My Unforgettable Trip to Rug Hooking Week at Sauder Village

Opportunity Calls! As a rag rug maker and travel enthusiast, I’ve always been curious about the difference between rug making in the UK and other countries. That curiosity was one of the inspirations behind my second book “Rag Rug Techniques for Beginners”. I wanted an excuse to travel the world hunting down obscure rug making …

My Rug Hooking Trip to the USA

Wow, what can I say… it has been an amazing last couple of weeks. At the beginning of August 2024, I had the absolute privilege of heading over to the USA in the name of spreading British rag rug cheer. What on earth does that mean you may well ask! Well, the amazing guys at …

Q&A with Natural Dye Expert Zoe Burt

Yay, it’s not long now before we have the honour of hosting expert natural dyer Zoe Burt at our Ragged Life HQ in Hertfordshire. Zoe will be running a natural dyeing workshop for us 10:00-16:00 on Saturday 14th September 2024, and personally I can’t wait to get stuck in. However, for those of you who can’t …

Eco Weaving Guest Workshop with Lucy Sugden

With our brand spanking new studio finally up and running, in 2023 we are inviting some talented teachers to run guest workshops for us in the glorious Hertfordshire countryside. As we’re all about sustainability, many of these classes will have an eco slant to them, whether that’s upcycling, stash-busting or giving items a new lease …

Global Rag Rug Techniques Workshops

In case you happened to miss it, in 2021 I’ve been working on a new rag rug book and boy has it been a journey. Where my first book “Rag Rugs, Pillows and More” covered the traditional shaggy and loopy techniques of traditional British rag rugging, my new book “Rag Rug Techniques for Beginners” takes …

Behind the Scenes at Ragged Life: Peg Looms, Mohair and More…

You may have noticed that I completely dropped off the face of the planet last month. I was so busy rag rugging away to get my second batch of ten rag rug projects done for the new book that everything else faded into the background. The good news is that I just now dropped off …

My First Twined Rag Rug – What I learnt

This year, I’ve been looking to up-skill myself, which is why I’ve taken it upon myself to learn a new form of rag rugging called “twining” (you can read a little more about it in my blog post here). Twined rag rugs are more popular in the States than they are here in the UK. They …

Rug Twining Workshops – Learn a New Technique!

During lockdown (with very little but time on my hands), I took the opportunity to branch out from my beloved British rag rug techniques and teach myself how to twine. Twine? What on earth is that? Well, rug twining is a popular form of rag rug making in America. Like our traditional British techniques, twined …

Al Fresco Rag Rug Classes – Hertfordshire

Earlier this month came the big announcement that here in the UK, pubs, theatres, museums and cinemas have been given the go ahead to re-open (with suitable precautions in place, of course). With that in mind, now seems like the right time to come out of hibernation and get back to doing what I love …

Live Online Rag Rug Workshops

I blimming love rag rugging. In fact, I want to spread the joy of rag rug making far and wide. Just think how many garments we could save from landfill! And, although I’ve managed to teach thousands of people how to do this wonderful craft, I’ve only ever taught in the UK, mainly in the …