Goodbye Traditional Rugs: There's An Affordable Solution Anyone Can DIY

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If there's a space in your home that could really benefit from a lovely, large rug, you might have been scouring the stores and looking online for a solution that you can afford. It's no secret that area rugs can be expensive, especially if you love the aesthetic of something like a beautiful checkerboard rug. While you could consider making a braided rag rug from old sheets or T-shirts, another clever way to keep your budget in check is to say goodbye to the idea of a traditional rug and DIY a much more affordable and chic solution using inexpensive or even free rug samples. Created by popular DIYer Brittni from Paper & Stitch, it's a great way to get crafty on a budget. 

This follows the same principles as those gorgeous patchwork quilts that people make from simple scraps of fabric. With these, what started as a necessity to make warm bed covers from whatever was on hand turned into a whole industry of passionate stitching enthusiasts. You can follow this example and take a trip to your local interior decor or carpet store and see if they have sample swatches that you can buy. You'll usually find these priced anywhere from $2 to $10, especially if you keep your eye on sales. To keep costs down, try to find larger swatches — they can run anywhere from 6 inches to over a foot. For example, Pottery Barn's swatches are 18x18 inches, and they routinely go on clearance. 

Some carpet and rug retailers even offer a small selection of free swatches that you can collect until you have enough to make a complete rug. Try to get samples that are a similar size and thickness, so the overall effect is fairly uniform. You'll only need a small selection of other supplies, including an upholstery needle, fairly strong yarn in a neutral color, a sharp pair of scissors, and a bottle of Aleene's Stop Fraying adhesive.

Before you grab your needle and thread, lay out all of your samples until you're completely happy with how they'll look when stitched together. If you have ended up with differently sized samples or a few larger swatches, you may want to use your scissors to cut them to size. In this case, make sure that you seal all the cut edges with the sealer before joining the pieces.

Once you're happy with the overall layout of your rug samples, thread your upholstery needle with the yarn. If you don't have this type of needle, a thick yarn needle should work, too. Flip your pieces over before joining them so that the stitches will be on the underside. Ideally, you want to use a whip stitch and only sew through the backing, so that you're not flattening the fibers on the right side. When you're sewing your samples together, have your thread doubled, and for extra security, you might like to use waxed cotton, like this Coats Dual Duty Plus Button & Carpet Thread. 

To protect your fingers, you may even want to invest in these Willbond leather thimbles, which are only $9.99 for a pack of four, and will make it so much easier to push the needle through the rug backing. If you aren't confident with a needle and thread, you can also try attaching the samples together with Gorilla tape, like TikTok creator @SpookyWeirdMom did. And if you have a few samples left over, you might like to use them for rug repurposing.