reversible crocheted "rag rug" floor pillow for my son

crochet a reversible floor cushion out of old clothes. A versatile pouf made to look like a pizza on one side and a road on the other

   A floor pillow can be a versatile addition to a child's room.  It, of course, can be used as extra seating, but does extra duty as a small table, a footrest, or even as extra storage.
  
​ There are innumerable ways to make a pouf, you could alter a project like this to fit virtually any type of home décor. I'm going to share how I made mine and then I will share some ideas for variations on the project.  You are free to take my ideas and change them however you would like in order to make something that fits works with your home. 
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  I set out to make something special for my eight-year-old son.  He already has rag rugs that I’ve made on the floor of his room, they are in every part of my house.  I am continuously moving them around from place to place and room to room so he is not particularly attached or possessive of those.   This would be different, I wanted him to know that this was made for him and only for him. 

    I thought for a long time about what it is that he likes.  He has literal taste.  He likes items that look like something that he is fond of.  He likes animals and cars, hamburgers, and pizza.   I wanted to make him something that looks like one of those things.

I wanted to make a circular shaped pillow, so I chose a couple of his favorite things that worked well with that shape.  One side would be a pizza.  One side would look like a road.  I could have picked either design on then left the reverse plain.  I think that would have been nice too, but I knew he would be excited by the novelty and surprise of the two designs in one

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note on materials and supplies for this and all my other projects as well

  This is for the purpose of clarification. I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea or feel misled by my words.  when I say I made something for free I am not including the items that I use repeatedly for each project.  I paid for scissors, crochet hooks, needles, and thread at some point, but it was so long ago, and I have used those items in so many projects.   When I am talking about the budget for a project, I consider those my non consumables or staples and I don't factor in their cost when looking at my budget.  I am only counting the cost of materials that will be used up by my project.  If you do not have items like scissors or a large crochet hook, they can be obtained for just a few dollars apiece and can serve in your toolbox for an awfully long time.

When I talk about the cost of a project, I am referencing the price of the consumables.   The expensive part of fiber crafting, the yarn, and the fabric.  It is not only out of my budget to spend a lot of money on those things, I am more creative and have more interesting outcomes when I must make do a little bit.   

Now, I like yarn as much as the next crocheted.  All the colors and beautiful textures make me swoon a little bit if I walk into a yarn store.  I am sure there are many knitters reading this who have extensive stashes of yarn. Or quilters with a cotton rainbow of a fabric stash.   I think that you would have every color on hand to make a pizza or any other kind of design that you would like.   Yarn works for this kind of project. Quilting fabric world for this as well.  I use old clothes because that is what I have.  I am always about conserving resources and I get a thrill out of making something useful out of materials that without my intervention would have been headed for the landfill. Rag rug projects are fantastic stash busters.  I love making rag rugs because it allows me to improvise, because there are no fixed rules. Rag projects are forgiving of mistakes and that allows me to be more relaxed. 

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If you like the idea of crocheting with old clothes, but would like to start with a quicker project, check out my tutorial for a
​basket made from old denim jeans

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what i used/ materials needed

• Scissors or Rotary cutter and self-healing mat
• Needle and thread
• Large crochet hook (I used a P 11.5mm hook)
• ​Glue Gun (optional)
• Fabric Strips (cream, yellow, orange, red, brown, black, white) or whatever colors you choose cut to an inch and a half thick.  The thicker the fabric, the wider the strips.  you want all of the fabric to be an even size once it is crocheted

Check out these hot wheels display storage shelves that I made for my sons room

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Keep in mind that it takes a long time to make fabric yarn. the amount of time i need to prepare is at least twice the time that i need to actually crochet.   To LEARN MORE ABOUT DIFFERENT TYPES OF FABRIC AND GET TIPS FOR WORKING WITH THEm   GO HERE

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how i made it:

  I made the entire pouf using only single crochet: I made that choice because I wanted a very dense fabric.  I wanted as little of my stuffing showing as possible, so single crochet it was.

