Crochet with fabric

[Stitchinpick]

Have any of you crocheted with fabric? I have been looking at rug patterns (like on the rug lady's site). I also have an OLD book of crocheting baskets with fabric. I am contemplating purchasing or making a couple more throw rugs at our house. My hands are a little arthritic and if it takes a great deal of strength, it is definitely out of the question.

 

Our local Walmart and Mill Ends stores have very cheap fabric...but turning it and crocheting it at the same time seems tricky. Some patterns don't say to turn the raw ends in, as the rough look is supposed to be part of the charm...hmmm...sounds scraggly to me. What have your experiences been?

[pampsmom]

I used old colored sheets, I find cotton material easiest to work with the big hook. Take your time and when you get tired, just put it down for awhile. I love my rugs and after a few washings they won't look so straggly.

[mudpie]

When I was a kid my grandmother would come to California from South Dakota and stay a few months every year (I'm pretty sure it was snowing in S.D. when she visited). And she always had a rug in her lap while she worked on it. She often would not turn the fabric at all and just clip any stray threads when she was done. I guess you could say it gave the rug a rustic look. Also, you could spot both the right and wrong sides of the fabric in different spots, but I don't think it made the rug look bad. As I got older and helped her with the rugs I found a tool that was new to me (but probably not new to people who sew) that looked somewhat like a cake decorating tip. I would feed the strip of cloth into the wider end of the tip and as it came out the other end it was turned nicely. I would turn about a foot and crochet it up and then do another foot, and so on as I went. It may seem like a lot of work, but face it. Rug crocheting is a bit tedious anyway. I don't know what this tool is called, but I believe it is used for hand-braiding rugs.

[Alosha]

I have made quite a few fabric rug & baskets. I generally do not fold in my edges, but when I do, I use a bias tape maker. They just cost a couple of dollars at Walmart. The raw edges don't unravel as bad if you cut your strips with a rotory cutter. They take a bit of work but will last forever. Mom still has one I made 10 years ago. I usually use the cheap cotton blend, also at Walmart.

:)Alosha

[Stitchinpick]

How interesting. When you used the large hook, how wide did you cut the cotton strips?

[hischildsindi]

I have crocheted with fabric before. It was hard on the hand and wrist, but beautiful. I used 3/4 or 1 inch strips (sorry it's been 10 years ) and a Q hook. I got most of my fabrics on clearance so I used all kinds of fabrics, didn't worry about the content, since I was making them for rugs to be used. I am not sure if they ever got used as rugs, my family is weird that way. It was a lot of fun and I thought the most tedious part was cutting and connecting the strips prior to crocheting.

[redhead54]

Making a rug: I found it to be very stressful on the hands. I could only crochet for about 5-10 min. at a time and would suffer cramps in the wrist and fingers for days after and I don't have arthritis. Now, I do NOT crochet with fabric.

 

But that's not to say that you would have problems with it. Just take you time and lots of breaks. Massage you fingers and hands after each row even if they don't feel tire/strained. Start with something small, like a coaster or large square mat to set something on and see how you do with that. Fabric is expensive these days for large projects, why waste ANY money on it if you won't be able to get a large project done when you could use it for some nice yarn?!

 

Ana

[Qmare]

I've made a number of things with fabric strips and here's what I learned:

 

Larger strips, larger hook. If you are struggling with the hook in the strips, your hook is probably too small and you are working to tightly. If it goes too easy, the strips are too small. I use a Q with roughly 1 - 1 1/2" strips. I have an S that works great with 3" strips

 

No big deal to fold as you go - simply incorporate that into the process of holding tension. It's really not necessary as the strip will bunch or fold on it's own as you go.

 

Rotary cutters ROCK! Even Better yet, use your cutter with one of those clear acrylic rulers that has the slits in it for strip cutting quilts - makes cutting the fabric a snap. If you don't have that, simply fold the fabric by putting your bias edges together, then take the folded edge toward the bias edges, and continue to fold that way until your folded fabric is about 4" wide and cut with a good pair of sharp scissors. I usually opt to do it this way anyway as I just cut what I will use in a session and not over-cut strips

 

I'm terribly alergic to fabric dust! Hence, better for me to only cut what I will use as the cutting process seems to be the dustiest!

 

Sewing the strips together is time consuming and a waste of time. I have found that it's easiest to join strips as I go... I just cut a small slit in the two ends that I'm joining and then feed the loops through each other (hard to explain but you'll figure it out). I don't do it too close to the edge of the end of the strip to avoid a weak join.

 

It is slower than working with yarn and can be hard on hands and wrists

 

It produces some lovely crochet fabric for all kinds of things from table runners and hot pads to rugs.

 

Good luck!

[crochetingfool]

I made one small 3 by 2 foot rug and will never crochet with fabric again....my arms and hands killed me and it was about all I could do to make that little oval...but I finished it. Phew...my friend has a website and sells her stuff. I kid her and tell her she must have huge arms by now....hahahaha

 

 

Linda

[Cuddlefish]

I usually just hide the ends the same way as with yarn, I just crochet over it a bit before switching. In my experience t-shirts and soft elastic fabrics are easy on the fingers. Some sheets can be quite tough. It's definitely usually tough on my fingers, but I don't think it would be if I only used t-shirts and such, and stayed away from the rough stuff.

 

You can always give it a try.

[knittygritty]

Linda, I've made several rugs with material. Yes the frayed ends add character to the rug. I buy cotton that rips easily, so I don't have to cut all of it. I did not crochet my rugs, they were flat wrap[time consuming]. I buy my material for $1.00 a yd.. You could also crochet around a core. Iva

[knittygritty]

It's me again, Iva. If you have a lot of trouble with your wrists you might consider a flat wrap rug. Let me know, I could walk you through starting one. After you get it start it's worked on the same priciple as crochet. I am careful of my colors. I don't care for solid colors. Bright patterned material is my fav., if you need help please give a holler. Good luck and have fun. Iva

[Stitchinpick]

What great ideas you all have. I made a couple swatches, with yarn and with two different widths of fabrics and hooks. I actually have all of those quilting cutters and guides that would help! I know that fabric dust would kill me off if I tried the ripped type. I have done that before...yuck. I love the idea of the wrapped type. I am going to try to find information on that! That would look more like a braided rug, I think. I guess I just need to experiment on a lot of little samples.

 

I love this site! Thanks all of you.

[Wenzee]

I *love* crocheting with fabric! Hobby Lobby has packages of really cute pre-cut fabric, and I also ordered some wonderful pre-cut fabric off of ebay a few weeks ago.

 

So far I've made the heart placemat, a couple purses, and what I call a "mixer mat" - a cute, rectangular mat that I set my Kitchenaid mixer on so that it slides back and forth real easily on the kitchen counter!

 

A tip that I learned the hard way: Be SURE to use a BIG hook for crocheting with fabric....at least an N!

[knittygritty]

This is Iva, I used to watch my Grandma make these flat wrap rugs. You still have to rip material. Do you have Grandkids, they love to rip strips of material. I guess it's the thought of tearing something up. After I rip the strps, I always take time to frey the long edge of about 5 or 6 stands of thread. Keeps my material from tangling. There is a site that talked about it. If you are able, go to the library. They might have info or instruction. This isn't quite as hard on your hands. Grandma had arthur with her all the time to. No matter what you do, have fun with it. Iva