We are always creating all different kinds of trees here at The Shabby Tree. A few years ago I made a shabby chic rag tree using a tomato cage. I love rag trees but they can be time consuming to make. We have been creating a lot of things out of rag rugs from Five Below and I think this rug can be used for creating a rag tree. This rug will give you a variety of material that will be in strips which will help make the process of creating the rag tree a little quicker. The strips from these rugs will be all different prints and colors which will make this an amazing and unique tree.
The supplies I will be using are:
1. Two 42” tomato cages
2. Sisal rope or a thick twine ( 20 yards)
3. Scissors
4. Seam ripper
5. Zip ties
6. Tape measure
7. Two 3’x5’ multi colored handwoven rugs from Five Below
The first step is to take both rugs apart. This is easy to do with a seam ripper.
You will take apart the rugs which will give you a large amount of different strips of fabric.
Once you have all of the strips of fabric you will then cut each strip to be 12 inches long.
You will zip tie both tomato cages together giving the same amount of space between each vertical pole. I am using two tomato cages because this will give you 6 vertical poles which will help to form the shape of the tree.
You will also use zip ties to secure the top poles together as shown in photo above.
Once the tomato cages are secured together you will then start adding the fabric strips to your rope.
I folded the strip in half and then brought the ends up and through the loop.
You will continue adding the strips of fabric until all of the rope is covered.
I used 20 yards of rope and two rugs to cover the tomato cage.
I started at the top of the tomato cage and I zip tied the end of the rope in place.
I continued wrapping until I got to the bottom. Once I had all of the rope and material wrapped around the tomato cage I then zip tied the end in place. You will want to make sure to pull all of the rag strips facing outward. You will want adjust the rope and material so that the tomato cage is covered. Once everything is in place you will want to add more zip ties here and there to secure it all in place.
This tree turns out amazing and can be displayed in your home all year long. I hope you will get creative and give this a try.
