We’re currently meeting our usual standard of sending all orders the same, or next, working day. News update coming soon! 

Here’s a lovely idea from Kathryn in Derbyshire. Kathryn makes and sells rag rug wreaths and brooches to sell in order to raise money for her favourite charity. Who wouldn’t want to give to charity by buying these?

Thanks very much indeed to Pam, in Cumbria, for sending us this hooked rag rug pic of a woodpecker she made. What a gorgeous rug! And thanks, too, for letting us use the pic.

In response to the requests for rag rug making tutorials the quickest thing we can offer is this link to Nina Corey demonstrating the basic technique.  We hope this is helpful. Here are a few more links to demonstration videos: How it’s done | How to use the cutting gauge  || How to make a hem || Using plastic carrier bags  || Using the Pinking scissors gauge ||How to make a Christmas Wreath

Thanks very much to Jennie of Skybluepink Designs in Berwick upon Tweed for the great pic of the rag rug she made showing the moon reflected on water. A lovely scene and definitely a lovely rug!

A big ‘thank you’ to Catherine in Kirkcudbright who sent us this pic of the lovely traditional design rug she made. Catherine had her Mother’s tweed skirts and Mother-in-law’s old tool so all she needed was one of our cutting gauges! The rug is 3’6″ x 18″. It took 9 skirts; a felted cardigan + 4 sleeves and still need a bit more fabric. How’s that for recycling?!

We’re making a small improvement to all the tools we make. The plated steel ferrules we used to buy for handles are no longer available so now we’re using snazzy solid brass ones. Here’s a first peek:

We think they’re a lot better but they do cost little more, along with everything else!  So we’re reluctantly having to put our prices up a little. We hope this doesn’t make a problem for anyone.

Here’s a new rag rug pic from Janet White in Leeds. Janet made this one for her Granddaughter, Olivia, known as Liv. We guess Liv must be thrilled to bits with it!

A little while back we gave, with Janet’s permission, her contact details to Nora, a lady in Canada, who had admired Janet’s guitar rag rug [lower on this page]. They’ve become transatlantic friends and share craftwork stories! Here’s a friendly shout out to Nora across the pond!

Hi to Liv! We love your rug!

We’ve also had a lovely email from Catherine in Yorkshire, sharing her family crafting story. Catherine wanted a project to do with her two sons who both struggle with social situations. Interestingly enough they lived as Victorians for a day including making rags rugs! Soon after Catherine’s Mum was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and found she had to give up knitting, sewing and crochet. Catherine gave her Mum her rag rug kit and showed her how to do it.
Catherine’s Mum’s brilliant at it! She’s finished a rug depicting the Yorkshire Dales and is now working on one with a llama and yurt, using old clothes from the family. Thank you so much for your kind remarks, Catherine, and for letting us share your lovely story.

In the making

And here’s the gorgeous rug! Who doesn’t love the Yorkshire Dales?

Here’s a great idea from Ruth Bartholomew! She’s used old baby clothes, all soft jerseys, to make a cushion top cover. It looks great and will be comforts own self to sit on! What more could you ask of old clothes? Thanks, Ruth.

In response to the requests for rag rug making tutorials the quickest thing we can offer is this link to Nina Corey demonstrating the basic technique.  We hope this is helpful. Here are a few more links to demonstration videos: How it’s done | How to use the cutting gauge  || How to make a hem || Using plastic carrier bags  || Using the Pinking scissors gauge ||How to make a Christmas Wreath

Another rug pic from Ruth Bartholomew! This time it’s a more traditional bands of different colour style. Lovely choice of colours, Ruth!

A big ‘Thank you’ to Ruth Bartholomew for letting us share this pic of the new rag rug she recently made. We love the two-tone background and the spots. You could look at it all day and keep on seeing it in a new light!

A very big ‘Thank you’ to Kathryn, in Chesterfield, who kindly sent us this pic of her first attempt at rag rug making. Kathy received her wreath backcloth one Saturday and emailed us her pic two days later. Pretty impressive for a first attempt! And the fact it’s hanging on a door makes it a lovely welcome to all. We can’t wait to see what she comes up with next!

We have everything in stock and are sending all orders the same, or next, working day as usual but we’re getting low on 12oz fine hessian [just run out – sorry]. More will be available soon and we have plenty of the ordinary hessian.

 

A very big ‘thank you’ to Janet White – yes the same Janet in Leeds who’s kindly shared pics of her work with us before, including the rainbow above. This time Janet’s made a rag rug, as a Christmas present, for her guitar playing husband’s music room. We think it strikes just the right note!

