Save Your Feet, Bind a Rug

This post contains affiliate links.  If you make a purchase after clicking them, we will be compensated, but there is no additional cost to you.  All opinions expressed are our own.  Thank you for your support.

     This is my 17 year old son, Jacob, tearing out the tack strips from the old carpet in our hallway, helping with the renovations.  He isn't thrilled about the idea of having the carpet removed from his bedroom.  He likes the feel of carpet under his feet when he gets out of bed in the morning.  I keep telling him how much cleaner having solid surface floors will be and how nice his room will look.  He isn't buying it.  Luckily, there is a nice big piece of carpet left over from ourrecent carpet installation.

     I told my son that I would find a way to bind it so that he could have a nice rug beside his bed.  
     I watched numerous YouTube videos looking for a good way to bind a carpet.  There were products that I was sure would cost more than I wanted to spend, so I devised my own way to get the job done.
      Here are the supplies you will need to do a project like this.
​Click on the pictures for an explanation.

This is a wide, brown bias tape. Of course, find a color that will match your rug.

This is the cord you will use to make the piping.

You will need a sewing machine with a zipper foot, plus the matching thread.

Duct tape (or Duck Tape I guess) in a color you would like.

A glue gun and many glue sticks. I used about 8.5 sticks for this project.

    To begin, lay your rug out and make sure it is cut in the shape or size that you want.  My sides were pretty straight except for one of them.  So, use a sharp razor knife or some sturdy scissors to even it out.  Then, measure the perimeter of your rug so you will know how many yards of materials you will need to go all the way around it.

        You have to use the bias tape and the cording to make the piping that will go around the rug.  This takes the longest, but really isn't very hard to do.  Click on these pictures to see the process.

Lay the bias tape out flat like this.

Lay the cord on the tap, leaving a little room at one end for connecting ends later.

Fold the bias tape over the cording and pin into place. You want the cord to be on one side with a tab of fabric extending to the other side. This flat tab will lay along the back of the rug, the cording will fold up along the side of the rug.

Leave the beginning opening of the tube where there is no cord open for later. Use a zipper foot to be able to sew closely along the cording.

        Notice that I am sewing forward, but at a slight angle into the cord, in order to make it a tight tube. When finished, you will have ropes of piping like this.  You can use this technique to make piping for pillows, too!  Click on these photos for more info.

The flat extension will lay along the back of the rug.

At one end, you leave an empty part of the tube. At the other end, extend the cord out of the tube.

      I found it easier to lay the rug on my ottoman upside down to begin applying the piping with with the  Duct tape (I used the Duck Tape brand).  Start with the end of the piping that has the empty section at the middle of one side of the rug.

Lay the rug on an ottoman or table to work on it easier.

I chose this burlap looking Duck Tape.

The corded piping needs to extend over the edge of the rug. It will be folded over along the side of the rug later.

When you come to a corner, extend the tape and piping beyond the edge.

Cut a slit in the tape and piping up to the cording. This will help you bend it around the corner nicely.

Here is another view of that. Don't worry, I smoothed out the bumpy spots.

       Continue the taping process all around the rug.  If you come to the end of one strip of piping, add another as follows:

One end should have the extended cord.

The other end will have the empty end.

Trim the corded end to match the depth of the empty space. Tuck the corded end into the empty space.

Once wrapped together, hold in place with a piece of tape. Then, continue taping down the entire length as usual.

      Once it is all taped, it should look like this:

Be sure to smooth the tape down securely.

The tape is all the way around.

       Now it is time to flip the rug over and do the gluing.  I moved it to a table so my glue gun would be easier to use.  

You can see that the raw edge of the rug still shows at this point.

raw edge

Get your glue gun nice and hot and have many glue sticks at the ready!

When the glue is ready, put the nozzle of the glue gun between the piping and the rug and squeeze out a line of glue. Fold up the piping against the rug and glue as you go. So slowly to give the glue time to cool and attach the piping to the rug.

Here is an example of how it looks as you go around a corner.

Continue the process all the way around the rug.

        Finally, when you are finished, you will have a nice rug to use wherever you like.  I think this one will keep my son's feet happy when he wakes up in the morning!  If you have any carpet samples or scraps, some nice area rugs could make nice gifts or accents in your home.  Hope you find this method useful! 

  *It makes us so happy that this post was featured on the To Grandma's House We Go  linky party!