LINK UP!

Old projects are very welcome as well as new ones!
Would be sad to party on my own. :-(

I will also feature projects from that link more or less regularly.
Oh, and I will also create some cute buttons. Just might take me a bit ... will let you know!

Also - any ideas for me on how to make it easier getting rid of stuff without repurposing?
Please share them in the comments!!! 
They are HIGHLY appreciated!