 

 

Janet also shared a pic of the rug with the guitar it was based on. What a lovely gift for a musician! 

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Some good news about our Wreath Backcloths. After our move, last spring, we stopped offering these pre-marked backcloths [they can also be used as a template] because there was so much other setting up to do and these are popular in the run up to Christmas. Well, we’re there again so we’ve just re-listed them. To celebrate, here’s a pic of a brilliant idea recently kindly sent to us by Patsy Cowley. Patsy made a halloween wreath for her twin granddaughters. That’s a scarily good idea! Thanks Patsy!

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Thank you very much to Yvonne from Stockport. Regular visitors may well remember, some months ago, we posted pics of a mystery tool very kindly sent to us by Angela Jones of Kentucky USA and asked for info. Well, Yvonne has identified it as a ‘Law’s Rugmaking Machine’. It was patented on 1948 and made at Offerton, near Stockport where Yvonne lives. Yvonne has a tool like it and intends to donate it to a local museum. Nice one, Yvonne! The post about the tool now has it’s own page. Here’s a reminder of what it looked like:

 

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Here’s a great idea, and just at the right time! David Rye, in Norfolk, kindly shared this pic of the poppy rug he’s going to hang in his village for Remembrance Day. What a good idea and what an attractive rug. Thanks David!

 

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Just a bit of self-indulgence here – having not been able to demonstrate at shows since March we were sorting out some rugs and came across ‘Shaggy Ted’, one of our oldest rugs [we made it way over 20 years ago] which has been to more craft show and events than we care to remember. Here’s a pic:

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We love to hear from our rag rug making visitors and customers and get a lot of very generous feedback. Thank you! We’re having to sort out a temporary problem at the moment, though. Our usual contact form seems to have attracted the attention of a lot of bulk mail senders and we’re getting tons of junk! In an effort to stop this we’ve switched our usual contact form off but we still want to hear from all our genuine customers & visitors and are still just as pleased to answer questions. So, just for now, please use this link, which should go to your usual email browser to  CONTACT US

 

Here’s a great idea: Carole, in Kent, is one of the people who was waiting for us to get our unlined hessian bags back in stock. Carole likes rag rug making but is also into needle-felting. She made this stylish bag by putting a board under a sponge inside the bag and then needle-felted her design right through the side of the bag. What a great idea! And another great idea: Carole is one of the many people who are rightly concerned about the cruel practice of ‘mulesing’ sheep. So Carole gets her wool from ethical suppliers and favours wool from local farms. Here’s a pic of the bag. Thanks Carole!

Still not a happy subject but we feel we should mention the coronavirus situation. We are still able to make all the tools in our own workshop and understand online traders are allowed, and encouraged, to keep offering their products. The stalwart folk in our local post office are also still providing their usual excellent service so we’re still able to post all orders the same, or next, working day. We are, of course, taking extreme care over handling goods and parcels are reckoned [by official advice] to be safe. We’re depending heavily on internet shopping ourselves.
We sincerely hope all our customers and visitors are safe and well and all those who are indulging in craftwork at home are happy with their creative pastime. 

Lorraine Dally has visited Nina & Chris a several shows and has been kind enough to share this pic of the fox hooked rug she made. What a lovely rug and what a lovely way to share when the shows have all had to take a break! Thanks Lorraine.

We wanted to show appreciation and support for all those working so hard in the NHS so we’ve put a rainbow rag rug in our window.

Rob Bacon kindly sent us this pic of the first rug he’s made using our tools. Looks pretty good to us! Well packed with a great mix of colours. Thanks Rob!

Mary Keeling really likes highland cattle and rag rug making so she’s combined the two to make ‘Hamish’

Mary also made this rag rug for her friend, Jane. Jane likes lighthouses and windmills. Clever stuff!

A customer sent us this pic of the hooked rag rug she made to her own excellent design. It’s going to be a present so she didn’t want us to use her name, though she certainly deserves credit!

Ruth Bartholomew has been doing interesting experiments with different materials. This one is made from felt strips. It must have taken a lot of cutting but what a marvellous heavy-duty rag rug it made. Ruth has some more ideas and we’ll post pics soon.

Here’s a couple of pics showing another good idea by Ruth Bartholomew. She’s used anti-slip matting, as a backcloth, instead of hessian. Ideal for anyone who’s allergic to hessian and the pics show it works. Thanks Ruth!

