How to Crochet Rag Rugs

Thank you guys so much for being here today. I am so excited. Sarah, thank you for joining me. I'm so excited to be here with you today, Misty. Do you want to tell everybody a little bit about yourself and what you do over at One Big Happy? Sure. So I run everything behind the scenes at One Big Happy. I have the pleasure of working with Jenny Fish on all of our knit patterns and knit tutorials and I step in once in a while and help out with crochet. I've been working in the yarn industry for about two decades. I have a couple of books and a couple of hundred patterns so crochet really lives under my skin and I like to explore different materials and just have fun with it. Yeah, so Sarah reached out to me and had this idea and I thought it was a perfect collaboration. I know so many of us who are quilters also work with yarn and this is a great way to use those skills that we have when we cross over but also work through our stash because we're going to use a jelly roll today to make this awesome rug. And the one that we've used in this sample here is Welcome Home by Anna Maria Horner for Free Spirit. It's such a beautiful, bright line. I just really love it. It's so happy. The fabric in this jelly roll is gorgeous. Like every piece that I pulled out I was like, I want more of this. Right? That's how I feel every time I see Anna Maria's lines. They're just so gorgeous. And you know, maybe we'll get you into quilting before you know it because it's the fabric that draws you in. That is so perfect. And so we also have two different methods. Sarah is going to show you two options of how to use your jelly roll. One is to have a half inch bias tape maker so if you have that lying around or you want to grab one that's a great option. But Sarah, do you want to just dive into getting started with this? Sure. So of course you're going to open up your jelly roll. Yeah. And then take a look at all of those fabulous colors. And then you kind of need to make a decision about how you're going to use those colors. Are you going to group them the way that they appear in the jelly roll? Are you going to try and line them up color by color? So I went with just how they came out of the jelly roll. Okay. I was going to ask you. On this one. But I have another sample that I pulled that had some kind of Americana colors to it. Okay. And I really liked, I really liked the beiges and the greens that appeared in that and I thought I could use sort of the rusty reds and the blues in another project. Okay cool. So you split them up intentionally. Yeah. So you can change the color order and mix it up. This is a great way if you have, like I have, I have a friend that's a quilter and so sometimes she has 90% of the fabric in a jelly roll that she loves and the other 10% sort of sits off to the side. So this is another great way to bring together those scraps and stuff together. Totally. Piece those together into a color way that you really like. Okay awesome. So let's dive into it. Okay. Get started. Great. So let me just get the actual rug out of here. Yeah. Shall I open up the jelly roll? Yeah let's do it. Okay. I mean these fabrics are just beautiful. I know. I love them. Like the happiest day. It really is. Lint brush was. Your friend. Was a lesson for me. I don't usually need a lint brush when I open up a skein of yarn but that came in handy. I mean just those colors are just so pretty and that just that arrangement was gorgeous. I loved it. I agree. So and I think most of the fabrics in here there are two strips. Okay. Some of them there's only one and that's okay. So actually why don't I turn this over to you for cutting this. Okay yeah let's do it. And this is perfect. So there's two so we can show both. Both options. Both cutting options. Okay. So why don't I slide out of the way a little bit. Yep totally. So one cutting option is to just cut it in half. Okay great. And the other is to cut it in thirds. So I'm gonna go ahead and fold this just because I'm totally comfortable cutting through four layers of fabric. And so since this is 2 ½ inches we need 1 ¼ inch strips but I'm going to rotate this so that the marks on my ruler make more sense. So now we can just cut that in half like so. Perfect. And then this is the option we would use with the bias tape maker. Yes. Correct? Okay. So then we can set that aside. And then so on these you cut it in thirds right? You want to press that in for me just so we don't have any rumples when I go to cut it. Teamwork. It's the best. Can't beat it. Okay great. Awesome. Same idea. Just gonna make sure that's as straight as can be. The good news is this is pretty forgiving too. Yeah so I'll tell you a secret. I don't have a rotary cutter at home so I did this with scissors. Oh my goodness. So it's not perfectly straight lines. It doesn't have to be perfection. That is dedication. You never see those edges. So what measurement am I looking for on this? Math is