What will I learn?
- How to recycle old clothes and fabric
- Sprial-woven braiding technique
What should I bring?
- Clean, worn out cloth you would like to cut into rags for your rug samples
- Other items will be advised prior to workshop
What should I wear?
Notes about the cloth:
Don’t cut your rags beforehand. We’ll talk about appropriate widths in relation to different fabrics as part of the workshop. Even small scraps are usable.
Almost any cloth can be used besides terry towelling. It can be woven or knitted, natural or synthetic – or a mix of everything. Medium-weight cloth that won’t fray excessively is recommended, such as worn-out clothing, sheets, tablecloths or curtains. T-shirts are fine and other knits can be used. Extremely thick or stiff fabric such as canvas is tricky to work with but denim is okay. Rags that have reached the stage where they’d fall apart if you tugged on them may not be strong enough for rugs but make great cleaning cloths. If in doubt, bring everything you have and we’ll use what works.
Colour – Plays a large part in rug design. If the colours of your cast-offs don’t inspire you, pop into the op-shop and collect a broader range/colour palette of rag cloth to work with (avoid buying new fabric as this defeats the purpose of upcycling) One of the lovely things about learning in a group is there also tends to be a bit of rag swapping going on.
Quantity – A couple of shirts, or the equivalent amount of cloth is enough to bring along to the workshop, but you might like more colours to work with. (Most people’s work by the end of the workshop is about the size of a dinner plate. The completed size is up to you, and could range from a small mat to a room-sized rug – you’ll have all the skills you need to finish off the rug from this workshop.)
Terms and conditions
Our booking and refund policies, concession pricing information, FAQs, as well as other general terms and conditions can be viewed here.