Top side

Underside

Ruth’s done it again! This time it’s a rug that must feel as gorgeous as it looks because it’s made from sweatshirt fabric

In response to the requests for rag rug making tutorials the quickest thing we can offer is this link to Nina Corey demonstrating the basic technique.  We hope this is helpful. 

Here are a few more links to demonstration videos: How it’s done  || How to use the spider tool  || How to use the cutting gauge  || How to make a hem || Using plastic carrier bags  || Using the Pinking scissors gauge ||How to make a Christmas Wreath

Now it’s three weeks at our new premises for us, after 20 years where we were! Being a very small, family business that means home and business.  Thanks very much to the gentleman who phoned our mobile and let us know our landline number was still at the old address. Whoops! All up to date now.
We have some new pics to share and will upload them asap [still a lot of sorting out to do after the move].

Thanks very much to Janet White for this pic. Janet has made very crafty use of her rag rug making tools to please her domino mad family. That should do the trick and we’re resisting the temptation to say it’s a dotty idea! 

Here’s some timely inspiration: Rachel Lockwood saw a rag rug offered for sale in a market and got the idea to make one herself. She bought the necessary rag rug making tools, from our online shop, in October and has made the 1 metre x 1.5 metre rag rug pictured below for her daughter. Wow! Thank you so much, Rachel, for letting us share the picture.

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Kath Mayall sent us a pic of this rag rug from her project to offer help to people in Gambia by bringing the rugs they’ve made back to the UK and forwarding them all the money. It’s a beautiful rug, as ever. The very best of luck to her. More from Kath.

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Here’s a brilliant idea sent to us by a customer who bought a rag rug making kit from Nina at her stand at Event City Manchester recently. Nina’s customer prefers not to be named but we couldn’t resist sharing the idea: tiny rag rugs made to protect a new laminate floor from the feet of a bed. You just know shop-bought floor protector cups will be made from plastic which makes this idea doubly good. Check out the pic:
By the way, we’d love to share any more ideas like this.

 

Thanks to Jill Ruiz, of Gloucester, who sent us a pic of her recent rag rug making workshop. The pic shows the group saluting with the rag rug making tools we sent, and arrived in the nick of time, after a problem in the post. The rag rug makers all look like they’re having such a good time we asked it we could publish the pic. Thanks for saying ‘yes’, Jill. Long may the rug making fun continue!

 

We do appreciate your support, we have been making our rag rug tools by hand in a shed in Cornwall for over 26 years, and each tool is hand tested before we send it on it’s way to a new home. We use sustainable beech and only use upcycled cloth on our rugs. No materials are imported and we buy local, therefore we keep our carbon footprint low.

Thank you very much to Philippa Lowe for sending us this pic of the rag rug she made, in sea colours, at Branscombe last week. She took the pic on the beach where it goes perfectly. What a brilliant idea!

Brian Naylor kindly sent this picture of an amazing angel made for his local church last autumn. It’s made entirely from recycled materials and stands 4′ 6″ high!

Thanks Brian, it was angelic of you to send this!

Thanks to Jane Mitchell for the pic she’s just sent us of her first rag rug. Jane said:

I visited the craft show in Manchester on 1st February and bought one of your rug making kits. I’ve always been fascinated with rag rugs and something I’ve always wanted to do.
I’m sending you a picture of my first attempt, I finished it yesterday.
Many thanks for inspiring me to do this most enjoyable pastime.
Kind regards, Jane Mitchell

Thank you Jane! We love your rug – you obviously have an eye for colour. 

Some of the latest pics visitors have kindly sent us. Plenty more in our Gallery

We’ve had a pic very kindly shared with us, by Pam Bolton, of her amazing rag rug. Pam uses our standard hook and our new fine hook. Here’s her incredible rag rug Queen of Hearts:

Pam runs workshops beside the Carlisle Settle Railway line. She can be contacted by email [pamelabolton@hotmail.co.uk]. 

Thanks very much to Sheena Groom who visited the rag rug making stand at Manchester’s Event City and, later, sent this photo and comment.

Sheena said:
Hello, I was chatting to you on the stand on Thursday [Feb 2019] at event city. I was talking about the cute doggy piccys. I’ve bought a kit at previous show n just finished a small rug for my cats bed. You’d said to send a piccy, so ere it is! Lol, not big but I’m pleased with it. The tools are great and easy to use.

Thank you

Somebody has to say it…That rug looks purrrfect for a cat’s bed!

Writing on the rug

Janet White sent us a pic of her latest rug. Clever stuff and a beautiful rug. Her take on tile art. Looks like Janet’s made rag rug making mightier than the pen!