hard. So this is 2 ½ divided by 3. Is that a little over three quarters? Yes. Is that right? Yes. All right I'm going for it. So this is where I also tell you that I eyeballed it with my scissors. Yeah that makes sense. So we're just going to do that same thing. There's one because again it doesn't have to be exact because this is all going to be worked into those crochet stitches. So nobody's actually ever going to see the width of your strip. I wonder if I need to trim a little bit off. You're saying it doesn't really matter. It's so close. Look at that. I just have the pink edges hanging over. All right cool. So there's our second option. So one option is in thirds. One is in half. Right. And Sarah you mentioned the benefit of doing it in thirds is you get extra yarn essentially so you can make a bit bigger project. Yeah so the great thing with the crochet rug pattern that we have at LBH is that it doesn't specify a size. I mean we give you a certain amount of yardage and tell you that it'll make a certain size but you, this pattern is great because you can just keep going with however much yarn or bias tape or fabric strips that you have. Okay. So when we run it through the bias tape maker and then crochet with it, it makes a slightly sturdier fabric so it would be like a really great welcome mat or in a high traffic area. If you cut it into thirds it's just a little bit thinner but I mean the cotton is so sturdy that it really won't make that much of a difference. Pretty forgiving. Yeah. Well and I love these rugs because they remind me of my grandma's house. She had these crochet rugs all over her house and I just loved them. I can remember laying on the floor as a little girl looking at the different fabrics that made them up and I think this is such a great way to bring that, you know, traditional historical style rug into the modern day by using fabrics that we love. So super fun. Yeah you can't beat these colors. All right so let's show them how to use this bias tape maker. How about that? Let me open this up here. Grab one of the strips. Okay I can get into it. It's being difficult now. There we go. There's that and this is the half inch that we're working with. Yeah so these are great. You just feed the fabric through. Actually do you have a pin? Yeah I do. I mean I would think so. You would hope right? Here you go. I don't know why I'm trying to leave with my left hand on this when I'm right-handed. So the pin helps you to thread your fabric through. So I'm just folding my fabric in half to start and then there's this great channel on the top of the bias tape maker where you can see the fabric coming through. And then what I like to do is wiggle it back and forth a bit to sort of open up the fabric inside the bias tape maker. So right now it's really, you can see it's heavy on one side and not quite as much on the other. I'm gonna adjust it. Yeah you just go back and forth a couple of times until it seems to be centered in the bias tape maker. I'm trying to There's no rush on this right? Like all of our projects are on our own time. Yeah I say that often. Like I think we're so hard on ourselves when we're trying to do these projects and learn something new that we feel like it has to be in a certain amount of time. But it's really just about enjoying the process and we don't have to set unreasonable expectations for ourselves. Just enjoy it. Exactly, exactly. In the yarn world we like to talk about being a project knitter, project crocheter, or process knitter or crocheter. And I am a process crocheter. I think I'm a process quilter too. Yeah I enjoy the process so much it doesn't matter what the finished product is going to be. All right so then that pin that I used to thread it through the bias tape maker. I'm going to go ahead and pin the end of that bias tape to my board. Now if you just have an ironing board at home you can design an ironing board too. Absolutely. These little mats are so great. And then I'm going to pull the bias tape maker back a little bit. And I don't know if you can see that but you can see like the pinked edge is sort of poking out. And that's totally fine because again this is all it's all going to be wrapped up in the stitches so it doesn't have to be perfect. And now I'm just pulling the bias tape maker back along the fabric just ahead of the iron. It's so satisfying. It really is. And sometimes the so I've got a spot here where the fabric opened up so it's really kind of easy to sort of hold that in place with your finger catch it with the iron. Don't burn yourself. And then you can just move it along. I mean there's a lot of fabric right in this jelly roll so you're going to be doing this for a while. Yeah. So I set up in my living room put on Netflix. Yeah. And just enjoy the process right. Watched a movie or a show or two. Yeah. And sometimes all right let me show you this. So my fabric has rolled over and it's almost like it's making bias tape on