To be honest this is less a rug and more a floor cloth. It's also one of my new favorite way to incorporate prints into my home. Oh and did I mention it's cheap? Pretty much one of my favorite DIY's of all time. For some of your time and about fourty dollars you can have an awesome new floor covering. This project could be more or less expensive depending on how much your fabric of choice costs, but since you only need around two yards I can't see this getting too crazy.
Supplies
Alene's tacky glue spray (11$)
Home depot 6x9 drop cloth (10$)
2 yards of wide heavier weight fabric, I used ikea's Stockholm print (18$)
Carpet gripper (already owned, but you can pick one up super cheap at Ikea, like five dollars cheap)
Sewing machine and thread
Seam gauge
Iron
Step one
If you plan on ever being able to throw your floor cloth in the washer, please prewash it as you plan on doing so in the future. This will save you from getting some funky shrinkage and ruining all your hardwork! I didn't use any fabric softener though, because I felt like any stiffness would help keep it from curling up.
Step two
Iron out all those wrinkles once your fabric and drop cloth are dry. I even starched mine a bit. This will help you be able to sandwich the two pieces neatly with the glue.
Step three
Smooth out the dropcloth and start applying the tacky glue spray. I then started rolling out the fabric, right side up and sticking it to the drop cloth, slowly removing any bubbles with my hands. I ended up using the whole can, so feel free to be liberal with your spraying. It'd be a good idea to wear a mask and do this part outside. Unless glue fumes are your thing.
Step four
Once everything is nice and glued, give it a few minutes to set, trim the drop cloth to the edge of the fabric. Flip it so the fabric side is down and start ironing over about a 1 to 1.5 seam allowance using your seam gauge. That seams kind of big, but I think it adds even more weight to the finished product.
Step five
Once everything is ironed go ahead and hem everything up. You can pink your seam allowance if you want but I really didn't think it was required.
Step six
Trim your carpet gripper to fit and lay that bad boy down. Stand back and admire your work.
I think I might even tack some thick felt or wool to the back of this to add some cushion, but besides that I'm very happy with it! For those of you worried about it not staying put, never fear! I did the twist and shout test, plus the crazy dog after a bath test. In my very scientific studies it moved nay once. I even vacuumed it, with my sweeper brush on, and it worked out fine.
Really theres no reason not to give this little rug a try!
For your time, here's the previously mentioned crazy dog photobombing my rug shots.
Inspired by this tutorial.
Posts
This looks great! And as the owner of several crazy dogs I appreciate your use of the crazy dog after the bath test.
ReplyDelete@Tanie - It is the most ultimate of rug tests. He basically grinds one side of his body again anything fabric for an hour. Wouldn't be so bad except he's like 70 pounds.
ReplyDeleteCool rug, cool dog!
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome. I was just talking to my husband about redoing our living room and he was cringing about me spending money. Area rugs are hella expensive, too. Now I can spend more on sprucing up my loveseat!
ReplyDeleteThis is fantastic! Would a polyurethane coat help or ruin it?
ReplyDelete@shrevemom2 I don't think I would poly it. It would be really stiff! Plus a lot of poly yellows and isn't really great for the environment/you. If it gets super dirty you can throw it in the wash!
ReplyDeleteWOW! I am always so sad that I can't have ANY rugs in my house because they get ruined 5 minutes after I put them down (by our lovely pets). Does this size rug easily fit into a regular washing machine? If so, I think I will definitely have to make this! :)
ReplyDelete@Lindsey Mine fits in the standard top loading washing machine so I think you'd be fine!
ReplyDeleteoh i've wanted a new replacement rug for ages and have now got a sewing machine AND some of the carpetgripper too - all I need now is some pretty material! Yay! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteDo you know you are linking to a malware site? I am sure it wasnt a malware site when you were inspired by the tutorial there, but today, my browser says 'don't go there... there's trouble ahead.'. thought you might like to know.
ReplyDeleteNo need to publish the above. Better just to publish:
GREAT RUG, because it is! I am thinking of featuring you.
I made some drop cloth curtains (I painted them) but they are too heavy for my curtain rod. This is the perfect way to use them after all the work it took to make them.
ReplyDelete