DIY Faux Fur Rug

As you've probably noticed, I don't do home DIYs all that often. Mainly, because I've never had the budget for it - big home decor projects equal more dollars than simple clothing or jewelry projects do. Also, I'm a renter, so trilling holes into walls or doing major remodeling has never been possible. But, I was all on board when my brother asked me to make a faux fur rug for him.

We gave our Tallinn rental apartment to my brother and his girlfriend. In exchange, I got to live there for another 2 months after Rein had already moved to Germany. So, I was more than happy to help them settle in.

My brother had his heart set on getting a faux fur rug for the living room, but all the ones we looked at were a bit pricey for their taste. So, I suggested I try and DIY one. Now, faux fur fabric can also be pricey, but fortunately we found one on sale that we liked. Win!

Here's how I did it:

 Supplies:

• Faux fur fabric in the size of your desired rug (ours was 150cmx220cm)
• Sturdy cotton or cotton-blend fabric for the backing (enough to cover the back of the rug)
• Photo mount spray glue
• ABS Latex (found in craft stores and used for making non-slippery socks)
• Wide bias binding (2x the width of your rug)
• Scissors

 STEP 1
First, I trimmed the cut edges of the fur fabric to make sure the angles were all 90 degrees. I used a canvas as a ruler, but you could use anything that's a rectangle or square shape.

 STEP 2
Time to cut the backing. I lined the whole rug with a thick cotton fabric I already had in my stash. It's a vintage fabric that my Dad gave me. Since it was not as wide as the rug, I had to cut two blocks - the blocks should be about 10cm longer than the rug fabric. I cut one of the blocks narrower so that the 2 blocks would overlap by about 15 cm. If possible, buy a piece of fabric that's already the same width as your rug fabric and the correct length. Then you can just skip this step :).

Roll the backing fabric into a tight even roll and you're prepped for the next step.

 STEP 3
Next, lay down a big sheet of plastic to protect the floor and place your rug fabric on the plastic right side facing down. Spray the backside of the faux fur fabric with the spray glue as instructed on the bottle.
Place the backing fabric on one edge of the rug and start carefully rolling it on the rug fabric making sure that the sides line up. This part can be a little tricky, so take it slow and don't give up. fortunately, spray glue doesn't dry that quickly, so you can always pull the fabric back and try again if you're having trouble.

 STEP 4
Once the backing is glued on, let it dry. Then, trim the edges of the backing to be even with the edges of the rug.
Start applying the latex. I started by free-hand drawing rectangles of latex to the back of the rug. Once one bottle was empty, I started drawing latex spirals in the center of the rug. I found that 2 bottles of latex didn't cover the whole back, but enough to make it non-slippery. Let dry.

 STEP 5
This step is totally optional. Since faux fur fabrics don't fry and the cotton one won't either because it's glued to the back, you could leave it at that. But, if you'd like a clean finish to your rug edges, add some bias binding. I always fold the binding in half and iron before sewing.
Place the raw edge of the rug between the binding and sew.
All done!

I'm really proud of my DIY rug. As always, making something for the first time and succeeding leaves you wanting more, so I'm already thinking of new ways to DIY a rug. I'm contemplating making a crochet one out of t-shirt yarn for our new apartment. 

What do you think? Ready to make a rug?

P.S! Don't forget to enter the giveaway (see the end of that post for details)!

xo. Hanna