the outside. I'm going to slide back to where I was good and then I'm just gonna kind of keep an eye on that edge as I pull along. Make it behave. Yeah that'll keep it on the inside. And if you have one of the like little project irons that can be handy when you're working with something small like this as well because then it's a little bit less bulky to work with. Yeah. Yeah. Oh we forgot to mention sewing these all together. Oh yeah. We got excited didn't we. We did. We got a little ahead of ourselves. So once you've got them all cut you want to sew them all together before you start doing this. Yeah. And so then this process I found. So I have just a paper towel roll here and I cut all of my strips into thirds and then I just sewed them end to end with a quarter inch seam and I rolled them onto this paper towel tube just to kind of keep it all straight. So then when you're doing the bias tape if you choose to do that if you have a dowel or a barbecue skewer or a knitting needle you can poke it through the middle here maybe into the sides of the basket so then this will roll for you. Oh that's a great tip. Yeah and then and then you'll have to roll it all back up once you've once you've ironed it all. So let me see if I can get. Should I start sewing our narrower ones then together and then they'll be stitched together for the next demo. That would be great. Okay I will do that. I'm gonna finish ironing out this little bias strip tape. Perfect. So I am just placing these right sides together with a straight quarter inch seam. Pull this one around here. I've got one more and like Sarah said you would just continue with your entire jelly roll. Oh yeah it's a good chunk of time. But that's all right. There we go. And that's it. I mean that's a considerable amount of fabric yarn already. Yeah that's just from one strip. One strip exactly. All right so this is where it gets fun for me. This is where we get to crochet and it's it's really super simple. So what we're using is an 11.5 millimeter hook. This is one of the crystal lights from Susan Bates. It's a lot of fun and then you're gonna want some stitch markers. Okay. So for quilters if this is a brand new thing for you this is a Knitter and a Crocheter's Friend. I just learned about these this past winter. Oh. I'm making a cowl. I say making because I'm still not done because then it got warm and I didn't want to make a cowl anymore. But I had to learn how to use stitch markers so I was and they're awesome. Oh they're they are lovely and most of them come in multiple colors. So this pack we have yellow and we have purple and you want two colors because we want one to remind us where we start going around and then the rest are to remind us where the corners are. Okay. And again in the in the cotton rug pattern from One Big Happy all of that's detailed out in the pattern for you. Perfect. So then we're going to start with a slip stitch which is you create a loop around your fingers the tail goes behind and then you bring the tail up through that loop. Okay. Do that and then it sort of tightens up and you still have a loop. Let's show that one more time. Yep. So with the tail in your right hand you're going to go all the way around your fingers so the tail goes behind and then reach through that loop that you made and bring the tail through. Okay. Just like that. Okay. Awesome. So you can do that with your strips that you were cutting thirds or the bias tape that you made and you want to make sure that you leave about two to three inches of tail sticking out. Okay and what is that for? The tail? The tail is just because if you make it a lot closer then when you try and form that slip knot the tail could pop out and now you don't have a loop to put your hook on. Okay. So it's just some a little extra safety. Yes. I like it. Yeah. All right and so then this loop that we made with the slip knot just goes on your crochet hook. Okay. And then you can tighten it up a little bit. Not too tight. You want this to be able to move around on your hook nice and easy. Okay. And then there's only two stitches that you need to know for this project. You need to know how to chain and you need to know how to do a single crochet. Okay. So let me show you the chain stitches because that's what we're going to start with. Your yarn is going to come up and over your hook from behind and then as you pull on your crochet hook you see the fabric strip catches in that's called the throat of the crochet hook. Okay. And then you pull it through the loop that we made and that leaves us with a new loop on our hook. I see it. That's so exciting. So we're going to do that again. So yarn up and over your hook, catch it in the throat, pull it through the loop that already exists. So that's a chain stitch and with the bias tape it doesn't really matter if it rolls over and you're seeing the underside of the bias tape or the top side of bias tape because it's fabric on, you know, the