Learn To Make 'Ring Around the Rose' Rug

Craft Instructions Provided By Jane Asper

Fun is at your feet when you take an hour or so to decorate a plain, purchased throw rug. Choose colors that go with any décor, and although I've used simple flower shapes, you could easily use small squares or circles, stars, or any other motifs you like to tailor the rug to the room. Put one in the laundry room, a child's room, or at the side of your bed.

Obviously, the motifs you applique to your rug must be small and securely attached to avoid creating a hazard. That is why we especially like the "shag" type of pile for this project, because if you knot your motifs on with a tight square knot, they sink down into the surface of the rug. The rug I use is reversible, and since the stitches don't show on the other side, you could do a different design on the back.

A word about choosing colors. Here's a foolproof guide to choosing colors that will give the rug a polished look. For the main flower color, choose the same color but in a deeper shade. For the center of the flowers, choose white for a fresh, light look, or black for a more contemporary feeling. Choose a muted leaf green if your rug is a soft color, like pink, or a bright green for a more vividly colored rug. Choose embroidery floss the same color as the rug: the thread will show, and if it is the same shade as the rug, the design will be more coherent.

What You Need:

What to Do

1.Cut out 12 flower shapes as follows: cut a two inch wide strip from the color of felt you have chosen for the flowers. Cut the strip into two inch squares. Continue until you have cut 12 squares. Cut each square into a simple five petal flower shape by slightly scalloping the edges. Set flowers aside.

2. Cut out 12 leaf shapes as follows: cut a 1 ½" wide strip from the color of felt you have chosen for your leaves. Cut strips into 1 ½" squares until you have twelve. Cut a leaf shape from each square by turning the square diagonally and cutting a curve from one corner to the corner opposite. Repeat to form other side of leaf. Set leaves aside.

3. Cut 1" wide strips from color you have chosen for the center of the flowers, and cut into 1' squares as above. Cut 12 circles from the squares. Set aside.

4. For dots in center of pattern border, use leaf color and cut 11 circles as for flower centers and 4 more for the ones at the corner, making a total of 15 leaf colored circles.

5. If your rug has an inset border of a slightly different weave, as this one does, use it as a guide for placing the motifs. If not use a ruler to measure 4 inches in from each corner. You will sew a full flower in each of these corners and this will determine the placement of all of the other appliqués.

6. Sew all of the felt appliqués onto the rug in this way. To sew the first flower in place, proceed as follows: lay your rug, face up, on your work surface. Next, stack the center of a flower onto the flower and then stack the flower onto the leaf. Place in the proper spot on the rug, With the needle threaded with a full strand of floss push the needle through the center of the flower, going through all 3 layers of felt and the rug.Keep a 2" tail of the end of the thread in place on top of the flower. Then bring the needle back through the back of the rug and through all 3 layers of felt so that the thread ends up on top of the flower. Tie end of floss and tail together in a tight square knot. Trim ends to ½"

7.Sew flowers in each corner in this way. Then sew a flower half way between the two flowers on the short end of the rectangle, and 3 flowers evenly spaced between the two flowers that go the long way on the rectangle.

8. Sew a leaf colored dot at the outermost corners of the rug. Arrange center dots evenly spaced in the center of the pattern border, using flowers as spacing guides. Sew all in place.

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