Spaghetti Rug

Someone wrote and told me they had seen a rug that re-used tee shirt and other knitted material to produce a nice pile rug, called in the ad a spaghetti rug. They wondered if I knew how to re-create it. I went to the site in question, and think it uses a variation of the sewn rag strip technique I described in an earlier article. It makes positive use of the fact that knit cloth cut into narrow strips rolls into thin tubes. If you are doing flat sewing or piecing, this is very irritating, but to make the rug it creates a nice fat pile. In simple terms the tubes are sewn to a backing through the middle of the strip. The free ends thus make a pile for the rug. The directions are below.

assorted knit fabrics --old tee shirts, etc.
sturdy backing cloth like cotton duck or denim
Sewing machine or strong needle
thread

Directions:

Cut the backing cloth four inches larger in width and length than the final product desired. This is so you can turn under the edges to bind it. If you have special design in mind you can draw it on the backing in washable marker or pencil. Turn under an inch and fold over an inch again and sew down the edges to bind. This is much easier to do before you fill the rug in with pile.

Cut the knit fabric into strips to make the size tube desired. I used three inches by six, but every knit cloth has a different roll factor, so experiment.

Assemble the cut tubes, which should have rolled up nicely with all this handling, in piles of like color. hold open the strip, and sew by laying the middle of the strip where you want the pile to lift from. Sew through the center. Place the next strip in the design tight to the last and sew. Continue in this manner the length of the rug. Re-sew if you think the rug will see heavy wear.

Fold the pile flat in one direction and lay and sew the next row. Continue in this manner until the rug is filled.

Now you have a nice shaggy pile rug made from knit scraps. Of course, mine is made of recycled old tees, but you can get cheap knit ends at the thrift store or discount cloth house if you want to try this to make a nice house warming gift for someone.