I made this rug for my daughter’s bedroom. And thought I would share a couple thoughts on things I love and don’t love. First I would probably suggest sewing your strips on with the right sides facing out instead of in. So, that even when it’s been stepped on you’ll still see the pretty colors! I love that it’s heavy enough to carefully vacuum! With minimal toe holding this rug in place I was able to vacuum it! Yay! And I love that it’s starting to show it’s fringy edges! Though I do try to keep a little pair of scissors nearby for this beginning, fringing stage 🙂
Without further ado here’s my quick tute of a fabulously fun, little circular rug for you to enjoy!
Supplies~
1 yard of Textured of base fabric
1 yard of Heavy upper base fabric
approx. 44-2.5″ strips wof or Jelly roll strips
Basting spray
I’m gonna talk base fabric first. I chose random fabric that I simply had in my stash and I have a lot of random fabrics! I chose something textured for the bottom as this is likely going in front of a dresser in my daughters carpeted room. I chose a denim for the top because I had it, it was sturdy for light traffic, and it was dark so hopefully it will not look dirty to quickly.
You may choose whatever fabrics you like for your base.
You might consider
a piece of canvas,
or heavy drop cloth,
or a light, thrifted rug
(though I would try to avoid anything to thick for sewing purposes and without a plastic bottom.)
The idea is that it will be completely covered anyway!
Making the base~
Fold your fabric square into fourths and stack both pieces. Using a push pin and a length of ribbon that reaches from the folded corner to the raw edge pin the ribbon down to the folded corner of the fabric. Stretch the ribbon across and holding the ribbon and pencil to swing across the edge mark a quarter circle on the top layer of fabric
Use this as a guide to cut through all thicknesses of your base fabrics.
Lay your base circle’s out right sides together with the wrong side of the heavy layer on the top. Pin around the edge and sew together leaving a small 4″-6″ opening for turning.
Spray the wrong side of the heavy upper circle with basting spray and turn the base piece right side out smooth the circles out immediately so the basting spray can hold it correctly in place.
I did my fabric in circles of receding sizes. If using an actual Jelly roll I would recommend a spiral pattern instead do this by simply curving in slightly as you approach the end of the circle you are working on and continue following the edge never finishing a circle round till you reach the center. I recommend this because of the lack of matching fabrics in a typical jelly roll. Spiraling just gives a more scrappy look.
Add your ruffles~
Start by ironing your strips in half lengthwise and trimming the selvages from your jelly roll strips.
Sew your strip down as close to the outer edge of the upper base layer as you can (less than 1/4″ from the edge), finger ruffling it slightly as you go.
(If you want to follow my learning experience suggestion this is where you’ll want to flip your strips and sew them face down instead of face up like in the picture so that your rug will show more bright colors while it’s in use)
When you reach the end of one strip simply add another by butting the 2 raw edges together.
My outer row took approx. 4 1/2 strips.
