Rag Rugs

Rag Rugs were popular floor coverings in working- to middle-class households throughout the nineteenth century. People collected old clothing, sheets, pillow cases, curtains, and other rags too worn to be mended; they then cut these items into thin strips that could then be worked into a rug. Rag rugs are inherently various, not only due to their motley composition but also because of the many different types of rugs that persisted across the nineteenth century. Importantly, rag rugs are not unique to England and North America. Variations can be found in India (Chindi rugs), Morocco (Boucherouite rugs), and Scandinavia (a rye or rya rug).

Want to learn more about this craft? Click here for a list of scholarly readings, blogs and websites, instructional videos, extant examples, and 19th-century tutorials.

To read some makers’ reflections on this craft, and to see what they made, click here.

Here we offer instructions for two different kinds of rag rugs: Prodder Rugs and Knotted Rugs.