Prodding a Design

"[Your] dream will challenge, prod and haunt you until you surrender to its call." — Wayne Cordeiro

The newest class at A Work of Art Studio is a T-Shirt Prodded Rag Rug, which was taught by Julie Sullivan @www.Rewovendesigns.etsy.com!  This is a pretty easy and very fun craft to learn. This is  a "Prodder", which is used to "prod" a hole into burlap where you then push a strip of cut up t-shirt or fleece, first one end and then the other. You end up with both pieces of the strip on one side of the burlap, making the rag rug, the other side is a flat design.

Prodder

 Staple burlap to frame after drawing design.

Grab your old t-shirts and cut all the seams out, leaving only smooth fabric to cut for strips.

Arms and neck seams cut out.

Lay remaining fabric flat and cut 1" strips (get any wider and they are difficult to prod through the burlap.

Prodding the t-shirt strip through the burlap, the other hand is under the frame ready to receive the strip and pull it through.

Add caption

Here is the rug side pulling the first strip through.

I am left with second half of the t-shirt strip.

Here are both ends of the t-shirt strip, making sure both ends are equal.

I will do a full row and then check to make sure the strips are equal before I go on to the next row.

Here is the bottom after several rows are prodded. Anyone can do this, there is no need for sewing skills.

Here is the Rug side. I will leave it fluffy like this but  you can cut it shorter.

There is still room for participants of this class. Thursdays at 6 pm, it started last week, Thursday, March 31st and will go for about 6 weeks until we finish up.  It will still require some stitching or gluing to seal the edges. When the rug is finished some rubber sealant will be applied to the bottom side to finish it off and make it skid proof. 

Cleaning instructions: 

To clean your prodded rug shake out the dust. If it needs to be washed, hand wash with a liquid soap, squeeze the water out do not wring and hand up to dry.

I will be sure to share some pictures of the finished rug for your enjoyment:)