Rag Mama Rag

Readers with long memories may recall that in March 2016 I made a rag rug, and posted about it - see Very validating on 31st March 2016. The 'validating' refers to actually doing something worthwhile in the 'domestic skills' sphere, as if by making this rug I had now qualified in some way as a Household Superwoman. 

Well, that's how it felt! But rag rugs are simple to make; and, if I'm objective about it, mine wasn't especially impressive. Still, I did it all without assistance, entirely on my own. It was my very first effort. And however dismissive some genuine Superwomen might be, it was - to me - a personal triumph that I could feel very happy with. 

Did I say rag rugs are simple to make? Indeed they are. All you need is a hessian base, and a sufficient quantity of fabric that you can cut into little strips and then pull them, one by one, into the weave of the hessian base with a special tool. These strips gradually build into a soft rug. You can have a broad design, as mine had, but the fabric strips don't allow fine detail, and it's useless to aim for an elaborate pattern. I bought brightly coloured cotton fabric in yellow, white, green and two shades of blue. This was for a simple seaside scene, suitable for my bathroom floor. Here are some shots from 2016, to show how the rug progressed from the first moment:

I started on 5th March 2016, and by 19th March the rug was sufficiently finished to show to friends. Here I am, outside a pub on the Cotswolds, displaying the rug to my friend Angie:

There was more work yet. I needed to sew on a hessian backing, to hide the 'workings' so to speak. I'd done this by 27th March, embellishing the backing with a 'Lucy-Lou' logo.

It was Rag Rug No. 1. I anticipated making at least one more, although this never happened. Not very long afterwards, on 20th April 2016, I showed it to a friend in North Devon, Jayne. She had inspired me to attempt making a rag rug in the first place. She professed to be impressed, although her dog Callie gave no sign of high excitement. 

So this was a definitive shot of the fully-completed rug:

It's meant to show the sea breaking on the yellow sand of a beach, with a grassy headland as the background, and in the sky a yellow sun, and a wisp of cloud to echo the breaking wave on the shore. 

My existing bathroom mat was still serviceable, so I put my newly-made rag rug away until needed. That moment came in November 2019, almost four years later. The old bathroom mat had been attractive, but the rubber backing was starting to disintegrate. So I binned it, and got out the rag rug. It made a nice bright splash of colour in the bathroom!

Roll on three years to this month, December 2022. By now the rag rug definitely needed washing. I'd held off doing that because I wasn't sure how best to clean it. I thought a hand wash might be better than popping it into the washing machine, in case any of the umpteen fabric strips came adrift. On the other hand, handwashing it would be laborious and messy. Finally consulting Jackie next door, she loaned me a large drawstring bag, which would hold the rug together while sloshing around in my washing machine. A short, low-temperature wash, of course.

Well, here goes!

The wash was a success. It had to be only a gentle spin, and so the rug was still very damp coming out of the machine. I let it drip for a while in the bathroom, then draped it over this drying frame, and ultimately over the lounge radiator.

Once dry, the pile was fluffed up and springy again, just like it was when first made. I was relieved. I'd feared damage of some kind. But it was all right. And it looked good once more on the bathroom floor.

In fact it's now too good for the bathroom floor, which is vinyl and quite old, and has become cracked and dingy. It would be a simple thing to buy another length of vinyl and cut it to fit around the washbasin pedestal and other bits. But until I can kneel down again, there is no way I can tackle such a job myself.