How to make a rug or dhurrie pouf
Pop over to West Elm and you will see these gorgeous dhurrie poufs. I think they are fantastic, but so is the price. They sell from around R2600 each - and that's without the shipping cost. Way too pricey for me. If you would like to make one of these dhurrie poufs, or find out how to make one using a rug, see below.
I love to plonk myself in front of the TV with my feet up... get a load off and a pouf is so comfortable. But you can also use a pouf for those times when family and friends pop around and you need extra seating - whether indoors or outdoors.
Erika at Retropolitan put some cotton rugs to good use and whipped up a stylish pouf that would put many store options to shame.
YOU WILL NEED:
Basic sewing skills and a sewing machine
3 medium rugs
Zipper (optional)
Filler*
*For the filler you can choose to buy polystyrene beads, fill it with foam filler, or repurpose old duvets and pillows.
HERE'S HOW:
I started by cutting down one rug into two pieces. One piece should measure 60cm x 60cm (or close to that as the widths of the rugs vary), and the other piece should measure around 30cm x 60cm.
Cut down a second rug the exact same way. You should now have 2 of 60cm x 60cm pieces, and 2 of 30cm x 60cm pieces. Finally, cut your third rug down so that you have an additional 2 of 30cm x 60cm pieces...for a grand total of 2 of 60cm x 60cm pieces and 4 of 30cm x 60cm pieces.
Follow the pictorial below for assembling all the pieces together.
Piece 6 is the second 60cm x 60cm piece, as shown below.
Ounce all six pieces are attached, you need to sew the corners. The white arrows indicate where you should do this. Here's what it should look like after the corners are sewed together.
Now you need to attach two sides of the bottom of the pouf. The picture indicates where to do this.
Below is what it will look like after the two sides are sewn. You should have only one side left unstitched now.
That opening is where your zipper will go...if you want one. If you don't want a zipper closure, you would stitch this opening closed, leaving a small area open to allow for adding stuffing/filling. You could then, either hand stitch or machine sew the opening closed after filling.
NOTE: I realized after I'd made it to this point, that you want both edges hemmed so they have a nice, clean edge. I lucked out, one of my edges was the selvage edge of the rug, but the other I had to hem under.
I turned the pouf ride side out, and slid one side of the zipper under one side of the opening. I pinned it in place and sewed the length of the zipper.
Then I unzipped the zipper so that I could work with the other side. I did the same as before, and slid the other side of the zipper under the other side of the opening, pinned and stitched the length of the zipper. At this point, you could turn your pouf inside out and reinforce the zipper by stitching just above the top of the zipper, and just below the bottom of the zipper. My zipper was just slightly shorter than the opening, so I had a little gap at one end that I needed to hem shut. If you run into this same problem, it's no big deal.
