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How to Make a Hula Hoop Rag Rug

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This is a great DIY project for a long weekend or just when you are stuck inside because the weather is bad! It is also a great excuse to go through your drawers and get rid of old t-shirts. You will need about a dozen t-shirts and a hula hoop to make a t-shirt rag rug. The larger the hula hoop, the larger your finished rug will be. Such a fun hands on DIY project.

When I read through these directions, I was surprised how easy it was to create. Read through Amy’s How to Make a Hula Hoop Rag Rug tutorial on All Parenting and let me know if you agree!

How to Make a Hula Hoop Rag Rug

Looking for more Rag rug Projects? Check out this book on Making Rag Rugs and this Rag Rug tutorial on our sister site.

The website for this tutorial no longer exists, here is a snippet of the tutorial to help you.

Upcycle some old T-shirts into something that’s pretty and practical. All you need is a hula hoop and you can make your own loom to DIY a fabulous rag rug!
 

Hula hoop rug materials

 

 

Start by cutting off the hemmed bottom of all of the T-shirts.

Hula hoop rug step 2

Cut one of the T-shirts into 16 horizontal strips.

Hula hoop rug step 3

Stretch the T-shirt strips in pairs around the hula hoop as shown. These strips are known as the weft strips.

 

Cut the rest of the T-shirts into 1-inch horizontal strips. You will need 10 to 12 T-shirts total.

Hula hoop rug step 5

Cut off one end of each strip so that the loop becomes a long strip of fabric.

Hula hoop rug step 6

Start wrapping the T-shirt strips around the weft strips. Alternate going over and under each weft strip. Treat the weft strip pairs as though they are one piece for now.

Hula hoop rug step 7

Secure the strips of fabric in place by tucking them into the weaving on the back side of the rug.

Hula hoop rug step 8

After your weaving is approximately eight inches across, separate the weft strip pairs and start weaving through them separately.

Hula hoop rug step 9

Once you are about six inches away from the edge of the hula hoop, separate the weft strips again and start weaving in between the strips, as shown.

Hula hoop rug step 10

Cut the weft strips off of the hula hoops.

Hula hoop rug step 11

Then, tie the weft strips in a double knot.

Hula hoop rug step 12

Weave the ends of the weft strips into the back side of the rug.

Hula hoop rug step 13

Turn the rug over and it’s ready to use!

allParenting hula hoop rug

Comments

  2. Hi Millicent, If you hover your mouse over “Amy’s How to Make a Hula Hoop Rag Rug tutorial” you can click on it and you will be taken to the instructions.

  7. So sorry some are having a hard time finding the link! The link is a darker blue so sometimes it is harder to see… 🙁 If you hover over the words “Amy’s How to Make a Hula Hoop Rag Rug tutorial” near the bottom of the post, you should be able to click on the link and find the wonderful tutorial! 🙂

    Thanks to those who are sharing and helping others find this!

  8. It should work okay on an Ipad… Is it my post you are having trouble with or the tutorial itself (once you follow my link)?

  9. The link is hard to find! Is in the second paragraph! “http://www.allparenting.com/my-me-time/articles/968857/how-to-make-a-hula-hoop-rag-rug” might help! If that doesn’t work look for “Amy’s How to Make a Hula Hoop Rag Rug tutorial ” in the second paragraph!

  10. Click on the reading “How to make” and it will pull up the instructions! I just pulled it up on all IPhone! It just does not have it highlighted!!

  11. I know you said the bigger the hoop, the bigger the rug but doesn’t the size of the tshirt and thus the strips make a difference too! Could you please tell me what size hoop and tshirt tshirt you used? Thanks!

  12. My Dollar General store sells the hoops in different sizes. Could someone who has made one before, please tell me what size hoop to get and what size shirts to use too. Thanks!

Have you read?

Gross Motor Math Ideas

With little kids especially, linking learning to physical activity really does help them learn. Movement can help kids focus, and it just keeps them from sitting still all day, which isn’t good for anyone. 

The good news is lots of different learning activities can be adopted to get kids moving while they learn, so let’s look at some math and number activities that use gross motor skills. 

Probably the most obvious thing would be hopscotch, which helps kids count while they hop. You can also mix up the numbers, do skip counting with the numbers, give kids a simple math problem and have them hop to the correct answer, and on and on. 

This number hop game from Gift of Curiosity is a more chaotic version, with number flash cards on the floor that kids can hop, skip or jump to as you call them out (this one is more for individual number identification than counting). It’s a great indoor option if it’s too hot, cold or rainy out to do traditional hopscotch, too. 

This painter’s tape number line idea from Days with Grey doesn’t involve quite as much movement, but kids can move around while they place things on the number line and work on learning about one to one correspondence. In the blog post they use shoes, but you can count anything you’ve got handy. (Be warned when I visited this website had an ad that continually took up the whole page, but you can get the idea pretty quickly.)

One of the important tasks of learning numbers is learning a parent’s phone number just in case it’s ever needed, or how to dial 911 in case on an emergency. Teaching Mama has a great way to practice telephone numbers and get some movement in with a giant telephone keypad made out of paper plates. You can also use this for counting practice, but it’s a great idea for learning phone numbers, too. 

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