How to Make a Carpet Into a Rug

Co-authored by Sarah Fogle

Last Updated: January 13, 2023 References

Making rugs from carpet remnants is an easy, inexpensive way to unique floor covering that match your room décor. Carpet remnants can be purchased from carpet stores at greatly reduced prices, or you can use carpeting that you have pulled from your own home or from a friend's home too. All you need are a few simple tools that you probably already have in your home.

Steps

1
Choose the carpet from which you will make your rug. If you want to make a patterned rug, choose the colors you will use.^{[1]
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2
Cut out the background rug, placing the carpet on corrugated cardboard or other surface that cannot be damaged if cut with a blade. Use a utility knife to cut out the rug, pressing firmly. You may have to make 2 passes with the knife.^{[2]
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- The carpet used for the patterns should be of the same type and texture as the background carpet.
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3
Make a template of the shapes you will use by drawing the shapes on paper. Brown paper bags or butcher's paperwork well for this.^{[3]
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4
Place the templates on the underside of the appropriate carpet pieces and trace the outline of each with a felt tipped pen.
5
Move the carpeting to be cut on to corrugated cardboard or other surface. Use a utility knife to cut out the shapes, pressing firmly. You may have to make 2 passes with the knife.^{[4]
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6
Pull the shapes from the carpet pieces and set aside.
7
Lay the rug, pile side down, on the corrugated cardboard and lay out the template for the pattern. Trace it with a felt tipped marker.
8
Cut out the pattern with a utility knife, pressing firmly.
9
Remove the cut out areas from the rug and replace them with the pieces you cut previously. Work from the underside of the rug, pressing the cut out pieces firmly into the base.
- You will probably have a lot of carpet fibers showing on the underside of the rug. They can be integrated into the rug by taking a flat head screwdriver and running it around the edges where the carpet pieces meet.
10
Cover all of the seams with carpet tape. You can also use duct tape.^{[5]
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11
Cut a piece of binding long enough to reach around the entire perimeter of the rug. Lay down a 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) line of carpet glue along the edges of the rug.
12
Press the carpet edging into the line of glue with enough overlap to wrap around the edges of the rug. Allow to dry thoroughly.
13
Turn the carpet right side up and apply a bead of carpet glue to the edges and approximately 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) onto the top of the rug. Pull the edging firmly up the side of the rug and onto the bead of glue on top, pressing firmly.
14
Allow the glue to dry, and place the home-made rug on the floor.

Community Q&A

Question

How do I cut off a piece of carpet from my large carpet and make an edging where I cut it off?

Community Answer

I like to use a sharp box cutter. You can then use a yard stick or T-square to make an edge. Cut down that edge along the ruler from the back side of the carpet. When finished, take a big lighter and run it along the cut edge to keep it from fraying.

Warnings

Use a non-slip pad under your rug to prevent accidents.

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Rugs made from carpeting must be cleaned in the same manner as carpeting. They cannot go into a washer.

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