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How to make rugs


pinkhare

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I want to make some rugs for my houses and while I've made one for the bathroom by braiding embroidery floss and coiling it ,I want something a bit more formal for the rest of the house . Are there any good tutorials ? I've heard of Bunka rugs but i can't seem to find anything on them .

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Sarah, I have a bunka rug tutorial on my blog. Go here http://caseymini.blogspot.com/2008/04/bunka.html It explains how to do it. There are also some other rug tutorials and a couple of patterns for cross stitch rugs. Go to the left side and then to Labels. You will find "rugs" there.

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That one wound up being 1:24 & took several months; I stitch a bit whilst waiting for paint/ glue/ stain to dry. The chart is in Pamela Warner's book of miniature Georgian needlework projects, the Aubusson rug.

An easy-peasy way to make lovely rugs is to hit the thrift stores for old interior decorating magazines and carefully cut out the pictures of gorgeous rugs from the ads. Dilute white tacky glue with water, paint it onto the picture and carefully smooth a single-ply of facial tissue over it and let it dry; gives a nice fuzzy texture. You can also pick up odd bits of grosgrain ribbon at thrift stores (check where they have the craft supplies and glue one edge to each end of the rug and unravel the other edge to make fringe. If this sounds familiar to you other Helen Ruthberg fans, this was out of one of her books.

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Here's one I made a few years ago. The pattern came from a leaflet named Miniature Collection for Needlepoint & Cross Stitch that I picked up at a thrift shop. The finished size is about 5.75" x 4.25".

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Your rug has really inspired me try and learn ! It's just so beautiful .

It's not hard! You should give it a try. Pamela Warner's books are excellent with a lot of great patterns (not just for rugs) but there are also kits available which can make it easier to get started because they include everything you need (pattern as well as floss/wool and fabric). I've done a few of Janet Granger's kits and have been pretty impressed with them.

If you decide to stitch off a pattern and need to get your own supplies, Michael's sells DMC floss and cross stitch fabric. If you want to do a rug in wool (on needlepoint canvas) you'll probably have to go to a specialty shop. I've done both and prefer cross-stitched rugs because they're not as bulky and I think they look more to scale.

I recently came across a few free patterns and am stitching one of them now (the Tabriz Medallion rug). The website recommends 18 count fabric but I'm stitching on higher count fabric (35 count I think?) which will result in a smaller (probably half scale) rug. (The higher the count, the smaller your finished product will be.) I was a little nervous about this rug at first since there's no picture of the finished piece, just a computer-generated image of the chart, but it seems to be turning out well so far.

I usually cross stitch while watching TV in the evenings. It can take several months to finish a rug like this so I look at it more as an ongoing project than something I'm hoping to get done right away.

Caseymini, thanks for the link to your site - lots of fun stuff to look at there! :)

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I work in petitpoint, either basket, tent or half cross stitch. It is really important to use a frame or hoop to keep the fabric taut, and use a fairly gentle touch with the stitching, not too tight, as it can be a bear to block properly if it's too tight.

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Here's one I did on petitpoint canvas. Being too lazy to count stitches, I just drew one that I saw in a picture, free hand with the quilting pens whose ink disappears when you dampen it. So all you have to do is go in-out, in-out. about a gazillion times, and it's done! Please ignore the rocker that still needs to be recovered in the right color!

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I priced the silk gauze, Emily. I find perfectly lovely linen and >18-count aida in thrift stores to stitch on for a fraction of the co$t.

Sherry, leave that rocker alone! That looks like a picture from my grandma's house! I LOVE that rug!

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Sherry, I have a small design on my website that would be good for a bedroom. Go here and scroll down a bit. If you poke the photo of the pattern it will come up bigger and then you can copy it if you want to for your own use. http://caseymini.blogspot.com/2009/04/one-...to-another.html It can be done in colors that you choose. Simply replace each color consistantly throughout the stitching.

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Casey, that is a beautiful rug pattern! But I have to find something that not only fits the era, but goes with a blue and tan floral and stripe combination that I did the room in. I know there's a rug out there somewhere that will work, I just have to hunt...or maybe make up one. But thanks for the tip, that rug would be pretty in something else later!

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  • 2 months later...

Last night I finished a rug I've been working on for the past few months. The pattern is available for free from this site.

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I stitched it over-one on 35-inch linen. It's about 3 inches by 4.25 inches (which translates into 6 feet by 8.5 feet in a half scale house).

If I had it to do over again I'd probably use white instead of ecru. I thought ecru would go better with the rest of the colors but it looks kind of washed out. Otherwise I'm pretty happy with it. I do want to add fringe, maybe by gluing frayed fabric or ribbon to the bottom. I didn't want to make fringe out of the linen because I was concerned about it unraveling and messing up the stitching.

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