Ragged Life mostly consists of me (Elspeth), my mum, Victoria (the original rag rugger who gets dragged into my hair-brained plans) and a small group of talented rag ruggers who help me out when the commissions come through thick and fast. With such a small team, it’s extremely exciting when we get to welcome a new member to the Ragged Life family.

So please help me to welcome our latest addition to the Ragged Life team… Emmie… cue awkward photo…

Emmie with her handmade rag rug shopping bag.

Emmie will be helping out at our larger rag rug workshops and dealing with some of the day to day happenings of Ragged Life so we thought that we’d take this opportunity to introduce her properly through a Q&A. So here it goes…

Hi Emmie, welcome to the team! Can you tell us all a little bit about yourself?

Of course, I’d love to. So, I’ve recently finished my A Levels, art obviously being my favourite subject as it has been a hobby of mine forever. After finishing school, I wanted a job in the creative industry, which led me to Ragged Life (and the rest is history as you say). I’ve been very lucky as I love my new job and when I’m not working, I now have the time to plan some travels and trips away.

And why is it that you like rag rugging?

I enjoy the simplicity of the craft. Obviously it can get much more complicated with of the more detailed patterns, but the actual process is very simple which is calming. I also like that the craft is so old as there’s a tradition and culture behind it, even in my own family (which I only recently learned). Of course, I also like the fact that you can make almost any design or decorate almost any object – there’s so much room for creativity.

You can rag rug onto all kinds of different items…

If you could rag rug a dream project, what would it be?

From all the projects I’ve seen so far, my favourites have all been wall hangings, so I would love to create one myself. You can rag rug any design and the outcome is always beautiful thanks to the different textures and range of colours usually used.

Emmie would love to create a rag rug wall hanging…

Which Ragged Life piece is your favourite?

I loved the dove wall hanging– so so much detail! The design meant that although of course the base colour for the background was blue, there were so many other colours included, sometimes just in tiny strips of material, almost hidden away but the overall effect was bright and playful.

I also like smaller projects such as the Christmas wreaths – probably because anyone, even myself (as a beginner), can have a go and have fun with it as they can be made personal, suited to any taste.

Rag rug Christmas wreaths look so effective!

What one tip would you give to newbie rag ruggers?

Don’t overthink it… As I studied fine art, before I came to Ragged Life I was used to spending sometimes months on the preparation for one painting. With rag rugging, if you make a mistake you can just take it out and start again. So try new patterns, colours, anything. Be creative! 

You can always change things in rag rug so experiment with different colours, patterns and textures.

Apart from rag rugging, what’s your favourite craft and why?

I still love to test out my fine art skills by sketching and painting sometimes. Although these have partly fallen behind due to my new found love for textiles crafts, I don’t want to forget them!

Where do you find your inspiration?

Most of the time just from visiting new places and seeing the art they display/ way they choose to decorate. Also of course from talking to or reading about artists who are really passionate about what they do, both in-person and online. I love that I can see art from all around the world this way.

Thanks for sharing Emmie – welcome to the team 🙂