right side of the fabric on both sides. Sure. So you're just going to chain, you're going to do this chain stitch 16 times. Okay. I'm just going to do one more and then I'm going to show you single crochet. There we go. And take your time with this. Cotton is not a very flexible fabric on your hands and this isn't true bias tape, we ran it through the bias tape maker. We didn't cut the fabric on the bias so there isn't any give or take. Yeah. So take your time with this project. This is not a one day project. It will hurt your hands if you try to do that. So do a couple of rounds each day or do whatever feels comfortable for you. That's a great tip. Yeah. So now we can look back along this chain that we made and there's the loop on our hook and then there's a chain right before that one. We don't want to work into that because it'll just undo this loop that's on our hook. So we actually want to go to the second chain from our hook. Okay. And we're just going to go under the top half of it. Sometimes you have to wiggle your hook to get in there. And then we're going to come over the hook, catch it in the throat and bring it through. And that puts two loops on our hook. Okay. And now we're going to do that again. Yarn over our hook and pull through both of those. That has made one single crochet stitch. So a single crochet stitch has this strand at the top and then these two strands at the bottom. And now this is where the stitch markers come in handy. Okay. So we're going to take the one that's a different color and we're going to put it in that stitch that we just made. Okay. Now we're going to do a single crochet in every chain across the chain that we've made. So we're going to go into the next one just under the top half of it. So after that first one though you just go to the next. The next one. You don't have to go twice. Nope. Okay. Not yet. Okay. Okay. I'm really learning with you guys. I was telling Sarah earlier I have tried to learn crochet and I can knit great but so far crochet has been evading me. And I'm determined to get it this time. We'll spend some time on getting there. Yes we will. So it's single crochet. Okay. All the way across. And on the One Big Happy YouTube channel we have some stitch support videos. So if you need help practicing single crochet or just chain stitches you can hop over there and watch those on our YouTube channel. And it's me so you'll recognize my voice and my face. All right. So we only did one little bias strip. One little strip of bias tape here. So I've run out of it here. So what I'm going to do is actually switch over to the strips that we cut into thirds. Okay. And show you how to work with those too. So now you could go through and iron this in half all the way through. But I found that to be more tedious than using the bias strip maker. The bias tape maker. Okay. So I just fold it in half as I go. Okay. So I just fold just a little bit at a time. Yeah like four or six inches at a time. Just enough to make the next stitch. Which makes sense because you're going to have it in your hand anyway. Yep. That's actually really smart. If you're not dexterous enough to do that and you know there's lots of reasons why you wouldn't. Go ahead and iron the strip in half. Yeah. There's no there's no saying that that's not helpful. Absolutely. The one thing you don't want to do is just work with this strip unfolded because it inevitably I don't know what it is physics whatever some magical force in the world it'll always flip itself over and the wrong side of the fabric will end up showing. Okay. And you won't get all these gorgeous colors. And then we'll be sad. Yes it'll be very sad. So all right I'm just gonna chain one more and then I'll show you that start again. Okay. So here's our chain. We don't want to use the loop on our hook and we don't want to use the chain before it. So we want to go under just the top half of that second chain from the hook and we're going to single crochet. And then we're going to put a stitch marker on the top of that stitch. And then we're going to single crochet our way across this chain. So one single crochet in each stitch across. Ah see I didn't fold that one really well. So the outside of the fabric is showing. That's all right. Yeah. You can just pull it out. Um so. So forgiving. Yeah students that I've had for years will recognize this phrase from me. When in doubt, rip it out. Don't be afraid of your mistakes. Um the best things that I've learned about craft, knitting, crochet, sewing, um I don't quote but I do so, um is when you have to take something apart. Um and it it drives my husband crazy because I have made entire projects and gotten to the end and realized this doesn't work and I've unwound all of the yarn and he just pulls his hair out. I say you know he's a he's a woodworker and I say if you could take all those nails out and undo all of those cuts and go back to the original wood that you had and start over