Get into the festive spirit with a fun-filled day of rag rugging! In this beginner-friendly workshop, you’ll learn traditional British rag rug techniques in a relaxed and supportive environment and leave with a beautiful Christmas wreath handmade by you.
Choose from our treasure trove of fabrics and enjoy experimenting with colours, textures, and tones to create a wreath that’s uniquely yours. Whether you hang it on your front door, mantelpiece, Christmas tree, or use it in a creative new way, your finished wreath is sure to dazzle.
With expert guidance, plenty of tea and biscuits, it’s the perfect creative escape.
All materials are provided — just bring a packed lunch and your festive spirit!
Rag rugging is an old British craft where people use hessian sacking and old, clothing and fabric to make cosy rugs for the floor. It was incredibly widespread during the Victorian times when lower income families embraced rag rugging as a way to make the most out everything they had. They took the clothing that was no longer fit for purpose and worked their magic to make wonderful rugs for the cold, stone floors – even the men got involved!
Our tutor Lizzie is an avid fabric hoarder, colour lover and expert rag rugger. “I turn old clothing and fabric offcuts into beautiful textiles for the home and the best news is… you can too!”
Elspeth founded the company “Ragged Life” in 2014 after noticing that more and more people were looking to get into rag rugging. She started out running workshops at weekends and in the evenings in London and Hertfordshire but as demand picked up she left her old job to rag rug full time. She is now a published author, has appeared on national TV and am a regular in craft magazines. She loves spreading rag rug cheer by running workshops across the country as well as selling rag rug starter kits and making handmade commissions and now has other tutors working for her including Lizzie.
Why We Love Rag Rugging
Helping the Planet – rag rugging uses up old clothing that might otherwise end up in landfill or shipped abroad. We’d much rather give that clothing a second life as a rug or cushion. Long live upcycling!
The Chameleon of Crafts – when you think of rag rugging, it’s hard to think of anything other than rugs, rugs and more rugs. Well rag rugging has changed a lot over the years – nowadays it’s a textile art that can be used across a whole spectrum of projects. We’ve rag rugged anything that will stay still long enough… cushions, draft excluders, tissue boxes… you name it, we’ve probably tried it!
Easy to Learn – rag rugging is a very forgiving craft that is simple to learn and hard to forget. The tools are inexpensive and finding fabric is as simple as clearing out your wardrobe. Don’t believe us? Join us for one of our workshops or pick up a kit and you’ll soon be convinced.
This workshop is for anyone age 16+
This workshop will be held in our Downstairs function space from 10am until 3.30pm on Monday 17th November.
Southern Maltings is the trading name of Ware Arts Centre Limited and is a registered charity (Registered charity no. 276998). All events are run by volunteers and proceeds go towards developing the Southern Maltings into an amazing creative arts centre which will enable us to put on a wider and more frequent range of events and activities for the whole community.
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