‘Rag rug’ cushion

Methods of using up scrap fabric…. I did my rag rugging course with Jenni Stuart-Anderson last year, not long before i moved house. It’s quite a messy process. I decided that further work had to take place outside, limiting the amount of tidying up necessary. What with moving house, and much rain since then, i have only just ventured outside with my partially completed cushion, and used up some more scraps. Whilst Jenni and some of my fellow course participants were working on fabulous designs, i decided to start gently with a blue / grey / black theme, of which i had a lot of scraps. There was an element of structure to the approach on the day of the course, but the resumption was somewhat more random.

Having seen examples at places like Blists Hill Museum and The Black Country Museum, i can confirm that in their original form, many rag rugs were quite random.

Its the hessian base that falls apart and causes the mess.

The process uses the endearingly names tool – a bodger. Here i am ‘bodging’. Except I’m not – I’m progging! Cut short strips of waste fabric, push the bodger through the hessian and out about 1cm on, open the bodger, grasp the fabric and pull. Done. Do it again, and again etc. Stop. Cut more fabric strips. Bodge again. (Wait a year. Finish it). No, that’s not in the book!

Finishing the article properly is quite important because of course, the hessian will continue to fray. As it happens, the whole thing is made from leftovers. I happened to have two round ex-cushion foams, and more than enough left over curtain fabric with which to cover the foam. Using strong thread. as per the book, i stitched round the edge of both the curtain fabric and the hessian, and pulled so that the edges gently turned inwards. I decided to press both pieces to keep the turned in edges smooth. After which i basically hand stitched the covered foam to the underside to the rag top, and i have a new cushion. I tried using invisible nylon thread, of which i have a large quantity. I don’t recommend hand stitching with invisible thread! You cant see what you are doing. A shade of beige was more user friendly.

So, i have another round cushion foam; i have loads more scrap fabric. I have a bodger that serves no other useful purpose. I bought some more hessian. Eventually it stopped raining and i took my hessian and bodger outside again. The second cushion was beginning to look very drab with continued use of grey and blue scraps, so i added a red splodge in the centre. I used the same curtain fabric as backing. No tutor or course required, although i did briefly refer to Jennie’s book to ensure that i finished the work as per the book.

The cushions now adorn the chairs in my craft room, and are making the chairs more comfortable to sit on. A job well done!

This has but dinted my stock of scrap fabric. I could make many more rag articles. It is a good process for using up weird and wonderful left over shapes of fabric, until you eventually have something that really couldn’t be used for anything else, other than perhaps stuffing a cushion one day!!

As usual, i have some ideas……