wouldn't that be such a gift? That is a gift of yarn isn't it? Yeah. It really is. Yeah. To be able to reuse our materials. Okay so now I'm at the last chain because that's our slip stitch that we started with and this is where Misty's question from earlier do you put more than one in the same place comes into play. Okay. So here in this last chain we're actually going to put three single crochets because that's going to turn us around the end and then we're going to work down the other side. Okay. And this is where the other stitch markers come in handy. So we're going to do one in here and then I'm going to put a stitch marker in that one. Okay. That's one corner. This is corner number two. So our first stitch marker is corner number one. This is corner number two. Got it. And this is another reason why we want a slightly long tail because this stitch is going to start to open up for us and so you don't want a super short tail because it could pop out. Okay. Now we're going to do a second single crochet. This one is not going to get a stitch marker. This will become this side of the rug. Got it. Then we're going to do the third single crochet which will also get a stitch marker. And I know this doesn't look very square right now but it will. As you keep going. Yeah. All right and then I like to tug that tail and sort of tighten up that base chain to close everything up a little bit. Yeah this just looks like a very very strange candy cane right now. Have faith. Yes. Persevere. Trust. Yes. And so the other trick that I like to do is this little tail I just sort of keep it underneath my thumb and it'll hide inside the stitches that we make next. Okay. So now I'm going to go to where this single crochet went into the chain. Okay. And you should be able to see those little holes in the middle where those stitches went into. We're just going to work our way back across the bottom of the chain into the same spaces. So this this is the start of those three stitches in the end. So we want to go back to the next stitch. We're going to go right into that same chain but now we're working under the over the bottom of it. Oh and my fabric rolled again. So pop it out make sure it's folded in half and I can go back into that stitch. There we go. And our single crochet. Again that that tail is a little bit fiddly. You can just poke it out of the way and not worry about it. But if you just take your time with it it will disappear inside your stitches. And again it isn't yarn it's fabric strips. So sometimes sometimes it's going to roll with the wrong side on the outside. Just take that stitch out take your time with it. Or if it really frustrates you just let it happen. I was going to say. And straighten it out on the next stitch. That one little stitch is probably going to be just fine in the long run. Yep nobody will know. All right so I'm just single crocheting each stitch along the bottom of that chain. Yeah see that one's sort of halfway to the outside but we're just going to leave it. Looks great. Yeah. All right we have two more stitches. And then we are back to where we started. Oh we have just enough of this. This is perfect. All right so this is the chain where we worked that very first single crochet. We're going to work two single crochets into this one. First one is going to get a stitch marker because it's our fourth corner. Okay. And then the second one will essentially become the fourth side of our rod. That other end side right? Yep. So that is the end of round one. And it's starting to take shape. Like you can see the square shape is starting to form. Yeah our tiny little rug. Our tiny little rug. I love it. And from here you're going to work in a spiral. Okay. So sometimes in crochet patterns when you're working in the round you come back around to where you started and then you join and then you start another round separately. But we're actually going to work in the round. It makes it uh we're going to work spirally in the round. It makes it a lot easier. Okay. So we're back to this stitch with the stitch marker. I'm going to take that out because it's kind of in the way. Okay. And then this is our corner stitch. And so for the rest of the rug every time you come to a corner stitch with a stitch marker you need to do three stitches. Okay. Just like we did at the end of the chain. Every time you come to a stitch marker you need to do three single crochet stitches in that stitch. So we're going to do one. And that's that's how it's getting bigger is by adding those stitches on the corners. Yes. These are the increases that give you those nice sharp 90 degree corners and enough stitches to go around them. Yeah. All right. So now we've got three stitches that we just made. One, two, three. I'm going to put it in the middle one. Okay. So that they stay centered as we go around and around. Let me show you that in the finished rug here. So now this one was made with the bias tape. Okay. And these are