The Rope Rug
Using a rope-making machine to make fabric ropes for a rag rug.
January/February 1977
By the Mother Earth News editors
When it comes to attractive, foot-warming floor coverings, you just can't beat an old-fashioned Colonial-style throw rug. "Especially," says MOTHER staffer Travis Brock, "one that you've made yourself—for pennies—from recycled rags!"
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Two months ago—as "The Incredible Rope-Making Machine" (MOTHER NO. 42, pages 36—37) was being written—MOTHER researchers Travis Brock and Dennis Burkholder came up with a right smart (we thought) idea: "Why not use the rope-maker," they suggested, "to twist ordinary rags into 'fabric ropes' that a person can—in turn—make into a Colonial-type oval rug?"
Well, we're pleased to report that the boys' idea has—in the ensuing two months—materialized into a brightly colored 3' X 4' floor covering . . . the very one, in fact, shown on this page! For all you would-be rug-makers, then, here's a quick rundown of how Travis and his wife, Linda, managed to create this lovely "rope rug" . . . with tips on how you can duplicate their success.
A RAG IS A RAG IS A RUG
"The authors of the two rug-making articles in MOTHER NO. 12 both say that wool is the only suitable material for a floor covering of this sort," explains Travis, "but Linda and I happened across a large quantity of double-knit polyester and decided 'What the heck . . . let's use it.' "
First, the couple washed the approximately 30 square yards of fabric. (No one likes a dingy rug.) Then Travis and his wife [1] cut the laundered cloth into two-inch-wide strips, [2] separated the strips by color, and [3] stitched like-colored strands together with bias seams (that is, seams sewn at a diagonal). "You could butt the ends of two pieces together and sew 'em straight across," explains Linda, "but you'd end up with unsightly, hard-to-manage lumps in the finished cordage."
Next, Linda and Travis selected three color-coordinated strips of fabric of equal length (anywhere from 20 to 80 feet long) and folded them in half lengthwise. "Then," says Travis, "we got out the Incredible Rope-Making Machine, slipped the strips' folds over the machine's three hooks, and tied the rags' loose ends together behind the 'Y'-shaped separator/holder." (See Photos 2 and 3.)
