Hi, lovely ladies and gents. As a ‘penny pinching person’ I have, in recent years, been regarded as a member of a minority group the ‘crack pot frugal folk’.
Today – after the pandemic and the resulting rise in costs of the basic necessities – I am now considered a member of an ever expanding group of the new frugal folk. Frugal, but not by choice.
During my life I have learnt many useful life skills, lots of these being traditional domestic crafts. I can cook and bake from scratch, bake bread, produce jams and chutneys not forgetting brewing skills. I can sew knit and crochet.
This week I decided it was time to remove the carpets in the bedroom. They were grubby. Well, it is a family home with kids, cats and dogs – oh, and ‘im indoors with his assorted tools.
Problem is I don’t have any money to replace the carpets. Solution? I have a stock of recycled rescued fabrics so I decided to make rag rugs, and the cost would purely be my time.
Luckily the rooms have floorboards so they can be sanded down or painted roughly. The fabrics in my stock has been given to me by friends and family. It is generally damaged, faded or stained and is going into the bin. Pieces of the material can be used to create other useful items like patch work quilts and rag rugs.
The method I chose to use involves using the Turkish knot technique. This method is used to produce expensive hand-tied wool carpets like the ones made in Killybegs, Donegal.
I needed a small wood frame which ‘im indoors made for me . ‘Im indoors has some useful talents.
The rags are torn into strips 1cm-wide strips, then into lengths of approx 10cm. Each piece is tied around two strings until the desired length is reached. The “ribbon” is then coiled and sewn together on the back.
This method produces a deep pile washable rug for the cost of my time.
I can assure you there will be rag rugs in every room in my frugal penny pinching home!
For all the ‘auld git’s penny pinching tips, follow this link.
- by the ‘auld git’ from Armley
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