Shag Rug Tutorial

As I mentioned in the previous post, my sister bought one of these...

for her babies room. Her's is probably double the size and light pink (so super cute)... anyway, I LOVED it, but sometimes they come with a hefty price tag so I figured out a way to make my own. 

Let me start off by saying, this took some time, BUT if you don't want to spend a penny on it, it's totally worth it. You can do it sitting in front of the tv and make someone else help you so it goes by faster :). By the time I was done I think I figured out a few more ways to make one, but this way will cost you literally $0.00 (if you have a few items)! I'll show you how I did it, then show you a few other ways...

Supplies

**TOWEL**

(you can use an old one you have around the house)

**SHEETS
(or old tshirts if you want to do A LOT of cutting!)**

*tip: typically these kinds of rugs are made with t-shirt fabric, but I went the cheapest route I could and just bought a sheet from wal mart for, I think, $7. It will fray eventually, but I think it will end up loking cute. The cheapest they had the t-shirt sheets was in a combo for, I think, $28. No thanks! BUT I've heard you can find them at TJ Maxx or Ross for around $11. Maybe even try a thrift store first.

**SCISSORS**

How To:

1.Cut your sheet in 1" strips. You can do this with scissors, but it's much faster if you have a rotary cutter. They don't have to be perfect! ...

 2.Cut your strips into lots of strips - I did mine about 8-9inches each. Again, perfection not necessary.

 3.Cut your towel in 1" strips. I found it was easier just to do 2 strips at a time so they don't all get in the way, so just cut 2 to start out with.

4.Start by tying your sheet strips around 2 strips of the towel.

 

Sorry, I didn't take a picture when I started the whole process, so this is a few strips into it, but you get the idea. Also, you'll notice in this picture the top of the towel is still connected. I wouldn't recommend that because eventually it all becomes lopsided, so just cut the towel all the way.

Keep the sheet strips close together...

5. Once you finish the very first set (first 2 rows), start on the next 2 strips by connecting the closer strip to your already finished strips, then add the other strip...

You'll notice I tie the side closest to the "finished strips" closer together, and leave a little bit of a gap on the other side. That's so you'll be able to fit a your strip through when you get around to the next towel strip. Make any sense at all? :) If not, you'll see what I'm talking about once you start! ...

See the tiny gap right below the knot- where you can see a little bit of the towel?

6. Keep goin! Don't give up! :)

Here's the rug about half done...

 *tip: it was easiest for me to lay the rug like this and go from right to left, but find what's most comfortable to you!

This is how it looks from the back. This is what I meant when I said the rug started getting uneven or lopsided:

 If yours does this too, just start putting your towel strips lower to even it out.

This is how much of the towel I used and was about half done (p.s. the towel I used was 30in x 56in)...

 almost finished...

Final product...

 I haven't decided yet, but I'm thinking about making it a little bit longer. We'll see if I have the patience for it :)

**Another way to do this, if you don't want to worry about it getting lopsided and don't want to deal with the towel business, is by buying a LATCH HOOK RUG CANVAS and a latch hook tool. Turns out, these are a lot cheaper than I thought so this is a great way to do it if you'd like. I might make one for my bedroom out of this now- I'll let ya know how it goes! :)