Making a Braid-in Rag Rug: Part 1

If you’re a subscriber to the Ragged Life Inspiration Newsletter then you’ve probably heard me rabbiting on about the September Sustainability Challenge that I’m taking part in in 2023. If you haven’t then you can read a bit more about it here. Long story short, me and four other full-time crafters are each making something …

Q&A with Lucy Rowan – Maker and Weaver

Those of you who follow Ragged Life on Instagram, Facebook or subscribe to our Newsletter may have seen that we are soon starting our September Sustainability Challenge. You can read more about it here, but to briefly summarise, we’ve asked four full time crafters to join us in a friendly competition to each turn six …

Elspeth’s Sustainable September Project Begins…

This September, four very talented full time crafters (@jenerates @cocoonandme @afrayedupcycling and @peasandneedles) and I will take part in a September Sustainability Challenge where we are each making a project of our choice from six balls of blanket edging saved from landfill from the Yorkshire mills. You can read a bit more about the challenge …

September Sustainability Challenge

For the month of September, I have gathered together a talented group of five full-time textile designer / makers for a friendly “Sustainability Challenge”. As part of the challenge, we will all have a month to make something spectacular, but sustainable from six balls of blanket yarn (offcuts from the woollen mills in Yorkshire). I …

Rag Rug Terminology – A Beginner’s Guide

It’s easy to get yourself into a bit of a pickle when talking about rag rug making as there are just so many different names out there for the same thing! What’s the difference between a proggy mat and a proddy rug? What is a bodger and why does it have such a funny name? …

Victoria’s Coiled Rope Basket

My mum Victoria is the original person who taught me how to do the traditional British styles of rag rugging (shaggy and loopy) and she has years of experience under her belt. It was therefore interesting when, over lockdown, I wrote my second book featuring other rag rug techniques from across the world. Suddenly, the …

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 …

My Handmade Wedding Table Plan

In May of this year, I’ll be heading to the lovely town of Lucca in Tuscany, Italy to celebrate getting married to my lovely partner in crime Christian. As a full time crafter, I’m kind of expected to make lots of pretty things for the wedding, but I must admit that up until Christmas, I …

Q&A with Punch Needle Experts – The Modern Crafter

This Autumn 2022, we’ve paired up with punch needle experts “The Modern Crafter” to run a couple of exciting guest workshops at our rag rug studio in Hertfordshire. As a little appetiser to those classes (which you can book onto here if you’re interested), we thought it would be nice to find out a little …

5 Questions Rag Rug Beginners May Ask

There are many questions whizzing through people’s heads when they first start to rag rug. I’ve already answered a few of these crucial rag rug questions in my first blog post “7 Questions a Rag Rug Beginner May Have” and below is Part 2 with questions supplied by some of our wonderful Ragged Life fans, …