From Rags to Riches

One rainy Sunday in November 2010, I spent a very pleasant afternoon in Mayfield Scout and Guide hut learning how to make rag rugs.  If a square of hessian, old tee-shirts, sharp scissors, a carpet hook and a bit of wood with a groove in it  were all it took to produce the masterpieces that our teacher, Debbie,  pulled out of her carpet bags, then I was in. After endless cutting, wrapping, cutting again, prodding and pulling, that afternoon we each managed to produce a small cushion cover at the end of the 5 hour session. I was inspired and vowed to create a masterpiece, an heirloom for my daughter's bedroom.  I started that week and then.....
Fast forward 26 months:  My daughter asks if we have any spare rugs for her small apartment.  A great guilt washes over me. Her "heirloom" lies abandoned and unfinished in my "craft box." (Inverted commas very necessary in that last sentence.)  Luckily, the whole caboodle had been shipped over from England, and my carpet hook and dressmaker's scissors are still shiny from non-use.  I've spent every spare moment in the last two weeks cutting, wrapping,  pulling etc and I can now shine my halo and announce that  the slightly wonky rug is finished.  The pattern is not what I originally envisaged because I ran out of old sky blue and pink tee-shirts, but have made use of tracksuit bottoms, pyjamas, Christmas ribbon and an old Santa suit.  In a country of carpets, this may not seem a very accomplished offering but I FINISHED IT.

Debbie Siniska's Rag Rug Art