Many of our customers have been making quite a fuss about some of our new decorating choices in the shop. But, hey, what’s the big deal? We’ve just been using quilts as … rugs! That’s right. We’ve been putting quilts on the floor for people to walk on.
We (meaning mainly Karen) have been making some major rearrangements in the shop. There are now many cozy fabric “rooms” that each house a certain style of fabric. We have a Kaffe room, an Amy Butler room, a baby quilt room, and a bunch more. Once we had each room carved out, we realized we needed some final touches, like a rug, that ties everything together.
Our new Kaffe room!
Are you cringing? If so, you are certainly not alone. Many of our customers refuse to step on them! However, hear us out. We’ve got some pretty good reasons for how practical quilt-rugs are. Many of our customers agree and have already started making their own.
Quilts are durable and washable. When was the last time you took a rug to the dry cleaners? Too expensive? Well, you can put a quilt into the washing machine and it comes out great. Here at the shop, we got a lot of foot traffic, so we just can’t afford to send off our rugs to get dry cleaned every week the way we can with quilts. Speaking of expensive…have you checked on the price of a room-sized rug lately? Even at Target, a large rug will run you a lot more than a simple fabric rug.
We’re not suggesting you go home and throw grandma’s heirloom quilt on your kitchen floor. Or that favorite quilt of yours that took you five years to complete. We’re a quilt shop, so it’s only natural that we have tons of extra quilts that aren’t on display that we can easily use as rugs. Maybe you do too! It saved us the time and money of buying new rugs. We also custom made a bunch of simple quilt-rugs to show how simple it is for anyone to make a stylish and inexpensive rug for any room in your house.
Here's the quilt we made as a rug for our Halloween fabric. It's so simple and easy!
So how do you make a simple fabric rug rug? It’s more like a recipe than a pattern, but here is how you do it.
Fabric Requirements
¾ yard of main fabric
¾ yard of border fabric
1⅞ yards of backing fabric (muslin works great – make sure it is at least 44/45″ wide)
½ yard binding
Quilt batting (we used 80/20 cotton batting)
Cut the main fabric 27″ x WOF (width of fabric).
Cut four border strips 6 ½” x WOF
- Measure the long side of the main fabric and trim two borders strips to this length. Sew these border strips to the long sides of the main fabric and press seams to the border.
- Measure the short sides of the top and cut the two remaining borders strips this length. Sew to the main fabric and press seams towards the border.
The top should measure approximately 40″ x 54″. This is such a simple quilt that you can easily make it bigger or smaller to fit any space. Once your top is finished, make sure your backing is bigger than your top, then quilt and bind. Congratulations, you now have a rug!
If you’re looking for something a little more advanced, we also have a pattern for a rug called Daisy Dew Drop by Threaded Pear Studio that looks so cute in all kinds of color combinations.
We brought this minky rug back from market. Isn't it cute? Perfect for the kids' room!
To make sure the quilt-rugs don’t move around (causing people to slip!), we placed anti-slip rug backs under the larger quilts. For the quilt-rugs that were made just for being on the floor, we used a product called “Non-Skid Rug Backing.” You simply paint the product onto the rug back and let it dry. It makes the back tacky so it sticks to the floor. Quilts with the rug backing are washable and the tackiness lasts through many washings.
So what do you think? Are you against quilt-rugs or are you dying to make your own?
