How to Fix a Jute Rug

Need to fix a jute rug? Try this! All you need is upholstery thread, a needle, and a pair of scissors to make a simple repair.

How to hide a damaged jute rug

I love this jute rug.  It’s from Pottery Barn, but I bought it in like-new condition on craigslist from a very nice lady with a very clean house.  The price was just right and the rug was just perfect for the sitting area in our playroom, which sort of functions like a family room.

Well.  One corner of the beloved jute rug happens to stick out into a major thoroughfare on the playroom-kitchen-dining-room-loop.  The corner of a jute rug can withstand only so much abuse from little feet, wrestling preschoolers and heavy-duty Tonka trucks running the wrong way over it’s precious fibers.

This is the cozy sitting area at the end of our long, narrow playroom. Notice the lovely, striped, jute rug underfoot. The problematic corner is the one just out of shot, at the lower right corner. (And you can just barely see the corner of The Red Hutch, another beloved bargain.)

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In fact, the corner got So Bad that I finally could stand it no longer, and Mr. Native Texan helped me move the furniture and rotate the rug so that the offending corner now rests out of sight, under the sectional sofa.

How to fix a jute rug with upholstery thread

But alas, the other corner–the newly exposed one in perfect condition–began to go the way of its predecessor.  Even though the rug had been a bargain, I still loved it for this space and really didn’t want to have to replace it.  But I felt powerless–watching it deteriorate day after day, with no way to prevent its eventual demise.

Enter the internet.  (Duh.)  Why didn’t I think of this before?

At first I thought maybe I could use jute twine to repair the damaged corner.  I had trouble finding any helpful instructions, though, until I came across an tutorial about binding two natural fiber rugs together.

In the tutorial, which is no longer available, she used upholstery thread to bind two rugs together, which gave me the idea to use the same thread to repair the damaged corner of our beloved jute rug!  It was worth a shot.

Guess what.  It worked!!

Jute Rug, Before:

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Jute rug repair instructions

 Here’s the scoop:

• I bought my thread at JoAnn Fabric; it cost about $2 or $3.  This thread is similar.
• I used a regular sewing needle.
• It took me about 30 minutes, maybe 45, to complete the repair.

If you look closely, like in the next shot of the repaired corner, you can tell it’s a repair job.  Sewing is not high on my list of competencies.  

But I guarantee you that I’m the only one who will ever look that closely at the corner of the rug.  (Well, unless you count all the people who will read this post.) From above, it’s virtually unnoticeable.

Jute Rug, After:

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My oldest son walked by in the midst of the repairs and commented “That looks great, Mom!”  I’m not sure how discerning of a judge he is, at six, but I took it as a compliment. 🙂

Here’s the rug from above, after the repairs.  Much better, right?

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I am beyond pleased to have figured out a simple and inexpensive way to save and protect my beloved jute rug.  Hooray!

Have a natural fiber rug in need of repair, or two rugs you’d like to join together?  You can do it!  

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