Dorm Days Fabric Rug

The classic story begins: So I was surfing the 'net' a few weeks ago when I found this tutorial...

I would say that 50% of my blog projects start with the above sentence, but not all end with this sentence: As soon as I saw this project I had to make it IMMEDIATELY!

Most projects I look forward to, most I love to shop for and some I stay up late to work on. A select few get my heart pumping and my brain spinning. This is one of those projects. I love rugs. I love softness under my toes. I love a block of color, texture or design to make a room. I love how rugs can 'make' a room. Now I can make them too! I knew this would be a great project for our Dorm Days series because it is such an easy project, dorm rugs are often cheap in construction and in design and since you make it, you can make it to size, color and design that fits you.

To make my rug, I followed High-Heeled Foot in Door's awesome DIY Chevron Rug tutorial which calls for:

2 yds of home decor fabric

One 6x9 ft canvas drop cloth

One 5x8 ft rug gripper

Tacky Glue Spray

Size 14 needle

This tutorial was really well done and assembly was easy. You do need a significant area of clean floor space to lay everything out and a heck of a lot of spray starch to get all the wrinkles out of the drop cloth. I would recommend using the more expensive rug gripper that has more gripper surface and less holes and applying the same tacky glue spray trick to attach the gripper to the drop cloth as for attaching the fabric to the drop cloth. Don't flip over or sew until the tacky spray glue has dried. I suggest this because the gripper slips around and bunches a lot when sewing.

I used Valori Wells Wrenly Twill Home Décor weight fabric (2 yds) and this busy pattern lends itself well to piecing should you want as bigger rug. It will also hide spills or dirt which I am counting on since it is beneath my eat-in kitchen table. I like the print so much I am going to make a big rug by ordering 6 yds of fabric, cutting it in half and stitching them side by side to make more of a 9 x 9 rug for my dining room. Also, the amount of rug gripper I cut off would make the perfect size for a runner. This fabric rug is really customizable for any and all sizes. The rug feels nice underfoot with just a little plushness and stays in place very well. I am impressed with how well it turned out and how well it seems to be functioning as a rug. 

Check out all of our Free Spirit fabrics to create your own Design Fabric Rug!

P.s. Of course my kitchen always looks like this and I didn't set the table just for you ;)