How To Make Upcycled Rugs From Recycled Wool

This article is a work in progress! All the directions are here: I'll be posting more photos in the next day or two...

Elin

Making rugs from recycled or "upcycled" wool isn't as hard or time consuming as it sounds. I've recently developed a whole new way to make rugs from recycled wool, and because I believe in recycling, I want to share this new method with you and encourage you to give it a try. (Too see more examples of rugs I've made, visit this post:

So get out those old wool skirts, pants, and jackets you don't use anymore, or visit thrift stores and yard sales to find old wool garments to use. Wash them in hot, soapy water, dry them in the dryer, and you're ready to go.

Hint: After lots of trial and error, I've discovered that wool pants and skirts are the easiest garments to recycle. Wool blazers and jackets can be recycled, but they are more work to cut apart because of the lining and shoulder pads. That said, some of the most beautiful woven wool in my collection came from men's blazers.

Wool sweaters are fabulous for recycling, too (so soft and cushy), but the technique for making upcycled wool rugs with them is slightly different. I'll cover "Upcycled Rugs from Recycled Wool Sweaters" in another tutorial.

So, let's get started.

Here's a list of materials you will need for your Upcycled Rug from Recycled Wool:

• Clean, recycled wool in whatever colors you love. First, wash the wool in hot, soapy water and dry on a warm setting. This way, the wool is pre-shrunk so that your finished wool rug will be a breeze to clean. (Don't use fabric softener.) Washing "felts" the wool (see my tutorial on felting wool) so that it becomes incredibly soft and so nice to work with.
• One to three yards of Heat Bond Light, which can be found in a fabric store.
• A base cloth for your wool rug; canvas and upholstery remnants both work well. A strong, pre-shrunk fabric that is not stretchy is best for the base of your wool rug. Try recycling some fabric you already own!
• An iron and ironing board (or iron your rug on a large, flat, heat resistant surface. I like to use my tile kitchen island covered with towels.)
• A sewing machine and thread

Step 1: Cut the Heat Bond Light into squares. For this tutorial, I've used 5 inch squares.
Step 2: Using the directions that come with Heat Bond Light, iron the squares, paper side out, to the wrong side of the wool. For a ____ rug, you will need ____ squares.
Step 3. Cut out the wool squares that have been bonded to the Heat Bond.
Step 4. On a large, flat surface, arrange the squares in a pattern that is pleasing to you.
Step 5. Prepare the base fabric for your wool rug. Wash, dry, and press, then draw a corner from which to start laying out your rug. I use a poster board to do this, because that is what I have. Any large squared object will do.
Step 6. Peel the paper off the back of your first square, and iron it to the base fabric. Then iron on the next square in your pattern, overlapping 1/4 to 1/2 inch - the measurements are up to you, just make sure that you overlap all of the squares the same amount.
Step 7. Once all of your squares are ironed to the base fabric, you may want to turn it over and iron it from the back, just to make sure all the squares are stuck securely to the base fabric.
Step 8. Using a wide zig-zag stitch, stitch all of the edges of the squares to the base fabric, one long line at a time, being sure to stitch all sides of each square.
Step 9. For a rustic look, you may trim the edges of the rug neatly and then zig zag all the way around the rug, and then you're done! If you want a more polished edge, see my tutorial on Binding an Upcycled/Recycled Wool Rug.
To wash the recycled wool rug, machine wash in cold water and air dry. May be pressed with a steam iron.
Note: I have only tried this method using Heat Bond Light so far. There may be other products that would work, such as double-sided interfacing or Stitch Witchery. Let me know if you discover a new way.

One more thing: The first rug I ever made was this one:

It is a crazy quilt rug, and I used remnants of felted sweater fabric. I didn't use Heat Bond Light because I hadn't figured that part out yet. I pinned each piece of felted wool to the base fabric before I sewed around it using a zig zag stitch. It was quite time-consuming and frustrating, as the pieces liked to move around even after I had pinned them down. Binding the edges of the rug was a challenge, too. I had sewn lots of 2 inch strips together, after which I pinned and sewed them to the edges of the rug. Those edges liked to move around, too, and that is when I thought of gluing them down first with sewable, iron-on adhesive.

Making a rug without a product such as Heat Bond can be done, but the process is so much easier and more precise when the pieces are stuck down securely before they are sewn.

I'm sure other kinds of fabric could be used to make rugs using this technique; perhaps denim or thick upholstery fabric would work. I have only used wool so far.

The rugs are quite durable - the one at the entrance to my laundry/mud room gets a lot of traffic, and it still looks just great.

Here are photos of some of the rugs I've made so far:  http://www.earthlovedesigns.blogspot.com/2010/03/photographs-of-upcycled-recycled-wool.html

Good luck to you! Please let me know if you try my method for making an Upcycled Rug from Recycled Wool, and how it works for you. We can all learn from each other.

Best Wishes To You,
Elin Willow