• thin denim recyclables, old shirts, jumper dresses, etc.
• large piece (or piece your own) of heavy denim for backing
  
   

Denim Rug

Directions:

1. Cut a piece of heavy-duty denim fabric for the backing, to the desired size, and finish the edges with bias tape. (Grandma's method was to reuse the legs of jeans, sewing pieces of fabric together, then cutting to whatever size or shape was required.)

2. Mark the backing fabric with dressmaker's pencil or something similar. Start at the outside edge and draw lines one inch apart. In the sample shown, the lines were drawn in decreasing rectangles, but straight lines would work too.

3. Cut lots and lots 2 by 3 inch rectangles of thin denim.

4. Starting in the center of the denim fabric, and working outwards, begin sewing the fabric rectangles to the backing fabric. Sew straight through the middle of the rectangle width, so both sides stick up evenly, gathering the fabric either before you stick the fabric under the presser foot, or bunching it up as you sew.

5. When you have completed one line, or gone around one marked rectangle, sew it down again to secure it.

6. For the last rounds, cut the rectangles in half along the length, to make rectangles that are 1½ inches by 2 inches, and sew along the edge of the backing fabric, so that the last row lies flat