I need a new bath mat.  The one I have is stained and yucky.  Never looks clean anymore. Being a cheap and thrifty up-cycler, I decided to see what I could make.

First attempt.  Ta-da!  A jean rag rug from our old cast-offs. Okay, not as tight as I want it, and I think the dark part needs to be darker, so I’m going to unravel it and start over, tighter, and twisting the dark fabric so the dark indigo color is showing more.

Do you want to do the experiment too? I’m using an 11.5 mm P crochet hook and 1/2 inch strips of cut up old jeans.

Here are the easy steps:

1.  Find some old jeans (I used some of mine and fh’s, and some from the thrift store)
2.  Cut them into 1/2 inch strips (it’s okay if they aren’t perfectly straight or even; I did mine bit by bit, so I’m not sure how many pair of jeans it’s going to take yet.)
3.  Stitch the ends of the strips together (I did this bit by bit with my sewing machine and a zig-zag stitch, but you could do it by hand too)

For the crocheting part:
1.  Chain 8 +1 (for the turn)
2.  Turn and single crochet (sc) 8
3.  Turn and start circle crocheting around the little strip you’ve made.  To crochet a circle you sc into the first stitch, dc (double crochet) into the next, sc, dc, sc…on and on.  The every-other stitch increase keeps the oval flat.

I’m thinking I might switch to a square rug, what do you think?

Here’s some inspiration 🙂