• Begin single crocheting in the round with your cheese colors.  (I crocheted two strands at a time to have the cheese look more blended.  When I came to the end of a strand, I would add another color from my cheese selection of cream yellow and orange.)
  
  
• Continue until your circle is almost the size that you want your pillow to be
  
  
• Start crocheting with your sauce colors. (I continued with double stranded crochet and at this point I stopped using yellow and cream and instead added red.  I was crocheting with one strand of red and one of orange at this point)
  
  
• Keep crocheting until your sauce area is the size you want it. (Mine was about three rows or a couple of inches wide)
  
  
• It's time to start the crust.  For the first row, I crocheted one strand of red and one strand of brown.
  
  
• After one row of brown and red, I stopped using red and only used brown.                                                                                            
• After a row or two of brown, it is time to start building up instead of out.  You will no longer be making the front; you will be building up the sides now.
  
  
• If you have ever crocheted a basket this will be familiar. 
   
• You will no longer increase for the circle.  Turn your work and continue single crocheting, I find it helpful to keep adjusting my work so that the row I'm working on is sitting on top of the previous row.
  
  
• Continue single crocheting around and around, until your sides are as tall as you want them to be.  Mine were about 8 inches high
  
  
• Now you will begin crocheting the back face of your pillow.  You will crochet in the round, building a circle from the outside in.

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• ​On this side, you will be decreasing instead of increasing.                                                                                                                 
• Think about how many times you increased on the opposite side; you will want to decrease at about the same frequency.  If Your pillow is not coming together quickly enough or flat enough, you will need to decrease more                                                                                                                                                                                                   
• The way I decrease is I put my hook into my work, just like I would for a single crochet.  I yarn over and pull my hook to the front of the work, just like for a regular stitch.  This is where the stitch changes.   Instead of yarning over and finishing the stitch, I put my hook back into my work, as if I were going to do the next stitch, yarn over and bring the hook to the front of my work.  you should now have three loops on your hook.  your hook should be on the frontside of your work.  yarn over and pull your yarn through all your loops.  this finishes two stitches as one.  You have successfully decreased one stitch!                                                                            .

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not into crocheting? Check out my quilted version of this project.... no crocheting involved

• continue crocheting in the round, towards the middle, decreasing, as necessary.                                                                                             
• I did one row of yellow when i wanted the edge of my road.  I then continued with grey/black until i reached the center.                    
• It was at this point that I stuffed my pillow.  I used a queen-sized duvet which I folded up tight and then stuffed in there.         
• I had to sit on my pillow while I completed it to be able to keep the stuffing in place and work my stitches.                            
• I did one row of white to mark the line in the center of the road     
• continue in grey/black until the edge of the road where you can put one row of yellow to represent the roads edge.                         
• Finish off with more brown fabric or whatever you would like to use to finish the center of your raceway.  I chose brown because I thought it looked like dirt on the side of the road                                 
• when I reached the center, I cut off my fabric yarn and with my needle and thread sewed the end of the fabric yarn into the pillow to make sure it was secure.         
• I used my needle and thread to reinforce any loose spots in my work.                                      
• The last step is to apply the toppings to the front side of your project if you choose.                                            
• I crocheted peperoni out of burgundy colored yarn, but all my other toppings are just shapes cut out of fabric.                                     
• I arranged my toppings to make sure I was happy with their placement.                                                                      
• i applied a tiny but of glue gun glue to each topping to hold it in place.                                                                           
• I think that the toppings would be fine if they were only glued on, but i wanted mine to be extra durable, so i sewed around the edges of each one, attaching them to the fabric permanently

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How would you use a pouf in your home?  I'm thinking of making a watermelon floor cushion next.  It seems so summery and I would love to work with all the greens in the rind.  What other fun designs can you think of to make for a child's room?