our corners. That looks so nice. Yeah you almost can't see it. No it's so smooth. It just lays beautifully. Yeah. And so because we're working in the spiral you never really see a place where the new rounds start. And when you finish you just keep going until you run out of fabric. And then we do a slip stitch. And I can show you what that looks like. So let me grab our other little sample here. Perfect. This is one that I've done with the strips that were cut in thirds. And I just folded in half as I crocheted. And I'm right at the end here. So let me get that back a bit. I mean it's just, it's so cute and it's so fun. I've, I really have enjoyed this project. Thank you for, thank you for listening to my crazy and thinking that it would be a good idea. Oh no it's not crazy at all. I was so excited when you reached out because it's something, like I said, I've wanted to work on crochet myself anyway. And so getting to spend time with you and, and also, you know, maybe use up some of the jelly rolls in my stash is really exciting. So I'm pretty excited about that. Awesome. So, all right, so I'm just going to show you how, when you get to the end of your fabric, you finish it off. So I did a stitch and now I have about four or five inches left. That's not enough to make another stitch. So I'm going to finish this off. I'm going to go into the next stitch, bring up a loop, and then I'm going to bring that loop through the loop that's already on my hook. This is called a slip stitch. Okay. And then I'm going to fasten off. So I'm going to yarn over again. It's so short now. I'm going to pull the tail all the way through. Okay. And then tug that tail nice and tight. That locks that stitch in place. I see that, yeah. And now all I have to do is, and this is actually, I found easier done by hand. Okay. I just tuck the tail through stitches on the back side in a couple of different directions. Just to kind of anchor it in there. Yeah. I mean, you could, you could stitch it in place. My machine at home would not be strong enough to go through all these layers, but you could hand tack it in place too. I think this works great to just kind of weave it in and then it disappears. I mean, if you had a really big tapestry needle, and we do have some jumbo tapestry needles at One Big Happy, you could use those as well. But so there, I've just woven it through about three different stitches on the back side. And that's it. It looks so good. I just love it. It's such a fun project. And like I said, it brings back so many fond memories for me. And so that is just the sweetest. I love that we can kind of come full circle because this is a craft that's been around for a long time. Hundreds of years. And so to be able to continue that and make it current is just exciting. So thank you so much, Sarah. You're welcome. Can I tell you one more little secret? Absolutely. All right. So this little bit that we wove in, I leave it so that I know where it is just in case I decide I want to make this bigger. Okay. Oh, that's perfect. Unpick it back to where you were. Unpick that last stitch. And then you would just stitch on some more fabric and keep going. Yep. You find your end, stitch on new strips and keep going. Brilliant. So let's talk about size that you get from these two methods. So this is the bias tape version, which is where we cut it in half. And this is the full jelly roll, correct? Yes. Okay. And so what does this measure about? This measures about two feet by one and a half feet. Okay. Awesome. So that'd be great for, you know, a little bath mat or anything like that. That's so great. And this, I just keep thinking like a placemat. It's like a placemat size, but we're not even done with this round. Not even close. No, it would be great placemats. And there's notes in the pattern too about how to change the shape of your finished rug. Oh. This one, we were aiming for a rug this size. Yeah. But you can shorten that center chain. And so you could make a square piece. More square. Yep. Or you could lengthen it if you've got lots of fabric in your stash and make a runner from all the way. Yeah. That would be so fun. So fun. I love it. Well, thank you so much, Sarah, for being here. Make sure you guys check out the wonderful videos that she and Jenny Fish have put together over at One Big Happy. There's so much to learn, so many wonderful projects. And I just really appreciate you coming over to spend some time with us here at Missouri Star and sharing your wonderful talents with us. Oh, it's been great to be here. Thank you so much. Tell everybody again where they can find you. You can find us at OneBigHappy.com. Awesome. We'll see you guys next time. Hey everyone, it's Misty. Thanks for watching At Home. If you aren't already a part of our Missouri Star family, be sure to subscribe and hit the bell if you want a notification every time we release a new video. I'll see you next Monday on the newest episode of At Home.