Ever see  fancy  area rugs online and marvel at their steep prices? Of course if you ever find any of them locally, the price would almost certainly be triple. On occasion, I see beautiful fabric and think of how pretty it would be as a rug. I wondered how that would work and kept shoving the idea to the back of mind until I saw a particular fabric that I couldn't ignore. I just had to try. Surprisingly, it was super easy to do!
Now, this isn't a comfy rug for you to lie on but rather one to 'prettify' your space.


 What you would need;

• Upholstery fabric ( The fibers are really thick and lend some weight to the rug)
• Fusible wool interfacing (Called 'thick gum-stay' in Nigerian markets)
• Coordinating thread
• Iron
• Scissors
• Energy! Lol

1) Cut out your fabric to your desired dimensions. It wouldn't hurt to iron it out before cutting :)

Fusible wool interfacing. It has two sides; the shiny one which is coated with adhesive and the plain side

2) I cut the interfacing 3 inches smaller than the fabric and placed the adhesive surface on the wrong side of the fabric.



3) After making sure you have eaten, use all the strength you can muster to iron the interfacing onto the fabric. Trust me, you need alooot of pressure. The wool is thick (obviously,lol) and burns easily so you have to use a medium-low heat setting of the iron. When the interfacing is adherent to the fabric, your work is done. If you aren't so patient and hate ironing like I do, concentrate more on the edges of the interfacing. Once the edges are stuck on, your work is mostly done. The essence of this step is so the fabric and the interfacing are seemingly 'fused' into one fabric, this way there are no folds on the surface of the rug.



4) Fold the edges of the fabric over the interfacing and iron the folds in place. Pin them to make the extra secure.


5) Sew round, and you are done!

This took me about less than an hour from start to finish. I spent maybe 40 minutes of that time ironing. Sigh.
I don't have a home yet for my rug though, I'm still trying to set up my little 'workshop' and it would fit perfectly there.
Thanks for stopping by.xx

Next,I ironed my fabric...a step I should have done before cutting ( you would see why in a bit) but I loathe ironing. Sigh.


I sewed  1/4 inch hems on the shorter sides of the fabric. My sewing machine has lines that tell you how much hem you are sewing. But usually, a 1/4 inch hem should be on the same line as the right edge of your presser foot.


All done! Now you see why I hate ironing? The fabric is all rumpled again. Arrgh


I wish I had better pictures to explain this next step. I folded the fabric as shown above with the top fold over lapping the bottom fold by about 4" and then I ironed the folds in place, that way I could avoid using pins (I hate pins even more than irons. Some crafter I am huh?)

You see how my edges don't exactly line up? This is the reason why the experts say you should iron your fabric before cutting.

                                    
Now sew both ends shut and you are done with the pillow cover! Okay, there's one more optional step....

I trimmed off the excess edges and attempted to 'serge' them with my sewing machine to reduce fraying. I used the No. 6 zig zag stitch. Serging is called overlocking or sometimes 'finishing' in the market, in case you ever have a need to take something to a tailoring shop to get that done.

Making the Pillow



Fold the fabric along the longer side into two and sew around it starting at one of the shorter edges so you can sew round in one swoop. As I approached the middle of the long edge I raised the presser foot and pulled the fabric away from me, leaving a gap wide enough for my hand to fit into and then placed back the presser foot and continued sewing. You can leave your gap on any edge you want.

Fiber fill

Turn it out, stuff with fiber, sew the gap shut and put on your pillow cover and c'est finis.

My pillows looked so plain, so I made a couple of rolled fabric flowers and attached them on.

Better!

Now the chair doesn't look so lonely anymore :) Would you try this out? Let me know if you do. Send me pictures on hazelandcinnamon@gmail.com.
Thanks for stopping by.x